I now have a month of solid teaching under my belt, which enables me to reflect on the rewards of teaching (giving back, changing lives, yadda yadda we've all seen that Hallmark commercial) as well as on the downsides (the 9th circle of hell that is school administration, classroom management, not having a fluent mastery of the student mother tongue, the list goes on). By far the biggest drawback, especially during Southern Hemisphere winter, is the constant exposure to germ-ridden tykes. In other words, yes, I'm sick for the second time in two months. But I'm sucking it up (*snnniiiifff, snooorrrk*), ODing on fruits and veggies and trying to find the humor in the situation. Such as:
*One of my students reacting to my correction of her pronunciation of an English word by making fun of my congested voice and trying to correct *my* stuffy pronunciation.
*My host family telling me my English sounds nicer with a cold, because I have more of a British accent. Ha.
*I start every class with "Good/morning class (good morning Miss Rebecca) and "how are you today?" (fine thank you and yoooooou?). So I used illness as a teachable moment, explaining the difference between "I am cold" and "I have a cold" (which switch am/have verbs in their Spanish translations). When one boy finally grasped what I was trying to say, he used a hand to wipe his snotty nose, and gave a big sniff before responding "But Miss, why?"
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