08 June 2011

I stand corrected - by my students

Despite appearances, I am generally a smart girl. That being said, I'm definitely not perfect and would never want to be. In the last week, I've been corrected several times by my students with very firm beliefs that they are right. I can't help but laugh...

Writing in English, speaking in French, and doing both without getting chalk all over me is tough. Yesterday I noticed I had chalk on my boob and a handprint on my ass... Enzo caught me trying to get it off and couldn't stop laughing. Anyways, back to the writing thing! I've been going over adjectives and had a list going on the board. "Big, little, old, young, long, short..." Everything was going fine until Selyan raised his hand, "Miss Kelsey, is it 'little' or 'litte'? You wrote l-i-t-t-e. I think you forgot the other 'l'." Double-tasking got the best of me.  Students: 1 - Kelsey: 0

Then there's Ali; he tries so hard to speak English well but it doesn't always work out. This time, I was asking for a few extra adjectives that they use commonly to add to my list. I figure they'll pay a little more attention if they're interested... Ali raised his hand and said "une planète." After making him repeat it a few times to make sure I heard him correctly, I told him it wasn't an adjective. "Yes it is! Because it's 'UNE planète'. You see? 'UNE planète' is an adjective, I know it is." I was dumbfounded. "Ali... 'une' is the determinant and 'planète' is the object..." He opened his mouth for a rebuttal but then his eyes quickly widened with embarrassment. Students: 1 - Kelsey: 1

Saving the best for last, Océane can be a little brat. She wouldn't start participating in English until the middle of the year and now she thinks she knows everything. She also thinks the best way to learn is with her back turned to the blackboard. Yesterday, I walked into recess with a gaggle of kids shouting butchered versions of my name at rapid fire. "Keece! Cassie! Cassis! Keetzie!" I looked back at them with a blank face and firmly said "Je m'appelle KELSEY. KEL. SEY. K-E-L-S-E-Y." Océane shook her head and said "Non, tu t'appelles Cassis. Ton prénom est Cassis. Cuh-sis! (heavy emphasis on the second 's') Cassissssss!" About thirty seconds passed of me saying 'kel-sey' and her defending 'cassis' before I pulled out my driver's license to show her my name. The silly girl still wasn't convinced and I was now stuck in a crowd of kids staring at my wallet. Students: 1 - Kelsey 2? 

There were a few things that I got to correct this week... Perfectionist Clara was disappointed when I pointed out that her sentence 'I am ten fish red' was a little jumbled. I got a little scared when Selyan asked how to say un pistolet; I calmed down when he wrote 'My gun Nerf is funny.' But I totally loved it when students wrote (correctly) "Kelsey is pretty. Kelsey is nice and intelligent...." 

No amount of sweet sentences will diminish my excitement that I only have eight days left of work! Not to mention that I see my mom three weeks from today and get back to Seattle five weeks from today

Bisous,
-kelse

Une planète - a planet
Je m'appelle Kelsey. - My name is Kelsey. (Technically, 'I call myself Kelsey.")
Non, tu t'appelles Cassis. Ton prénom est Cassis. - No, your name is Cassis. Your first name is Cassis.
Un pistolet - a gun 

2 comments:

  1. I always misspell things on the board. I don't know why. And I have devoted an entire set of clothes as "teacher clothes" because i cannot stand having chalk all over everything!

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  2. LOVE IT! Especially the last part!

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