English Event

On Tuesday, Geno and the other new special ed teacher, Sandra (not my Sandra) asked me if I needed help with anything for my big event on Friday.  I nonchalantly declined any help.  Then I remembered where I was.  Mexico.  Where the show in more important than the content.  And here I am in a place where I don't have easy transportation to get to an unknown place to buy things for the dog and pony show.  (I learned the lesson that things aren't always where a gringa would expect when I went on the lightbulb hunt at Walmart.  No success.)

Anyway, I told them a welcome sign might be nice.  I had visions of a poster with some painted letters on it.  They kept brainstorming with me and we came up with the American flag as well.

The picture you see above is the result of their two days of hard work (and lack of seeing the students at school that need extra support).  It looks great, but when I left school Friday after a 45 minute performance, I couldn't help but think, "Was it worth the trouble?!"

Maribel picked me up for school on Friday (more on why in another entry).  I was waiting for her in front of my yoga place, but she hadn't answered any of my texts saying I'd be there at 7:30, that I wanted to get to school early to get some things ready and to practice with some of my groups.  My second text said that I was there a little early, but that I had crossed the street to be in the shade.  

Luckily I was on my observation game, because I saw her pull up.  She didn't seem to see me, though, and I soon realized why!  I knocked on her window and she jumped.  She had dropped her phone in the toilet!  So it wouldn't make or receive calls or texts.  She was clearly frantic trying to figure out how she would maneuver today without being able to contact me!

We got to school and I did some running around to get the details worked out.  It was set to start at 8:30, so the principal was trying to figure out what to do until 8:30 so the parents wouldn't leave. 

We began promptly at 8:38.  Arcelia (5th grade) introduced Maribel, who in turn gave a welcome.  I called the first graders out to the "court" and they sang "Head, Arms, Legs and Feet," before I interviewed four girls about their creatures' bodies and the shapes that made them.  I was so impressed with their cute little accents and their sentence-constructing ability (granted it was from pure memorization, but that's an early step in language production).

Next was the presentation of professions by second and third grade.  Those who wanted to dress up had dressed up.  A representative from each profession spoke three sentences (beginning: I'm a, I wear, and I work in).  They did an acceptable job, and thankfully they were short; they held the attention of their parents, which is more than I can say for the 4th and 5th graders...

This was my favorite group.  The fourth and fifth grades had studied clothes early on in the year, so we did a wacky fashion show.  The fourth grade was less creative and only dressed in their parents' clothes, so their descriptions consisted mostly of the word "big."  The fifth graders went all out and had leggings, shorts and skirts all at the same time.  They had sunglasses and scarves.  They went all out.  

After they decided and drew a picture of what they were going to wear, I had them write sentences about their clothing.  Three fifth grade girls read the descriptions while Daddy Yankee's "Pose" played in the background.  The show took a little too long, and the parents lost interest, but I was beaming.  The girls had clearly practiced (Stefany, God love her, had a really hard time with "t-shirt," confusing the "ch" sound for the "sh" sound.  Finally she got the "sh" right, and then forgot the r!  I told her she had to make sure she said shiRt!)

The final act was sixth grade.  They had memorized (for the most part) their parts and spent the next 4-5 minutes talking about me, Nashville, and Tennessee.  They ended with a rendition of the Tush Push dance I had taught them.

Whew!  It was over!

It was not gorgeous, but there were definitely pride-worthy moments.  It was no dog and pony show, because I'm incapable, but it was a quality production for at least half the group!

Maribel and I decided to make our exit since there was nothing left to the day besides the kermés, which is basically a chance for the moms to cook something, sell it, and give the profits to the school.

As we were walking out, Geno stopped us and asked me to give her my wrist.  She makes jewelry and had started a bracelet for me.  She wanted to see how many more beads she needed.  Love her.