Oh, to be young again

With May came a new (and improved!) class schedule. The best part being done at 8pm instead of 9! v. exciting. I also teach the same class three times in one day, so instead of lesson planning for 6 different classes, I only have to plan for 4 classes. It's cut my planning time in half. The downside being I had to teach the perfect tense 3 times in one afternoon last week. That wasn't so exciting.

The biggest change is that I finally got the jovenes class I had been asking for ever since I got here. The four o'clock hour is reserved for teenagers, and I had wanted to teach them from the beginning. I loved my TABby cats, and thought it would be a lot of fun. All the other teachers hate teaching them, and thought I was crazy. Of course, teaching them is a bit different than just planning cool things for them to do in the library. During my first class, they all asked me to go to the bathroom at least once. That's when I started my "no bathroom" policy. Class only lasts an hour. They can hold it. Not all the students had books, so I asked one of the girls to share with a boy. The reaction: "Eeeewwwwww, no teacher!" Oh, right. I forgot about that. I told her he didn't have cooties, but I think cooties was lost in translation. They "shared" the book by sitting as far away from each other as they could.

The jovenes are much more likely to speak Spanish in class than the adults. They're also much more likely to talk in class than the adults. That's when I break out The Librarian Stink Eye to get them to shut up. It works for about 30 seconds, then the whispering and giggling starts up again. I've already seperated a few. (Actually, it's really just a pack of 4 girls. The rest of the class is just fine.) They're really preoccupied with finishing an assignment first. As soon as they finish an activity, they immediately yell "Teacher, finished!" "I don't care" is my usual response. I'm trying to teach them I want it done right, not fast. And I've never heard whining like I hear every day when I assign homework. (I know, I'm so mean.) As soon as I write the word "homework" on the board, I hear a chorus of "Teeaaacher, Noooooooo!" from behind me. "What are you whining for? You never do it anyway!" This is true. I'm lucky if two of them do their homework, and it's clear they only did it to get it done. (They get a treat at the end of the week if they did all their homework.)

The funniest moment came the other day when one of the boys pointed to the other boy and said, "Teacher, he wants to be your girlfriend!" Huh. Soooo many things have to change for that to happen.