Before I begin with the latest batch of Ligerisms from the kids, I want to send out a big Happy Birthday to my lovely mother-in-law, Barbara Gubb, who has always been among my most loyal blog followers and appreciators. Since we can't be there to make a fruit salad and have dinner with you, I dedicate this blog post to you. I hope you have an amazing day! xxoo
If you know me, you know that I have always loved babies and that I have only ever wanted to teach the youngest kids wherever I was. When I was a camp counselor at the YMCA in Buffalo, and later on at Nobles, I was with the "ones," or the rising first graders. This meant I had to sunscreen up to thirty tiny bodies twice a day, take hundreds of parent calls and worry too much about food allergies; it was worth it.
I studied Early Childhood Education, a major which has since been discontinued because it was seen as too narrow a focus. (It was perfect for me.) My student teaching was in K, first and second grades, and my first real job was in a kindergarten classroom. That year we dealt with one kid smashing another over the head with a block, multiple incidents when the room needed to be cleared because of a student meltdown, a case of lice, and another student falling from the top of the play loft. I freaking loved it. I mean, c'mon! We also got to hatch baby chicks and visit a donut factory!
Before starting at Liger, my oldest students were third graders. And these were kids I had also had as second graders. So, when I came to Liger with the promise of teaching 8 and 9 year olds, and found out there was actually a mixture of 9 and 10-almost-11-year-olds, I was a little bit grumpy. How many eight-year-olds did Liger have that first year?? Only THREE! I consoled myself with the fact that they all had the English skill level of much younger children, and for the most part, were much smaller physically than their husky American counterparts. I managed.
**To be clear -- I was eager for my students to be happy, healthy, smart and linguistically proficient. I would never intentionally starve students of food or knowledge, simply to conform them to my preferred parameters.**
I know this has been a heart-rending read so far -- the trials and tribulations of someone who can't handle students over the age of six. What a lot in life. But, I am here today to tell you that so far, against all odds, I have survived the first two months of the Liger students transitioning to middle school. This post shall be the start of my memoir, the working title of which is: The Long, Sweaty Road: One Teacher's Experience with Flirtation, Body Odor and Four Thousand WHYs.
Currently, our oldest student has just turned fourteen, while our youngest is not even twelve. Quite the range. Some of our boys are skinny, baby-faced little things, with piercingly high voices that echo through the halls, while others are almost taller than me, with deep voices and the beginnings of facial hair. (Jeff would tell you a few of them actually have real facial hair, but I refuse to accept that). Let's just say its a pretty mixed bag.
 |
| If this had been year one, and we said be silly, they would've been silly. Note the composure now.... |
Female Student: Carooohhh, Male Student won't stop following me!
Me: Well, maybe he thinks you're pretty...
Female Student (running away): CAROOOOOHHHH!! NOOOO!!!
Male Student (totally oblivious): What did you say?
Me: She said you were following her and I said maybe its because you think she's pretty.
Male Student (smiling slyly): Nope. Someone else thinks she's pretty already, so I can't think she's pretty...cuz, you know...
Teaching Literacy, I didn't think I would run into so many situations that are embarrassing or funny for the kids. Turns out I was wrong. Teaching the definition of the verb to peck, for example: they were very forthcoming with the bird-related meaning, but NO ONE volunteered to define the kissing version until an entire table of girls ventured into this tricky territory together, with voices barely above whispers. I tried to neutralize it, by giving a "peck on the cheek" example, but even that was met with giggles. I was just glad we didn't get into "was pecking...he pecked me..." Maybe next year.
On a vocab quiz, I instructed the students to write a sentence using the word glance. Three of my boys wrote about glancing at cute girls -- in the market, at school, it didn't matter. They then, quite unabashedly, raised their hands to share their answers when we were going over the quiz in class. Ladies, take note.
The students are also incredibly immersed in American pop culture these days. They have always loved music, and have known most popular songs since they got their computers, but recently it has invaded the classroom. When asked for the meaning of a bay (body of water), I had one girl write "the name you call your boyfriend or girlfriend." I had a male student ask me, very innocently, if I wore Apple Bottom jeans. When asked about the plot of his guided reading book, and who the most popular boy was (in the book), another student responded with "Justin Beiber." As their reading levels progress and the type of book they are interested in changes, I have had to provide definitions for such shocking words as "jockstrap" and "mooning people." I actually get a kick out of describing these words, but the best is when only one kid in the group knows it and is trying to get his/her peers to understand the meaning without saying anything embarrassing. Good luck.
On the other end of the spectrum, these kids are still such sweethearts. They are still pretty sheltered in some regards, especially when it comes to dating or sex. Kissing is not prevalent in Khmer culture. In speaking with my male colleagues about whether they kiss their wives goodbye in the morning before work, they literally laughed in my face. Absolutely not, it just would never happen. Another colleague told me she has never, in all her life, witnessed her parents kiss. She is in her early 30s. As a result, our kids still giggle, and many of them cover their eyes, if they are watching a movie with a kissing scene.
Another example of their innocence is when I asked one of my male students where he was going that day, as I had received an email that he and a female student would be missing class that day. He said, trying to be cryptic, that they were going to get their "two balls checked," and pointed to his eyes, just a little too late. This is in front of about 12 other students. No one batted an eye. I had to keep from snorting myself. If that had happened in an American 7th grade classroom, forget it.
Besides all the laughs, the thing I have appreciated the most about working with this age group so far is their ability to take control over their own lives, finally seeing themselves as a part of something bigger. I will leave you with one really inspiring conversation I had with one of my middle schoolers (gag).
This is a girl who did not really stand out the first year. She remained in the middle of the pack in year two, and it was not until last year that she really started to gain a place at the top, due almost entirely to her passion for reading and subsequently developed reading and writing skills. She is part of my two-woman fiction writing team, and has astounded me with her natural writing ability. This week, I took her aside and told her how amazed I was with her product so far, and said that she could definitely go to university if that was what she wanted to do. I told her, rather emotionally, that she was a gifted, hardworking writer and she should believe in herself. She sort of looked down at me (she's among our tallest students as well) and was like..."yeah, I know, that's my plan."
She went on to say, very plainly, that she intended to go to university (not sure where yet) and study psychology. She then wants to get a job where she can make a lot of money (she is thinking pharmacy-related) over a short period of time, and then invest in a 5-star hotel. She plans to eventually own one and live in the penthouse ("Caro, do you know what a penthouse is?"). This is a kid from a province two hours from the city who did not speak a word of English when she got here. She had only been to Phnom Penh a handful of times before arriving for her first day at Liger. Within three years she has become an amazing, self-confident, independently driven young woman. It's been pretty cool to watch it all go down.
Also, Kate (sister) and Ty (brother-in-law) had their baby, and she's the best thing ever. Forget everything I wrote above and just remember Cara Isabel Barns' perfectly squishy face...
