Struggling with Spanish

One of the things on my "Bucket List" is to brush up on the spanish I learned in high school and college. I have become embarrassingly rusty over the years with no reason to practice it. In fact, the only thing I'm very good at is Sesame Street-level spanish...numbers, colors etc; although I must say, I do sound pretty convincing ordering a quesadilla a mexican restaurant. 

During the past few years, I've had a few ESL (English as a second language) students in my classroom. I've had students who were adopted from orphanages in other countries and children from Hispanic migrant families. It's fascinating for me to help them improve their English skills during their first grade year. It's made me want to take additional classes to get my ESL endorsement and become fluent in Spanish. 

That goal was in the back of my mind until school started this fall and I met one of my new students... a little boy whose family just moved from Mexico and speaks NO ENGLISH at all. That accelerated my language-learning plans in a big way ! I have checked out books to study, found online resources to help me translate and teach him vocabulary, and have enlisted help from nearly every Spanish speaking teacher in the district. I'm even listening to daily podcasts on iTunes ! It's called Coffee Break Spanish and the lessons are great, but they're taught by people in Scotland, so I'm afraid I'm learning Spanish with a bit of a Scottish accent !

I'd be doing pretty well speaking to my new student if it weren't for verbs. Conjugating verbs is something I'm really struggling with. Unfortunately, every helpful phrase and sentence I can think of, needs one. Until I learn more, this little boy is being patient with my use of partial phrases, a stab at the infinitive form of the verb and a LOT of pantomime. At least I've overcome a former habit of mine...trying to break the language barrier with volume. After all, he's latino, not hard of hearing.

Feeding the Masses

Apparently, our house is the new designated spot for the high school football team to gather on Tuesday nights. It's tradition to watch videos from games of this week's opposing team, so the guys can check out the competition, and watch their strategies or whatever. (I actually don't know what they do.) It's Ben's senior year and we are glad to have him volunteer our house for this kind of thing. In a short year, our second son will be out of the house and we will wish for the days we had a house full of football players.

I thought I had everything covered: 5 pounds of taco meat in the big crock pot, a small crock pot of nacho cheese, several bags of chips, 2 pans of bars, a couple of gallons of koolaid....And then the boys arrived ! They started in on the food and I couldn't believe how fast it was going! I think there were about 15 guys, but they kept coming back for food, so it seemed like there were dozens more. At one point, I panicked a little and sent Perry to Fareway for more tortillas. But as it turned out, we had plenty of food, so I shouldn't have worried. 

All the guys were so appreciative, which makes them fun to cook for. I don't ordinarily get much thanks or praise for whipping up dinner, so I was eating it up ! There are a lot of fun things about the football season, and now I can add Tuesday night ego-boosts to the list.

Blinking IS Allowed

I came home from the first day of school and immediately crawled into my pajamas. I'm exhausted and hoarse...sure that I talked more today than throughout the entire summer months. It actually was a pretty good first day, though, if you take into account the rain and 2 inside recesses. As any teacher can tell you, managing a class after inside recess is tricky, even after rules and routines are firmly in place.

I spent the day explaining and modeling the essential parts of our school routines, then we did short activities for the kids to practice. Getting the hang of sitting still to listen and focusing on me is a challenging thing for wiggly small people. 

Music and activity is a big part of my teaching, and I used several songs today. Dancing around the room to the song ,The Freeze, was a fun way to practice the "stop and listen" part of our classroom routine. The kids obediently froze in place when the music stopped, then crazily marched and danced when it started again. At the end of the song, one little boy walked up to me and solemnly asked, "Is it ok that I blinked?"

The Dogfather

You know that famous scene from the movie, The Godfather? The man is sleeping and wakes up in horror to find a horse's head in bed with him? Well, I had a similar reaction when I woke up this morning. Perry's alarm rang, I rolled over and turned on the light. Then I felt something curiously damp and gritty beside me. I turned and to my horror, discovered that I'd been sleeping next to a humongous pile of dog vomit !

How did a dog vomit next to my head in the night and I didn't notice? Am I sleeping so sound now that I've gone back to work that ALL my senses have stopped working? This morning as I'm washing the sheets, I wonder if one of the dogs should be taken to the vet today or is really trying to "reason" with me, Don Corleone style?

Back to School

The good thing about being a teacher is the feeling that I'm starting a new job every fall. The bad thing about being a teacher is the feeling that I'm starting a new job every fall. 

Now that we're back from vacation and August is here, it's time to get serious about cleaning my classroom and organizing supplies for a new school year. Walking into the stuffy classroom with it so stark and bare is depressing. I look around the room trying to decide where to start. The bulletin boards seem like they've survived a war with a stapler; I pick the occasional stray shred of paper which stubbornly refuses to let go of last year's decor. The floors are freshly cleaned and the marker boards have been washed, but a thick layer of dust covers everything else. As I get my rags and fill a bucket at the sink, I wonder how many other professions have this much janitorial work hidden beneath their job descriptions.

I glance at the clock and think about the lazy habits I've picked up this summer. Lounging in the afternoons reading a book, then taking a nap has become part of my daily routine. Life has such a relaxed pace when I'm off for the summer. How will I get my rusty brain back in "teacher mode" and adjust to the hectic schedule of fall?

There are closets to reorganize and furniture to arrange before I can start putting up bulletin boards and preparing for my new class. As I work, I feel myself mentally preparing for the weeks to come. I think about the group of little people that I have yet to meet, but in a few weeks I will come to love and regard as "my kids". It's important to me to get my room just so... an organized space for me to teach in, and an inviting space for these new kiddos to begin their first grade year.

A few hours later, I've made a little progress "feathering my nest" but I have a long way to go before I'm ready to start the new year. As I clean and arrange, I realize that I'm actually mentally rehearsing the first few days of school, and feeling more prepared for the challenges ahead. Maybe the time I spend in my classroom, while the rest of the building is dark and quiet, is more valuable than I realize.

IKEA...here I come!

I've been looking forward to this for months. Perry has promised me a trip to Minneapolis and free reign at my favorite store. This is my Christmas, birthday and Mother's Day gift all rolled into one. It was love at first sight the very first time I visited that store. I love the modern styled furniture, bright fun colors, and unique style of everything from home accessories to kitchen gadgets. Most importantly, I get such a kick out of discovering fun things for my house and classroom that are so cheap!

It will require at least two separate visits to the store to make sure I have seen everything. Perry is so patient and understanding with me. He also knows his limitations and realizes that he will need to make other plans while I power shop. I think he would rather do just about anything than follow me around that huge store for hours. 

What am I shopping for? Well, I'm on a mission to find some nice looking storage to replace the huge tubs that seem to be stacked everywhere in my classroom. I hate clutter, so keeping my "stuff" out of sight makes my days at school much happier. IKEA has containers and storage that actually seems decorative, and when I walk through their department of organizational supplies, I feel like I'm that much closer to getting my life under control.

Beyond that, I'm not really sure... sometimes I don't know what I "need" until I see it ! :)