Back to School!

    The first week back at school (three days a teaching) has been great! I decided to play games to ease us back into it and the students responded very well. Here are the highlights from the week:
    In a middle school class, I was talking about winter in Spokane, Washington. But, their level of English is pretty weak...so when they hear one word that they understand everyone begins to shout other words that go along with the subject. So, when I said 'Washington' they chorused things like, 'Barack Obama!', 'D.C.', and one girl shouts 'George Washington!'. I told her that George Washington has been dead for quite a while now to which she was a little surprised and responded with, 'ahhh ouais?!' which means 'no, really!?' It was priceless.
    In my most advanced class the students played a game where I gave each of them a 'profession' and they had to speed date with each other to try and discover everyone's job. They got really into it and created their own personages to make it more fun. The farmer in the group: 'I work in the country, in the landscape. I have a tractor.' It was great to see them work and use their vocabulary in a fun way.
    In a fairly advanced sophomore class today, we played a game where they had to guess the celebrity that was taped to their back. Turns out being Justin Bieber is the worst option. I thought Paris Hilton would be worse. We also played a game that I stole from Keri Ann. I drew a picture and the students faced each other in pairs. The student who was facing me had to describe the image to their partner who would try and replicate the image without seeing it. The best description I overheard was "at the bottom there is an....ass." He was describing hills in the foreground but his partner looked a little worried but dutifully drew a small derriere on the page. Perfect.
    In other news, Janelle is very sick while in the Philippines partaking in the Peace Corps. Today, she turned a corner and is officially on her way to being healthy again. But, while discussing her illness and what its like to be seriously sick in a third world country she gave me the best piece of advice while chatting from her hospital bed. She simply said, "Oh Krista, get the fuck ready". And that I will.
    I'm off to Nantes to have a fabulous weekend with the Assistant crew and Arran who is visiting from Scotland. A plus tard!