The second grade class is my least favorite. It is my last class on Mondays and Thursdays. It lasts an hour. The teacher is boring and the kids are visibly bored. They sit a their desks cutting their erasers into little, tiny pieces and then build piles out of them. They also play with their pencil shavings. Don't ask me what they do with them because I don't really understand what is so special about pencil shavings, I guess that's a clear indication of their boredom level.
Last Thursday I had a particularly interesting experience in this class. It was right before the weekend (for me) and I was bored, hungry, and itching to get out. The teacher began reviewing the unit, animals, in front of the class like usual. Over the past week we had reviewed names of all the different types of animals, wild, farm, aquatic, etc. We also reviewed questions that could be asked on the subject, for example, "Donde vive (enter animal here)?".
The teacher was following her usual reviewing routine and here is what proceeded to happen:
Teacher: "How do you say, 'Donde vive la vaca' in English?"
Student #1: "What does the cow eat?" (for descriptive purposes I will tell you that this student is the only asian kid in the school, and is also the niece of the 2nd grade teacher and the daughter of the 4 year old teacher.)
Teacher: No, la pregunta es "Donde vive la vaca"? Clara have you studied?
Student #2 raises her hand.
Student #2: "Where the cow live?"
Teacher: DOES, WHERE DOES THE COW LIVE? REPEAT, Where DOES the cow live?
Student #2: Where do the cow live?
Teacher: DO, DO, NO! WHERE DOES THE COW LIVE? (the teacher is very angry at this point. She keeps looking at me with the expression, 'what the hell is going on', these kids are the devil, and she's flapping her hands at her sides with wide, angry eyes and disbelief). Now, answer the question, "Where does the cow live?".
Student #3 bravely raises her hand.
Student #3: The cow lives in the farm.
Teacher: (in Spanish yelling and scaring me at this point) YES FINALLY, YOU GET A 10, EVERYONE ELSE GETS A ZERO! WHY HAS NO ONE STUDIED, the question is "WHERE DOES THE COW LIVE, WHERE DOES THE COW LIVE", we have gone over this for over 2 weeks, you have it in your notebook, WHY have you not studied? CLEARLY, no one in this classroom CARES AT ALL about learning ENGLISH. YOU DON'T STUDY! The question is "WHERE DOES THE COW LIVE", the answer is "THE COW LIVES ON THE FARM"!!
After looking at me and looking at the students and back and forth with a look of anger and disbelief and scariness the teacher finally said:
Stacey, you can go, clearly no one cares about learning. (She said this in Spanish, quickly, and barely looking at me because she was so upset.)
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So I left, I mean ran out of this crazy ladies classroom. It was 20 minutes before the end of school.
My first reaction was to laugh. I mean really, these kids are in 2nd grade, they can barely say colors in english, how do you expect them to remember "Where does the cow live?". And also, when in real life would you ever need to ask "Where does the cow live?". I know she was trying to broaden their English skills, and I know that the kids should have studied more, but they can only fit so much in their little brains. It was funny watching this screaming, rampaging, 40-year old Spanish lady, yelling "Where does the cow live" over and over again. She was so upset over a sentence about cows. I laughed about it then and am still laughing about it.
When I went into the class today we reviewed these same questions. Every single kid knew how to say "Donde vive la vaca" in English. They also knew that the cow lives on the farm. Lesson learned.
Last Thursday I had a particularly interesting experience in this class. It was right before the weekend (for me) and I was bored, hungry, and itching to get out. The teacher began reviewing the unit, animals, in front of the class like usual. Over the past week we had reviewed names of all the different types of animals, wild, farm, aquatic, etc. We also reviewed questions that could be asked on the subject, for example, "Donde vive (enter animal here)?".
The teacher was following her usual reviewing routine and here is what proceeded to happen:
Teacher: "How do you say, 'Donde vive la vaca' in English?"
Student #1: "What does the cow eat?" (for descriptive purposes I will tell you that this student is the only asian kid in the school, and is also the niece of the 2nd grade teacher and the daughter of the 4 year old teacher.)
Teacher: No, la pregunta es "Donde vive la vaca"? Clara have you studied?
Student #2 raises her hand.
Student #2: "Where the cow live?"
Teacher: DOES, WHERE DOES THE COW LIVE? REPEAT, Where DOES the cow live?
Student #2: Where do the cow live?
Teacher: DO, DO, NO! WHERE DOES THE COW LIVE? (the teacher is very angry at this point. She keeps looking at me with the expression, 'what the hell is going on', these kids are the devil, and she's flapping her hands at her sides with wide, angry eyes and disbelief). Now, answer the question, "Where does the cow live?".
Student #3 bravely raises her hand.
Student #3: The cow lives in the farm.
Teacher: (in Spanish yelling and scaring me at this point) YES FINALLY, YOU GET A 10, EVERYONE ELSE GETS A ZERO! WHY HAS NO ONE STUDIED, the question is "WHERE DOES THE COW LIVE, WHERE DOES THE COW LIVE", we have gone over this for over 2 weeks, you have it in your notebook, WHY have you not studied? CLEARLY, no one in this classroom CARES AT ALL about learning ENGLISH. YOU DON'T STUDY! The question is "WHERE DOES THE COW LIVE", the answer is "THE COW LIVES ON THE FARM"!!
After looking at me and looking at the students and back and forth with a look of anger and disbelief and scariness the teacher finally said:
Stacey, you can go, clearly no one cares about learning. (She said this in Spanish, quickly, and barely looking at me because she was so upset.)
--------------------------
So I left, I mean ran out of this crazy ladies classroom. It was 20 minutes before the end of school.
My first reaction was to laugh. I mean really, these kids are in 2nd grade, they can barely say colors in english, how do you expect them to remember "Where does the cow live?". And also, when in real life would you ever need to ask "Where does the cow live?". I know she was trying to broaden their English skills, and I know that the kids should have studied more, but they can only fit so much in their little brains. It was funny watching this screaming, rampaging, 40-year old Spanish lady, yelling "Where does the cow live" over and over again. She was so upset over a sentence about cows. I laughed about it then and am still laughing about it.
--------------------------
When I went into the class today we reviewed these same questions. Every single kid knew how to say "Donde vive la vaca" in English. They also knew that the cow lives on the farm. Lesson learned.
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