Kids, kids

I assume people know most things about me but turns out more people read this than I thought. So, to explain, I am pulling off a short between-two-Ecuador-stays stint as a bilingual after school teacher. I teach Kindergarten through second grade, mostly my students are Mexican (with one or two Guatemalans and Salvadorans) and speak little to no English. This is in East Oakland.

My five-year-olds love learning about Ecuador. Although they are much more interested in cutting and pasting together Ecuadorian flags out of construction paper and making Quichua-style jewelry from the fake gold beads I bought at Michael's, and getting them to write a sentence on the actual content of the short books I wrote for them is like pulling teeth. But that's understandable. They're five. The new tactic is: complete the very short workbook, and you get to participate in the craft/activity/assorted manners of creating a complete mess.

As for this summer, I have developed a short curriculum for the class in biology that I am creating for the students in Ecuador. However, I've been very bad about the actual lesson planning as I have been very busy. I really need to pull this all together in the next two weeks as I am leaving then!

Speaking of which, I should really give my notice at my job! I think I was supposed to give a month's notice. Oops! I told my most intelligent student (I know we aren't supposed to say things like that, but she definitely is the smartest)... well, I told her that I would be leaving, and she got a concerned look on her face and said "pero, quien nos va a ayudar con la tarea? (but, who is going to help us with our homework)." Talk about guilt. I reassured her that the new Latino guy that was hired speaks Spanish, but she didn't look too happy. I feel bad, but I'm not exactly going to change my plane ticket...

At least it's good to know that even though they grind Playdoh into the carpet, call me "tonta" (a fool), drool juice onto my just cleaned khaki pants, and write all over the class with permanent markers, deep down, they like me. Kids all over the world are really the same.

Speaking of kids, one word I have never found much use for before in Spanish that has become part of my daily vocabulary:

"Baba." It means "drool." :)