Lost in Translation

A small group of students and I were talking about different pronunciations of words. For example, you say potato, I say potoato. You get the picture.

I brought up how my fiance and I had had a disagreement about the pronunciation of the word "coupon". I told my student Ricardo, a precious Mexican boy, that my fiance says "Q-pon" and I say "coooo-pon". I asked Ricardo, "Who is right? How do you say it?"

Without hesitation, he replied, "Los cupones."

Young Love

This post is from a friend of mine who is currently substitute teaching. He was teaching a second grade class, and on his lunch break, shared lunch with another substitute teacher who was a friend of his.

After lunch, Ty, a young chubby black boy in his second grade class asked my friend, "Mr. M., Is Miss G your girlfriend?"

"No man, she's not."

"Alright, well if you don't want her, can I have her? She is fine!"

Inferences

This past week, our reading lesson focused on making inferences. For those of you who haven't been in a fifth grade reading class lately, making inferences is all about using clues from your reading to come to a conclusion about the reading. For example, if you read that the main character is carrying an umbrella, then you can infer that it is raining.

In class, we read a story about a little girl named Mary. In the story, Mary loses her most precious possession, her dog. She cries and cries over the dog.

The students were given a worksheet that said, "What can you infer about how Mary feels in the story? How do you know?"

Julio is a very short Hispanic boy who has so much energy that his body literally vibrates at all times. Not the type of student who is going to be thrilled about the idea of making inferences. His answer on the worksheet:

"She was said. I readed the story."

I don't know what I should review first....making inferences or correctly using the past tense.

Eggscellent

One of my students, Andrew, was sitting by my desk reading the Guiness Book of World Records. Mario was standing at my desk getting help on an assignment.

Andrew: "Miss H., did you know that the ostrich egg is the largest egg in the world? It weighs four pounds!"

Miss H: "Huh, I wonder if it tastes good?"

Mario, in a completed horrified tone and thick Hispanic accent : "You would eat an ostrich?!?"

Miss H.: "Well, maybe. It's an egg, just like the eggs people eat for breakfast."

Mario: "What if my mom laid an egg? Would you eat my brother or sister?"

Candle in the Wind

I teach in a very high poverty area, and sometimes I forget that my students' living circumstances greatly affect their perspectives of the world. This week, one of our vocabulary words was "flickered" so I asked students a question to help them with their understanding of this word.

I said, "Have your parents ever had a candle burning in the house and someone opens a door, and you see the flame flicker from the wind?"

Mario yelled out, "Yeah! I seen that with my momma's cigarette lighter!"

We might need to review some history....

Eric: "Miss H., how old are you?"

Me: "23."

Eric: "So you were alive during the Civil War?"

Jingle Pills

A young man in my class came to my desk with a big smile on his face and said, "Miss H., have you heard this song from the commercial? I have it stuck in my head today." He began to sing, "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday...."

I immediately recognized the song as a popular jingle for a birth control pill. I was flustered at being serenaded with this song by a ten year old boy, so I was unsure how to react.

He excitedly asked, "I love that song! Do you think I can take some of that medicine?"

Oh my, my, my.