Teachah!

Today was letter C day in first grade.  "C.  Ck.  C.  Ck.  Cry."  Point to crying boy.  "Cry."  Yep.  There were two criers.  They missed their mommies.  Crying boy eventually became interested in writing C on the chalkboard.  I gave him a star sticker.  Woah.  You would have thought it was gold.  All the kids started raising their hand saying, "K'nyom!  K'nyom!"  That means Me.  I said, "Quiet.  Shhhhh," and only gave chalk to quiet kids.  Pretty soon the classroom was almost silent with a bunch of eager hands in the air. 

My fourth graders learned how to tell time today.  I moved the hands on this clock and said, "What time is it?"  First, they learned the hour, then the half hour.  3 o'clock.  7:30.  That sort of thing.  I didn't move onto 8:14 because that would have blown their minds. 

We sang a few exciting rounds of "Head, shoulder, knees, and toes."  They also learned the word, tongue, because their teacher like to stick out her tongue.  Weirdo. 

In fifth grade, I was assessing the childrens' knowledge.  I asked, "Is the water bottle above or under the table?"  Total silence and confusion.  I asked them to write and finish the sentence - I have __________.  One girl wrote I have dog, ribbit, and hen.  Another boy wrote I have egg.  Clearly, the concept of plural nouns will be covered at some point.  (There is no plural in Khmer.)

My first graders were learning colors, and I was saying the Khmer words too.  The word for yellow is a diphthong and sounds like loo-ung.  I said, "Loo-ung.  Ha ha.  That's not a word."  I kept trying to get it right, and the kids were laughing at their silly teachah who can't say yellow. 

Is it odd that I taught my kids how to fist pump?  Maybe.  But you should see their grimy hands.  They kept wanting to do a hand shake because that is what Americans do.  However, after noticing the bacteria-fest on their hands, I decided a fist pump was a better choice.