First week of school!

At the Berhan Language Institute, kids come and go like torpedoes through a war-torn sea. This way and that way. I'll be walking down the hallway and then one might shout, "Hello Mr. Brandon", I turn and gesture hello and they smile back. It's what makes my day. I have 5 classes this semester all held in the afternoon/evening.

This is my class schedule.

My first class is from 1:30-4:00 pm on M, W, Th, and F. They are my little 2nd graders...the cutest kids I've ever seen! Their nickname for me is Mr. Brae Brae. ha ha. There is Larson (the loudest one who blinks really hard and always wants tokens [which are incentives for them to know their vocab, sentence structures, etc]), William (always funny and crazy), Belinda (the smart girl), Emily (she always says, "thank you, bye bye" whenever she hands me an assignment and I say Ok, good. It's super cute. She's also my little helper in class and loves to erase the whiteboard and mark the calendar), and Jason (the cutest little asian you'll ever meet! I could really steal him right now and keep him forever. He always does this high pitched voice when he reads or when he laughs, he falls straight to the floor. It's darling). This is my favorite class because it allows me the chance to play like a kid. This week we've played mostly mother-may-I and the kids have thrown in things like, "eat Mr. Brandon" and everyone runs at me, mouths wide open, and pretend to eat me. Or they are like "Tickle Jason" and everyone runs and tickles Jason. It's always go-go-go in that class and wears me out real quick but every second is worth it.

My next class is from 4:40 - 6:40 pm on M, W, F. They are 6th graders and the ones I have to be most strict with. They are loud and obnoxious. The first day the girls and the guys were on opposite sides of the room, sticking tongues at each other, throwing napkins at each other, etc...and the head boss of the school eventually came in and scooted their desks together and insisted they behave. I've since arranged their desks differently and it's been better although at times I have to tell some of them to sit next to me or go to the corner. I'm surprised at how sexual these kids are at this age. Half the time they talk about "inviting a girl to blow trumpet with me" or "this guy has a long head". They always laugh at things like "sexy" or have this weird inside joke about Anne Frank. I just don't get them sometimes.

Another 6th grade class I have is from 4:40 - 6:40 on T, Th, Sat. They are the complete opposite of my other 6th grade class. They are well behaved and engaged with what I'm saying. Last class we had a complete discussion on superheroes and now we are doing an assignment in class where we are creating a superhero newspaper. It's quite fun, actually. A lot of them remind me of my little bro, Riley. They are all really into computer games and star wars/harry potter/twilight. They are lovable dorks. I really enjoy all of them. At breaks we go outside to play a bit of basketball. They are all really good. It's quite fun to watch and occasionally toss up the ball despite me sucking at it.

My other 2 classes are writing classes. One is on Tue from 6:50 - 9:00 pm and the other is W, F from 6:50 - 9:00 pm. The Tuesday one only had one girl in it. She was about 17 and we just chatted the whole time and played Guess Who. She was really nice and interesting. I hope other people show up to that class. I'd really like to do a project with a local radio station or something. The other class has 3 boys in it. They are fun just to chat around with and like games a lot. They actually created their own game last semester and we've been trying to learn it. They are just goofballs and easy to talk to.

I'm really liking this teaching thing. I'm reminded about how nice it feels to be called their teacher, whether it be the times when my kids eyes light up when they finally get something or when a kid says hello to me in the hall. I own a part of their minds now and it's my turn to make them all shining stars! ha ha...hokey, I know. :)