Yesterday the English teacher at Lucy's school called to ask if I would help her with a project. Of course I agreed and we met this morning when I dropped Lucy off at Chess Club. As with most things here, I had no idea exactly what to expect.
It turns out that she had been given a designated classroom and wanted me to help decorate it. The tricky thing with something like this is that it was obvious she already had an idea of exactly what she wanted, but just didn't know how to make that happen. I didn't exactly know what she wanted me to do. She had a ton of various posters so I went about sorting them into piles of what would be helpful and ones that were too advanced.
Then she started taping them to the walls. (Yikes! I am sure she ruined the walls!! And they were crooked!)
Once the walls were practically wallpapered with various posters she pulled up some pictures that she had found on the internet. Now, I LOVE the internet and I know you can find some adorable things on it. But, that sort of cutesy, crafty type stuff just does not work well here. First off, the supplies and things you can find here are totally different. Secondly, let's just say, this isn't so much a Pintrest/ Etsy type culture. Nevertheless, Saliha Hanım wanted to go for it.
Since she was out of double-sided poster tape (aka- wall-killer) she decided we should walk to the school supply store a block away.
This is where I should tell you that as we were decorating the classroom it was full of about 45 7 year olds who had come early for English Club. They were doing book work. We headed out to the school supply store just as the bell rang for school to start. So, she told some kids to go into her first period class, tell the kids she would be late, and for the class president to take names.
We got the dreaded poster tape, but the shop didn't have letters that she could use to make the wall art that she had found on the internet. The shopkeeper suggested that the sign-maker could easily and inexpensively make a sign similar to what she was wanting.
Perfect! So we headed to the sign-maker.
He was only four blocks down the road behind the gas station.
Need I remind you that there were probably about 50 second grade students going wild in their classroom waiting for their English teacher to arrive?!
We go to the sign-maker and sure enough he can make something similar to what she is wanting... while we wait.
An hour later and half-way into second period we head back to school. I spent the rest of the lesson answering, "Vat iz your name?" "How old rrr you?" and "Color?" It was fun!
Then she said that she had made lunch for us. There was one more class until the 20 minute snack break. What should we do till then?
Um... teach your next class?
We started out the next class by answering the same questions I had answered for the previous kids. The kids were shy and their English level is really low. (It could have something to do with their teacher not showing up to class occasionally, but I'm not sure!) Anyhow, the kids were cute and sweet and very giggly. Once the questions got old, she gave them some bookwork and then began introducing me to her family via pictures on her smartphone.
The bell rang and we headed down to the teacher's lounge. I felt like an errant 6 year old in there! I clearly did not belong. So, I sat quietly and ate the lunch she had prepared for me.
Once the bell rang we headed back up to the third floor to Lucy's class. All the kids know me and were so excited to have me in their class. Again, I went through the standard questions. Again and again and again. Every once in a while, Lucy, showing off, would bust out some advanced question like, "What's your favorite animal?" or "Do you have and brothers or sisters?"
It was great!
After the class ended it was 4:30! I told Saliha that I had to go and ran home to get there in time to meet Noah and Callie off the bus.
If you are still with me after that long boring story, congratulations! This story is an example of why I can't seem to get anything done! I thought that I was going to drop by the school for an hour, and then I had a list of things I needed to do. Of course, they got put off until another day. Another moral of this story is that, if your kids go to local school, don't expect the teacher to actually show up for class!
