My kids were excellent this week, I can really see their English improving at a steady rate. The test scores came back on their Science test and they were decent. A few kids always do better than others but in general I was impressed. One of the sweetest little boys, Felix, received a low grade and started crying. It was heart wrenching because I knew he was going to do poorly based on his questions during the exam. However, seeing him so upset with himself made me want to cry with him. (I didn't) One of the grasshopper twins was walking around the classroom, before I caught her, looking at the other kids' scores and saying "I did better than you." She irritates me, I couldn't snatch that paper from her any faster and yell at her to sit down. I would have told Mary to take away recreo but its useless seeing as all the girl does is sit up against the wall anyways. She and her sister are quite intelligent but their social behavior leaves much to be desired.
The third years have now moved on to senses. Carmen explain them to her students by discussing what can be smelled, seen, eaten, touched and heard. She put things on the board like apple, water, and music. When she said 'friend' we had just about finished when a student yelled out, "Profe, I eat my friends!" Carmen and I exchanged nervous glances and then the whole class started laughing. Probably another 'you had to be there' moments but equally amusing.
I had to teach two classes on my own this week; one of their teachers was sick so I went to class as usual to discover I had a substitute and one of the fourth grade teachers who doesn't speak English filling in. Good thing the classes were my beloved 1B and 1C! They listened to me very well and did exactly what I asked of them. Since Halloween is next week I had them make drawings for their parents about Halloween. I have become an excellent chalk artist so I made a pumpkin, skeleton, bat, ghost, Frankenstein, and a werewolf for them to copy. We went over colors as they drew and the kids listened enthusiastically. They are also very keen on getting my approval on everything so I had 25 kids at a time running up to me asking if I loved their drawings. I'm trying to teach them new 'congratulatory words'. My big one right now is excellent, which I wrote down for one of the boys who kept repeating it. The next thing I knew he was using all the tape in the world to put it on the back of his chair where everyone could see, it was adorable. Another popular thing this week was the "5 little pumpkin" poem. I was supposed to read them the story and show pictures, but that quickly turned into me acting it out. After repeating the story no less then 40 times, I have it memorized (obviously).
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said, 'Oh my, its getting late!'
The second one said, 'There are witches in the air!'
The third one said, 'But we don't care!'
The fourth one said, 'Let's run, Let's run!'
The fifth one said, 'Isn't Halloween fun?'
Then woooo went the wind,
and out went the lights!
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!
Picture me acting this out many many times and you'll have a great laugh. Anyways, point being having the 6 year olds by myself wasn't as scary as I thought.
My adult classes are going great but getting to a point of ridiculousness. We spend most of the time laughing because they ask me interesting questions or just because we're having a good time. Sometimes I think they try to embarrass me with their questions so I get red in the face a lot, or I'm at a loss for words. Funniest moment of this week came when I had class with only Joaquin on Wednesday. When I ask him about his weekend he always says "my girlfriend and I..." so I thought it was a safe subject to talk about (this is what literary people call a 'red herring'). So he was talking about his family and I asked him to tell me about his girlfriend {side note: he'd be perfect for my roommate so I have to try and find out his story}. He goes, "Pfftt, No more!" He then proceeds to tell me that they had dated for six years but as of this past Monday, they were done. I was horrified because I felt that I had brought up a horrible subject. Well, apparently not because at the end I asked if he had at least dumped her and, after explaining what 'to dump' meant, he said proudly " I dump her". Ridiculous.
Last comment, I am definitely crushing on Carlos in my Friday class. Yesterday we were just by ourselves in class because Eva didn't show up (maybe she reads my blogs?). We spent the whole time laughing and joking around. He told me about his house and how he's renovating it and everything. The first thing about that statement that's incredible is that people in Madrid don't have houses. They are too expensive and people don't have the resources. He's young and can afford to pay for one all by himself. Quite impressive. Secondly, the fact that he can also renovate it on his own is equally amazing. Really, he's just dreamy. We also discovered that his friend owns the bar across the street from my apartment. I told him I lived near Goya metro and he said his friend had a bar near there on General Pardinas, which is my street! After further discussion we found out the bar couldn't be any closer to my apartment without being below it. So let's recap: He used to train with Real Madrid, he has his own car and motorcycle, he coaches a futbol team, he has his own house (very close to me), he's attractive, and he asked me out for drinks. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this situation. He offered to help me with my Spanish whenever I wanted to get together. I will definitely take advantage of this not only for the obvious reasons but because it will also introduce me to more Spanish people. Excellent.
Loving life here in Madrid, per usual.
Negative: A certain young 3A boy's parents allowing him to leave the house with a whole bottle of cologne on.
Positive: Laughing until it hurt at the three troublemakers in 1B. Probably the most adorable 6 year olds ever, can't help but enjoy them as they run amok.
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