Yesterday, I asked my students what they were doing this weekend. Many times when I ask students questions like this, they respond with, “How you say in English….” And then they answer in Spanish. So it’s always questionable as to whether or not I understand what they’re saying. When I asked my students yesterday about their upcoming weekend, one of my littlest students said in a very sweet voice, “How you say in English…vamos a matar las vacas?” So I looked at him, thinking I must have heard him incorrectly, and I asked, “You’re going to kill cows?” And he looked very proud and nodded his head. So I asked why, and he said, “Para comer." (To eat) "Vamos a matar todas!!" (We are going to kill them all!) I asked him, “How are you going to kill them?” -- I couldn’t resist asking. I just couldn’t imagine this teeny little boy killing cows. He responded, “Con cuchillo.” With a knife. My seven year old student is spending his weekend stabbing cows. Where am I?
I had another “where am I?” moment this week when one of my students was allowed to pick from my “treasure chest” because of good behavior. He immediately picked out a tiny box of eight crayons, and looked at me absolutely gleaming. “I never…how you say vida? Yes, life. I never in my life had crayons.” Then he hugged me and walked away. They get so happy over the smallest things. My mom sent me a package this week with stencils in it…they were so, so excited about the stencils. I am stocking up on classroom stuff over Christmas!! Let me know if you want to make any classroom donations. :)
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When I was on Pohnpei, I sometimes felt that the 12/13 year olds were older than me! They would catch eel, kill chickens and pigs! Granted, they weren't 2nd graders, but they were much younger than me. Chalk it up to cultural differences? Quality of life?
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