As the discipline has really come along, now it’s time to focus on improving the academics. Yesterday I gave a matching quiz, covering commands to use in the classroom: stand up, sit down, take out, open, close, put away, be quiet, pay attention, etc. Just to make sure they understood how to take the matching quiz, I went over an example beforehand. Now I know there are some test-taking strategies I need to teach them, like on a matching or multiple choice quiz, never leave an answer blank; if you know what “raise your hands” is, you should be able to figure out the translation for “lower your hands”; and always go with your first instincts.
The majority of the students failed what I thought was an effortless quiz. All I can do is encourage them to review and use the material outside of class. Today we moved on to the next topic of asking where someone is from, where he was born and where he now lives. For some reason I used the word “cargar” (to load or charge) and a student repeated the word. I said, “That’s what I said,” as I thought he was correcting my pronunciation. He said I should be careful when pronouncing that word and the class began to giggle. I understood the joke and was able to educate them about the word that they thought I said. They think I pronounced “cargar” like a 4-letter “F” word (to help you understand better), meaning “to strongly make love”. I did explain that even though I don’t use that word in Mexico, I do in many other countries where it simply means, “to seize, catch, grasp or gather”. I said, “For example, ‘I took’ the metro this morning.” This only invited more giggles – never a dull moment teaching junior high.
