Story Time

Story Time...
Coming in as an outsider who does not speak the language, I have had so many funny happenings … some of my favorites have happened in the classroom…

Desert anyone?
When teaching a lesson about a desert in Africa cute little Andre raises his hand, “Miss Bolek, isn’t it a tart?” What is the difference between desert (one s) and dessert (2 s) anyway?… we laughed as we imagined a giant sugar cake (tart) in the middle of the African desert.

Cannot/ can’t
My fifth graders were learning about contractions- when you put two words together with an apostrophe. One little guy raised his hand, “what is it called when mom has a baby and….” He then proceeds to show the whole class what it looks like when a woman is in labor …“Ah yes, Contractions! He was right!

Come and get it
I have had MANY students ask me about our American rap songs and R&B songs… many of my explanations end with, “Ask your parents.”

Who’s your mom?
On one particularly rough day I had an 8^th grader reply, “Yes, mom” Oh, this was it… I was not going to stand for this… My name is Miss Bolek, not mom! So after sternly correcting him he looked back at me with a confused look… “I thought I was being respectful… Mom, isn’t that a term of respect?” “Ohhhhhhhhh, M’am!! Oops!”

Scavenger hunt?
I have volunteered many times not really knowing what I was volunteering for. Well, last week I agreed to help out on a field trip for ALL middle school students. I was ½ way there when I looked around… I was the only native English speaker…ok, not too out of the ordinary… surely someone can translate for me. Well, lets just say, I got dropped off in the middle of the woods with a stamp and a pen. “You are station one- bye bye.” Ok, so for the next four hours I made the kids do the “chicken dance to their favorite song.” It was only then that they received their stamp. I have no idea if this is what I was supposed to do, but it seems that station one was a success! Of course it didn’t hold a match to the station with guns and grenades, but that is another story!

Fire Drill
Now, I’m not sure if this was lost in translation but…If there is ever a fire at school… the teachers run up and down the hallways yelling, “Fire” in Slovak. There is just one problem…. I’m not too sure how to say it.

Ah, the stories go on and on...