Thursday, November 05, 2009

I Feel Like Shit Too, Kid!

Yesterday, it was time for my after school class and in walks my most frustrating student. He was early.

He's really not a bad kid (some of them really are) he's just legitimately hyperactive. His mind and his body are all over the place. (For the first 15 min of class he stabbed 3 rocks with scissors. Though, he gave me the rocks as a gift after class.)

This kid just has a fire in his eyes, you can see that he's actually a pretty good student, if you can just reel him in... which is easier said than done when you don't speak his language. He and I have come a long way lately. We are finally used to each other and I'm starting to see a lot of progress... anyway...

He walks in and instead of immediately muttering obscenities at him (no need to do it under my breath here, he can't understand me) I instead decide to greet him.

Brit: "Hello, how are you?"
Kid: ...???...   (blank stare, I swear I can hear crickets)
Brit: (I try again. 37 weeks of the same thing... he should know this by now) "How... are... you? Happy? (I point to my big cheesy grin) Sad? (now I pretend to cry) Angry?" (I start growling at him and shaking my head)
Kid: (he starts stomping and flailing his arms while growling and shaking his head wildly)
Brit: "You're angry?"
Kid: (Jumps up and down nodding)
Brit: "Why?"
Kid: (Wraps his arms around his stomach and bends over moaning)
Brit: "You are sick?" (Makes sense, everyone is out with some flu or cold)
Kid: (Again jumps up and down while nodding)
Brit: "Oh, that's too bad. (a vocabulary phrase he should know) You have a stomach ache? "  ( I point to my stomach)
Kid: "No, teacher...." he actually says and takes the marker out of my hand and starts to draw on the marker board.

I'm intrigued and stand there while he draws his ailment on the board only to burst out into laughter when I realize he drew a big pile of crap!!!

Brit: (still laughing) "Oh, no!"
Kid: (laughing while holding his stomach and moaning in agony) "Oooh no, teacher...."

We both stood there laughing while the rest of the class showed up. He was actually really good in class... once he stopped stabbing those rocks.
If you are reading this, then I'm impressed... you just did a whole lot of reading!!