At any rate, there were days this week that I wondered if maybe God were actually frowning on me! Wednesday, for example, when I needed to meet with all SEVEN of my classes and we dismissed at 11:15.
Or Monday, when after a long day of attempting to rushedly explain to all my students that they had to bring in something creative (following a poorly explained description) on Tuesday for their performance on Friday, I took my computer to Forum to get the dial-up de-bugged. I had to leave it there. When I went back two hours later (having skipped Spanish due to the computer, but blaming it on my birthday, which apparently is acceptable in Mexico), it has died due to lack of charge. I had fortunately thought of that on my way there, so I had my charger. TWO HOURS LATER I also had my computer. Bug-free. I missed yoga that night, too. And I coulda used it!
But then there was Thursday, when I felt God smiling on me. I worked with the weeded out first graders who had drawn or created a body out of shapes. When I asked them, "Where is your head?" they could point to it. When I asked, "What shape is your head?" they could say, "My head is a rectangle." I must admit, with their near native (ahem, thank you very much!) accent, a complete sentence in English from a 1st grader is mighty impressive!
The 2nd and 3rd graders had a mere three sentences to write (okay, okay, three blanks to fill in, but still), and they did it both well and quickly!
4th and 5th grade was going to do a fashion show and they were so thankfully able to write their sentences more of less independently, leaving only corrections that I could do at home.
And finally, God bless those 6th graders! They had almost memorized their 10 minute dialogue (10 of them) and were excited about it!
I left school on Thursday refreshed thinking I might actually pull it off!
I still knew that it would not be a production that could compete with something I would do in the US (if I eve were to do that kind of thing!), but it would make the cut for Mexico and for basically 2.5 days of preparation!
The show today was not great by any means. The parents stopped listening after the first graders. I almost don't blame them. It would be very boring to someone who doesn't speak the language. Also, the reason my kids are always talking in class is because their parents (and society) are always talking always. Wherever they are. No matter who else is talking! I have witnessed this in faculty meetings and conferences. There is never silence. Ever. Even in my Spanish class, it seems acceptable to take a cell phone call in the middle of class, as long as you're not making eye contact with anyone and somewhat whispering.
So my performance today did not command the attention of all parents. But it's over. And spring break is JUST around the corner!
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