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So another week of teaching down and as of right now I still have not lost any children or sent any home with broken bones.I had girls yet again.Only this time they were younger, between the ages of 8-10 years old.Children now days are a lot different than when I was a child, and I know by saying that I sound like most of our parents, but it is true.They are smarter, stronger and faster than when I was a child.Also, they have no problem sharing their thoughts and feeling with you.
We had to give out what I thought was some type of placement test, and because it was in Catalan, I could not read it.One of my girls came up to me and said I gave her a "mierda" test.I do not know a lot of Spanish but I do know what "mierda" means.I asked her why she thought it was a s*** test and she told me in plain English the test was nothing more than a generic emotional test and then proceeded to read the questions to me in English.I could do nothing but agree with her, because that really was what the test was and they never even see the results and neither do the parents.
We got past the test and then started with our class the next day.When you teach English to small children the best plan is not to have one sometimes.These girls were very eager to learn as long as it didn't come from a book or involve anything that seemed like it might be school work.I used the same formula I used last week and used music and famous people.Another thing that will get a class room quiet is music.The trick is to not turn it up loud, if you make it low enough to where they can't hear it when they talk and it is something they want to listen to then they will stay quiet.
Another thing I realized is the fact that everyone if obsessed with American culture.We have done two shows with two different groups of children for the parents and not one picked a Spanish song.We have done everything from Ke$ha, Bruno Mars, Michael Jackson and Shakira which was the only song that was in Spanish, Waka Waka, and J. Lo.They might not know how to form proper sentences but if you put on a song they know they can sing the whole song word for word.Which brings you to another problem, they tend to ask you what words in songs mean.This is something that had me falling on the floor when my kids were singing about doing some "P90X and having some really good sex"; you can't not tell them anything when they ask so you just choose your words carefully."Sexy b****" was the best song played in the disco at night because when they asked us what it meant we told them it was a pretty girl, which in turn had them calling most of the female monitors sexy b****es.We then had to tell them that it was not the kind of phrase you use because it is not a nice thing to say.
This week I am on vacation for the week, so I will have a chance to go and explore what Spain has to offer.I am not sure where I am going or what I am doing, but I have some cash in my pocket and a passport that needs some stamps so who knows. ……….
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