December 12, 2010
So, I realized I've told you about my clothes and my dishes. I've mentioned strange taxi rides and last minutes parties. But I never really talk about what I do here. I figured you didn't need a vocab lesson or to learn new English grammar rules. But let me tell you, these kids are a piece of work!
Last week, I had the pleasure of teaching about technology to my eighth graders. When I asked how many of them used computers, five students raised their hands. Peachy. The vocab for the day was "printer" "mouse" "monitor" and "internet connection." Talk about a lesson they could relate to. In their defense, many of them do understand how to operate a computer; but when the internet connection is sketchy and the electricity goes out randomly in the middle of the day, it's hard to get the same level of technological exposure that I was used to at their age.
I was certain this lesson would be a flop. But it actually turned into a barrel of laughs. First, we made excuses for why we couldn't write emails to our friends. "My keyboard is broken." "We don't have an internet connection." Very applicable for these kids. One student chimed in that he couldn't do his homework because "My cat ate my mouse!" Haha! How is it possible to be that clever in a foreign language? These students are bright!
We exhausted any more excuses then moved on to the reading: Online shopping. Not even the local teacher knew what that meant.
As I explained the joys of credit cards and ebay to my classroom, their eyes grew the size of half dollars. One boy nearly jumped out of his seat, he was so excited. "So, I can go to the online supermarket, click on my food and hit print, and the printer will spit out my apple? … It's like magic!"
Oh goodness!
I'm finding smiles in the strangest places!
My cat ate my mouse. Hilarious!
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