Out of the mouths of babes.

By sister sent this to me this morning, my niece and nephew go to Tulip Grove, but are not in this class.

Teachers & friends - Need to laugh??
Just in case you wonder what it’s like to teach kindergarten at Tulip Grove on Inauguration Day, these are bits of conversation I had yesterday. Words that are large & bold are words of kindergarteners. Small words are mine (and italics are Rebel's)– trying very hard to engage the children in this historical event.
(Ms. Wood is one of our Tulip Grove teachers who is actually in Washington at the Inauguration.)


When one of my students came in this morning, she stared at the television which was already on – covering the inauguration.
She said “Hey – I’m been watching American Idol at Home too!!”
You mean, you’ve been watching the news about the new president?
Yeah, for about 2 days.

We settled down to watch the ceremony. I let the children get their homework suckers to give them something to put in their mouth so that, maybe, they would listen.

When we began watching the ceremony –
Who’s that?
That’s President Carter – he was the president when I was a little girl. His daughter was the same age as me.
How old is she now?
She’s still my age.
How old is that?
Never mind


Where’s John McCain?
He’s not there – he didn’t win the election to be president.
Why not?
Because he didn’t.
I voted for him.
I didn’t - I voted for Barak Obama.


Hillary Clinton walks down the hall to go outside –
Hey that’s John McCain’s wife!
No – that is President Clinton & his wife Hillary. He was president before you were born.
Wasn’t she John McCain’s wife?
No – she ran for president too.
Did she win?
No
Then why is she there?



When the Obama girls came out –
How old are they?
Why aren’t they in school?


When Michelle Obama came out -
Is she gonna go & sit in the special chairs with her daughters?
Yes, she probably will.
Where is this again?
It’s Washington DC – remember?
Man - Why did she drive that far?


Look – those are the people that President Obama has asked to come & work with him. That’s called his cabinet.
Why does he need so many?
Because the United States is a big, important country.
Does he need that many people to help him?
Yes, he does


Looking at the thousands of people in the audience on TV –
Where’s Ms. Wood?
I’m not sure, she’s there someplace. I promise



One of the students pointing at the enlarged coins on the calendar wall –
Where are these guys?
They’re not here – they’re dead.

What about George Washington, where is he?
He’s also dead.



Where’s Ms. Wood?
I’m not sure, she is there someplace.
Where?
I don’t know there are a lot of people in that crowd, but she’s there.




Do you see all the flags boys & girls? Why do you think they’re waving the flags?
Because this is America!
That’s right.
Hey, I live in America!
I don’t, I live in Tennessee. (so true ;) )
Those flags look like a million birds.



When Barak Obama came out
Where is his coat??? He should have a coat on!!
Yes, he should, but I’m sure he’ll be fine. (I was much more concerned about his poor ears - I'm sure his ears were frostbitten by the end of the day)



When Mr. Obama was bowing his head – I said
“What are they doing now?”
They’re prayin’
Yes, they’re praying for our country.
How come?
Well, I guess they want God to be with our Country



When the instrumental music started -
Who’s he?
His name is Yo Yo, he’s playing one of the instruments.
When was he president?
He wasn’t the president, he’s just playing the instrument.
What song is it?
I’m not sure, I bet it’s a special song.
Then why aren’t they singing any words?
I’m not sure – I guess they just wanted music this time.



During the song, Sasha Obama was talking, looking a little restless.
Look – she’s not being quiet like she’s supposed to.
Well, that’s a long time for a little girl to sit, isn’t it?



When the first lady speaker in the blue suit got up to speak (I believe it was Nancy Pelozi), I heard-
Who’s she?
That’s a lady who’s telling everyone that we’re about to swear in a new president.
Who is it?
Barak Obama, remember?
I voted for him.



When Barak Obama was sworn in –
Why is he copying everything he says?
He’s saying his promise to be a good president – remember?



After President Obama was sworn in & he began his speech I said,
“Oh, listen boys & girls, President Obama is thanking President Bush.”
Why - what did he do? (good question!)



During the speech –
Are you listening boys & girls? He’s telling people that the United States is going through tough times right now, but if we try hard, it can be even better.
Like, if we mind our mommas & daddies?
Yes, that would be good.


Listen boys & girls – can you hear the cannons? Those are big guns that shoot cannonballs.
Why are they doing that with all those people around?

And then, after it was all over -
So, who is the president now?
Barak Obama – Remember?

I’m tired – I’m very tired.


TAG - Code Apple Pie

Politics and Religion

When I first started thinking about becoming an ESL teacher, I had the opportunity to observe an actual class (taught by a very kick in the butt blogger). It was a very interesting experience. The students wanted to know who I was, so the teacher had them ask me questions. Right off the bat they asked "How old are you?", "Are you married?", "What's your job?", "Where do you live?" and "Do you have children?"

It was a bit shocking because in normal situations, we don't generally ask those kinds of personal questions five seconds after meeting someone. But those are the first statements & questions we tend to teach English language learners (present simple with the verb "to be" is lesson #1). I'm so glad I had the experience of being peppered with personal questions way back in that first observed lesson, because it prepared me (somewhat) for what it's really like in the classroom.

I've gotten very used to telling my age, marital status, nationality, and familial affiliations to complete strangers. In my more advanced classes, the questions have gotten even more personal "Do you have any boyfriends?" was from my Dirty Old Men Business English Class and they've subsequently teased me about it. "What kind of boyfriend do you like?" etc etc. In my other Business English class one of the guys asked me "Where were you on 9/11?*" Which...god even 8 years later, holds enough emotional trauma to stop me in my tracks. I managed to get out "I was in Oregon" and "I don't really want to talk about it." without crying. (I wasn't quite sure I heard the question right at first so they were clarifying "You know... when the planes crashed into the buildings..." not my favorite moment from that class.)

The thing is, none of these questions are meant to be personal. I mean, they want to get to know their teacher, but they want a yes or no, or two word answer. They may have the language skills to ask the question and get an answer... but not to get into a long, involved, discussion on the subject. Nor do they care to in most cases... they're just practicing the language.

For the past month we've been talking Politics. In all but my most basic classes I've been asked who I was going to vote for. I felt comfortable telling them, you know while qualifying that it was my opinion and that plenty of Americans wanted to vote for the other guy too. I know better than to say word one about Thai politics... when that subject comes up I never say more than "What do you think?" or "Yes, I saw that in the news." Today, my pre-intermediate class was learning about future predictions with "will" and there was an activity with questions about what they thought would happen in one year or five years or ten years. Under the "World" category, the question was "Do you think the USA will have a black President in five years?" The book was published in 2003, so that was a bit prescient I think. =) So we talked a bit about that.

For my next activity I wanted them to make predictions/fortunes for each other, and I introduced the topic by asking if fortune telling was popular in Thailand. It is, and that's another post entirely. They all set to work, writing out each other's fortunes (there are going to be a shit-load of millionaires in Rayong next year if these students have anything to say about it. ;)).

One of my more advanced students finished early and started chatting with me. He told me in order to do the fortune properly he would need to see the hand of the person he was making predictions for. I asked if he really could read palms - if he wanted to read my palm. But he said 'no no' he was just joking around. I told him I needed to know my fortune, if good things were going to happen for me. And then he asked me "Are you Christian?"

Not for the first time in this class, I was caught off guard and had no idea what to say. Fortunately, my teacher brain clicked in and I just said "Yes." because, well, I am. I was raised in a Christian family, in a Christian country. I celebrate Christian holidays and am *well* familiar with the cult & culture of Christianity. So in any and all respects that he could be referring to, the answer is yes. But to me, the question "Are you a Christian?" means a lot more than that. Due to the years of indoctrination I've had, it means something more like "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal lord & savior, confessed your sins, forgiven your enemies, been born again & gotten baptized?" and if the answer is "No." well, then, obviously - you're going to straight to hell.

I've been thinking a lot about spirituality lately. My mom took me to church all growing up, just you know church. But in High School and College I participated in some rather cult-like Christian organizations. It was not my finest hour. It was not my happiest hour either. Eventually I realized that trying to keep up with all the shoulds & shouldn'ts (and trying to make everyone else live up to them too) was making me miserable. And the fact that I was miserable about it just made me feel guilt that I wasn't being a good Christian. I came to a point where I actually forbade myself from going to church, and forbade myself from feeling guilty about it.

This is so crazy, while I was in the church they were always trying to teach us to tell our testimonies - how we 'came to Christ', and I never felt comfortable about it. It was a personal thing I didn't feel the need to share with anyone. But now here I am telling my anti-testimony to anyone in cyberspace who decides to drop in. Crazy.

In any case, it's only been recently that I've let myself start thinking about religion and spirituality again. I've come to believe that there's more in the universe than I can wrap my little brain around. I believe that whatever is out there is probably too big for any one person, or any one religion to get completely right. I think there's probably wisdom in all religious texts... if you approach them with an open mind. I've figured out that if you try to look at the world as though everything is black and white... you miss all the colors. And most of all I've learned that I really don't have the answers... I just have to do the best I can. Believe it or not, I did try to articulate some of this to my student...I'm not sure how much he understood.

As far as my current spiritual journey - I'm just getting my toes wet. I'm fascinated by the Temples and Buddha images I see everywhere... but have thus far been too scared to talk to a monk, or actually try to attend a temple service (partly because I'm afraid of doing something offensive... but also because there's a tiny part of me that still thinks I'll end up in hell for worshiping a false idol). I'm not, however afraid to read, so I've been reading a book called Peace is Every Step, and trying to practice mindfullness in small ways. I've been trying to pay attention to my breathing or my walking when I think of it, and trying to come back to the current moment if I get stressed out. I'm not particularly interested in sitting around meditating for an hour, but I still think mindfullness is a skill I want to cultivate.

You know, so I can stay grounded the next time one of my students throws me a curve-ball question in the middle of class!




*Later, when going through the text book, I saw that "Where were you on 9/11" was an example question they used in to teach the past simple. So really, they were just parroting a question they'd been taught...they were not especially interested in my personal reaction to the attacks.

Tonight's free association Friday is brought to you by...

Mike's Hard Berry... Cold. Hard. Refreshing... total chick drink... but uh oh.... I'm feeling purple!





"Women Voters" I cannot tell you how tired I am of hearing about the "Women Voters" or the "Womans' Vote". Are there any two women in this country with identical political opinions? Really? Oh man... Charles Gibson just came on again and said something about "Women Voters" and seriously intoned "they are not of one mind." As thought this is a surprise! Even if women have similar priorities, we're obviously going to have different opinions on the best ways to address these priorities, and who the best candidate is to address them. Where are the focus groups for "Men Voters" And as much as I would love to see a woman president... what I really want is a GOOD president, one who can restore some sanity to this country, someone who can unite people and actually make some progress solving some long standing problems, like the pitiful state of health care, the pitiful state of our schools, the nightmare of social security, the sheer insanity of our policies in the middle east.

Anyway I guess this all brings up my current distaste of network news. I don't understand why every story has to be so sensationalized, and I don't understand how they can stand there and tell you scary scary things, and not give us one shred of an idea of what to do about it. Grrr. Ok, I'm going to the bad place now, I'll stop. I might be a little grouchy because my hands still hurt. I haven't knit anything since Sunday. And the book I'm reading at the moment is incredibly depressing.

Hmmm.... time for something cheerful. I bought some yarn I haven't showed off yet.

Check it out ^^ purple. ;) It's very soft... so pretty.... I feel better already. =)

Ch ch ch changes

I've been thinking about how to deal with my political views on my blog, because I like having a place where I can air my thoughts, but I know some people just want to look at crafty goodness, and I came up with a plan. When I discuss politics, I'll turn the text purple, and you can just skip right by it if all you want to see are my normal non-controversial* posts, or alternately, you can wait for a 'purple post' to voice all your political opinions.

See, something about politics makes otherwise rational and reasonable people turn into ... well... jerks (myself included at times... I lost a long-time friend after what started out as a political disagreement but turned into mud-slinging knock down drag out 'and 10 years ago you...' fight like you wouldn't believe). I don't totally understand it. It seems like two intelligent people should be able to sit down and discuss different aspects of an issue and if necessary just agree to disagree. But that just doesn't seem to happen. I guess people just feel very passionately about how they want the country to be run... and I can respect that, I know I feel pretty passionately about certain things. Anyway, for that reason I'd been trying not to get too wrapped up in the presidential election. But I guess it's upon us now. Although it's really not... we've got the better part of a year before we actually get to vote for the President. I kinda wish we did things more like the UK... elections get called and then boom - people vote. None of this campaigning for four years straight. I'm tired of it... and I think it makes for good campaigners, but not necessarily good leaders.

ANYWAY... what I meant to say is that I'm feeling hopeful our next president. I watched a bit of a debate the other day (I missed the Republican half), the candidates were discussing the threat of nuclear terrorism. Obama started out and said a lot of things I agreed with (I'm in love with Obama - but I'm trying not to let that cloud my judgement of him as a potential president), but then Clinton brought up a few things that made sense (and you know... she's a woman... which would be nice for a change), then Richardson made a lot of good points too (and I do loves me some underdogs) . It was nice to hear intelligent debate about the subject, even if it wasn't a particularly in depth conversation, and it was especially nice to hear presidential candidates saying things I could agree with. Over the past several years I've done a lot of screaming at Bush on the TV, and I don't like feeling that angry all the time. But more than that... I was impressed that all of the candidates pronounced the word "nu-cle-ar" and not "nuke-u-lar". And it occurred to me that no matter who gets elected...things can only go up from here (although I mentally cross my fingers when I say that, for fear of being jinxed into getting someone even worse than Bush... god I'm so tired of being scared to hope).

In other news, I called the folks who run the CELTA course and I have an interview on Thursday to go over my application materials. Wish me luck!

Oh.... and I learned how to text! I <3 txting!!!!11!!eleventyone!!!OMGponies!!! Seriously, it's like when I was in high school and we'd pass notes in class. So fun and so sneaky. I can see why the kids love it. Well... except when I was in high school I didn't get charged 15 cents a line for a note. Oh well.




*boring

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

I hate cigarettes, I do. They're stinky, they're addictive, they pollute, they comprise 90% of the litter I see in the city, and oh yeah - they kill people. Cigarettes kill lots and lots and lots of people. Cigarette companies are evil - sure. I don't smoke and I certainly don't advocate smoking... not by any stretch of the imagination. But man! The Smoking Smack Down is just out of control!

My workplace just went Tobacco Free. Which is fine... except that it's one of the biggest employers of the state. The campuses comprise about 400 acres and employ over 11,000 people. Now this isn't even counting students, patients or visitors! So it's not an insignificant gesture.

We've also got yet another new cigarette tax going on the next ballot. The extra revenue generated will go to fund insurance coverage for children. I totally support insurance coverage for kids... I do, I promise. Heck - I want everyone to have coverage. And this is one tax I wouldn't have to pay. But it all just seems wrong.

I don't even know why. I'm just tired of vilifying smokers. And frankly the idea of creating a source of funding for children's health care, while simultaneously trying to dry up that source of funding seems a bit counter-productive. I do lots of unhealthy stuff and I get nervous with the whole anti-smoking mentality. What next? Fat-Free restaurants? A tax on brie? Booze-free weddings? The thought is terrifying. Come a day there won't be room for naughty men like us to slip about....

Oh wait.


God, I need a cigarette.

I was fine.

I was fine all day yesterday. Woke up, went to work. I knew it was 9/11, but I was fine. I'd briefly considered digging out an American flag to fly (I know I have one somewhere - is it horrible that I know exactly where my Mexican flag is?) but I was running late. I was fine when I left work, and went to pick up my new glasses. And on the way I had to stop for a fire truck returning to the station. As I sat at the red light watching the fire truck back up & park, I started thinking about those firefighters who died in the Twin Towers, and about Mychel Judge, the chaplain who was victim #1 of the attacks. I just started crying. I'm not fine. There's too much evil in the world, just too much evil in our own country.

Be the change.

Rebel gets political

Honestly, I have not decided who I'm going to vote for in the 2008 elections, and I'm already a bit sick of all the campagning. I think the UK has a much smarter format for elections, the PM says it's time for an election, and boom, they have an election and a new leader is installed. None of this campagning for 3 out of every 4 years. Drives me crazy.

Anyway, I happened to catch a news blurb this morning about Sen. Hillary Clinton. Someone did a poll about how "warm" she was. WARM? Since when is that a presidental quality? Do we honor Lincoln because he gave great hugs or because he signed the emancipation proclaimation?? Did Roosevelt get us through WW2 with his winning smile? WTF???

At this point, I don't care if my presidential candidates are warm & fuzzy or not! I care if they've got the knowledge & experience necessary to run the country, I care that they have respect for the constitution, the judicial branch and the American people. I care if they know the difference between Sweden & Switzerland. I care if they're being influenced by big business or foreign investors. I care if they are honest & ethical. You can like Hillary Clinton or not - and I know a great many people just hate her. Whether you're a Republican or Democrat or Independent or Libertarian, Tory or Whig, please, for the love of your country, please judge your candidates by the qualities that actually matter. I'll get down from my soapbox now.