My students truly brighten my days. Even on days when I have to drag myself out of bed and to work, by the time I enter the school grounds and am greeted by dozens of students who seem genuinely thrilled to see me, I am instantly in a better mood. I love to say "Good morning!" and hear little voices reply "good morning Andie Teacher!" Their excitement to interact with me makes me excited to be at work, and school is really fun. (Or, as my students would say, "funny school." No matter how many times I correct them, things that are fun are always described as funny - it's an easy mistake to make for not a native speaker, but it drives me nuts!) Anyway, school is funny.
Last week, for example, I got to name one of my students. Most of my classes come to class wearing English nametags with an assortment of names including, but not limited to: Windy, Sunny, East King, Transformer, Coco Joy, and Rot. This morning, one of my favorite students, a 4th grader named Sarah, told me she did not like the name Sarah anymore (possibly because her best friend recently changed from Sarah to Chelsea?) Anyway, Sarah asked me to "chang-ee" her name, but stipulated that it must begin with an 'R." Off the top of my head, I threw out the name "Riley." She did not like this suggestion so then decided that her new name would be "Rainbow." After convincing her that I would not call her Rainbow, we then decided to brainstorm some more. I will now dub her Rachel.
There are so many things the students do on a daily basis that is hilarious, and I ususally forget to jot it down. Recently, however, I've been trying to keep track of the things they do and say. One of my favorite events recently was in the 4th grade when I asked the students do draw and label a picture about their favorite type of weather. One student drew the earth splitting in two . Upon further investigation, I realized his favorite type of weather was, "earthquake." Not really a weather pattern, but okay. Another student drew skeletans on the ground with smoke coming off of them. Other skeletans were walking around smoldering with the words "OH MY GOD!!!!!!" coming out of their mouth. At the top of the page in crooked writing it said, "I like lightning." Where do they get this stuff?
Today, I amused myself by teaching my 4th graders to say "What's up?" Unfortunately, most of them struggled with the pronounciation and I had 100 4th graders all saying, "Watchup???" for the rest of the day. They were adorable if nothing else.
There are also several phrases my students say all the time. First, they LOVE to tell me that another student is "crazy." This seems to be fairly insulting, and they have a great time dragging their headlocked friends to me and saying, "Teacher! He/She uh crazy!!" The friend will then instantly sign no (make an X with your arms. Apparently this means -and unfortunately for me, forevermore No.) Some of them seem quite concerned that I literally think they are crazy.
They also love to tell me that their friends can't speak English. Unfortunately, this does not come out of their mouths like, "My friend cannot speak English. Can you help us?" Instead, if I ask a question to a student who cannot answer, the friends all start yelling, "Teacher! English No! English no." (again make X with your arms). If I respond, "try," I usually get a more exasperated, "He/She English No!!" which roughly corresponds to "silly teacher! stop trying!" It's simultaneously cute and annoying.
Another phrase I get a lot is, "Olleh!!" If students get an answer correct, if they get a good grade, if anything wonderful happens to them, they immediately throw their hands in the air and yell "Olleh!" During a recent "If you're happy and you know it" song (which means clean up your mess and sit down) one class even shouted "If you're happy and you know it shout "OLLLEEEHHHH" instead of hooray. Another overused word is "Shiny." If anything is pretty, they love to declare it Shiny. People are shiny, objects are shiny, and I find, "Shiny" and "Shinee" written on pencil cases and desks all around the room.
Most recently, my (mostly male) students have started to only Zombie Walk. Everywhere they go they have their arms straight out in front of them and look straight ahead. Before class starts I usually have a room full of little zombies and as soon as class is over they return to zombie state.
My favorite part of my day, however, is reading my students T-Shirts, pencil cases, and English notebook covers. While the kids work on an assignment, I love to walk around pretending to monitor them while secretly giggling over the absurditites they carry around. I don't understand why every single case and notebook has a phrase that either makes absolutely no sense, is severely incorrect, or is some deep statement about love that makes no sense for a 4th grader to be carrying around all day. When I have time, I try and write down some of my favorites. These are by no means the best ones, but here is a good selection of ones I've observed lately:
-Alphebetically Speaking, You're OK!
-I am in everlasting love with you.
-It's a noun when you see love as a literature.
-Apple Tree Bear: Silly games. But he's a warm-hearted young Turk.
-English class is coming next. Are you ready to enjoy? It's fun time! Get it on!
-Love Whisper: Only you don't know that I love you.
-In your career, you will met many people. All are sillignant and deserve your allention and care oven if all you can do is smile and say HELLO.
-Newton's Law: Sometimes Love needs a little help. Have a blast., Always stay with the "In" crowd., I'm the genuine artical. . . not a pirate copy.
-Remember Memory: It is written indelibly on my heart designed by my focus
-Pucca: Funny Love. It was s cold day. "Here matches. Buy matches please." Pucca was selling matches.
-Joy, Hope, Love: Traveling will be a good outlet for you to expand your romantic interests.
-Our relationship is so great that I have no regrets.
As my students would say, I am "Pinishee!! (finished) now, but I'll try to remember to tell more about the day to day interactions with my students. Have a great week!
-Andie
Last week, for example, I got to name one of my students. Most of my classes come to class wearing English nametags with an assortment of names including, but not limited to: Windy, Sunny, East King, Transformer, Coco Joy, and Rot. This morning, one of my favorite students, a 4th grader named Sarah, told me she did not like the name Sarah anymore (possibly because her best friend recently changed from Sarah to Chelsea?) Anyway, Sarah asked me to "chang-ee" her name, but stipulated that it must begin with an 'R." Off the top of my head, I threw out the name "Riley." She did not like this suggestion so then decided that her new name would be "Rainbow." After convincing her that I would not call her Rainbow, we then decided to brainstorm some more. I will now dub her Rachel.
There are so many things the students do on a daily basis that is hilarious, and I ususally forget to jot it down. Recently, however, I've been trying to keep track of the things they do and say. One of my favorite events recently was in the 4th grade when I asked the students do draw and label a picture about their favorite type of weather. One student drew the earth splitting in two . Upon further investigation, I realized his favorite type of weather was, "earthquake." Not really a weather pattern, but okay. Another student drew skeletans on the ground with smoke coming off of them. Other skeletans were walking around smoldering with the words "OH MY GOD!!!!!!" coming out of their mouth. At the top of the page in crooked writing it said, "I like lightning." Where do they get this stuff?
Today, I amused myself by teaching my 4th graders to say "What's up?" Unfortunately, most of them struggled with the pronounciation and I had 100 4th graders all saying, "Watchup???" for the rest of the day. They were adorable if nothing else.
There are also several phrases my students say all the time. First, they LOVE to tell me that another student is "crazy." This seems to be fairly insulting, and they have a great time dragging their headlocked friends to me and saying, "Teacher! He/She uh crazy!!" The friend will then instantly sign no (make an X with your arms. Apparently this means -and unfortunately for me, forevermore No.) Some of them seem quite concerned that I literally think they are crazy.
They also love to tell me that their friends can't speak English. Unfortunately, this does not come out of their mouths like, "My friend cannot speak English. Can you help us?" Instead, if I ask a question to a student who cannot answer, the friends all start yelling, "Teacher! English No! English no." (again make X with your arms). If I respond, "try," I usually get a more exasperated, "He/She English No!!" which roughly corresponds to "silly teacher! stop trying!" It's simultaneously cute and annoying.
Another phrase I get a lot is, "Olleh!!" If students get an answer correct, if they get a good grade, if anything wonderful happens to them, they immediately throw their hands in the air and yell "Olleh!" During a recent "If you're happy and you know it" song (which means clean up your mess and sit down) one class even shouted "If you're happy and you know it shout "OLLLEEEHHHH" instead of hooray. Another overused word is "Shiny." If anything is pretty, they love to declare it Shiny. People are shiny, objects are shiny, and I find, "Shiny" and "Shinee" written on pencil cases and desks all around the room.
Most recently, my (mostly male) students have started to only Zombie Walk. Everywhere they go they have their arms straight out in front of them and look straight ahead. Before class starts I usually have a room full of little zombies and as soon as class is over they return to zombie state.
My favorite part of my day, however, is reading my students T-Shirts, pencil cases, and English notebook covers. While the kids work on an assignment, I love to walk around pretending to monitor them while secretly giggling over the absurditites they carry around. I don't understand why every single case and notebook has a phrase that either makes absolutely no sense, is severely incorrect, or is some deep statement about love that makes no sense for a 4th grader to be carrying around all day. When I have time, I try and write down some of my favorites. These are by no means the best ones, but here is a good selection of ones I've observed lately:
-Alphebetically Speaking, You're OK!
-I am in everlasting love with you.
-It's a noun when you see love as a literature.
-Apple Tree Bear: Silly games. But he's a warm-hearted young Turk.
-English class is coming next. Are you ready to enjoy? It's fun time! Get it on!
-Love Whisper: Only you don't know that I love you.
-In your career, you will met many people. All are sillignant and deserve your allention and care oven if all you can do is smile and say HELLO.
-Newton's Law: Sometimes Love needs a little help. Have a blast., Always stay with the "In" crowd., I'm the genuine artical. . . not a pirate copy.
-Remember Memory: It is written indelibly on my heart designed by my focus
-Pucca: Funny Love. It was s cold day. "Here matches. Buy matches please." Pucca was selling matches.
-Joy, Hope, Love: Traveling will be a good outlet for you to expand your romantic interests.
-Our relationship is so great that I have no regrets.
As my students would say, I am "Pinishee!! (finished) now, but I'll try to remember to tell more about the day to day interactions with my students. Have a great week!
-Andie
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