Tuesday, January 22, 2013

"You look like Adele!" and other strange things my students say


What does a twelve week semester with eighty students at a university in Iraqi Kurdistan make a teacher? 

That would be slightly crazy and a tad sleep deprived.

My first semester at AUIS is almost at an end, and as I'm starting to see cross-eyed, I think that's a good thing.  It's been a whirl-wind semester and rather than beating myself up for not posting to a website that no one reads, I decided to post stories about my students and my classroom.  

I  am amazed, entertained, enraged, deeply moved, enlightened, frustrated, or a combination of all of those on a daily basis with this great group of young adults, and some of their antics should be recorded. 

The following is an email exchange between a student and myself. The student in this case did not pay attention when I assigned a verb chart for homework:

(Note: Mastaw is the Kurdish phrase for brown-nosing)

Meer: Hi Mrs.Ramey

I Just want to ask you about the Home work sheet that you gave it to us... which verb should we use?


Me:  MEER!!! There were two, I wrote them on the board!!! I want you to call a friend and ask them. If you still can't find out what they are, email me back and I'll tell you...you've got to write down what I put on the board! 


Meer: I'm really really sorry.. I don't have any phone number of my friend.. I was sharing work sheet.. I didn't know ! 


Can you tell me? Please!!   


Me: To decline and to decrease. They better be the best verb charts I've ever seen!! :D


Meer:  Ohhh, thank you so so so much!!!.. I don't know how much I love you!! :) , trust me it's NOT (MASTAW) :D.. 
Thank you !

Me:  If you don't know how much you love me, there is a problem with your memory :D The phrase should have the pronoun you as the subject :D And you can show your love by doing your homework and getting an A in my class! 


Meer: Ow My God !!! I did a huge mistake... I meant (You don't know how much I love you) .. :D


Good Night :)


My battle this semester, along with teaching grammar, has been to encourage my students to think for themselves, use context clues, and above all READ THE DIRECTIONS!  Needless to say, it's been a struggle.

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