The results from my super funziparty poll are in! the winner: HOME! I suspect various family members had a lot to do with that one..
In second place: Istanbul! Which, is far more likely. I'm suprised by only one vote for Tunisia- which was the place I was decidedly leaning towards when I initially posted the poll.
I am entirely discounting the "Other" category which received a whopping 2 votes because I know that one of those votes was by Hookie pulling for Coopersburg, Pennsylvania and the other from Torbs for Minnesota... This was a serious poll!
In other news- I am astounded and apalled that my last THREE posts have been about teaching and my classes. Ugh. Looks like this gal needs to get a life! I shall endeavor henceforth to post about other things. Like.. QAT! and... Goats everywhere! And... water shortages! And... my new good buddy, the security guard!
Shall I do another poll?!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Monkeying around
Recently in class we were talking about daily/habitual activities and chores. One of my students, Ra’afat was giving a little speech about how he helped his parents from a very young age. “...When I am six, everyday I ride my monkey to the well, for getting the water...” He was right in the middle of a speech but I just couldn’t let that one go, “Wait.. WHAT? Hold on.. your MONKEY?! You rode a monkey to the well? To get water? Whatttt. A Monkey? Seriously? Seriously.”
He goes “oh yes teacher, I rode the monkey everyday, every day!”
I go, “uh.. okaaaay. Sure.” And I gave a quizzical look to the rest of the class. They all nodded solemnly and assured me that yes, indeed he did ride a monkey, many of them had as was common in some outlying villages. Ra’afat gave me a little triumphant look as in, see teacher! Everyone is corroborating my story! Sweet, sweet victory! And then he continued on, describing how helpful he was to his family, and how, as he got older he eventually outgrew the monkey and just walked to the well- at this comment I accidently let out a derisive snort, like no shit Ra’afat, unless you were riding Koko the giant gorilla, I suspect you “outgrew your monkey” pretty dang quickly.
Awhile later in a bit of a tourettic outburst (outbursts that are growing more and more frequent as my brain is further addled by such a surfeit of time toiling under the blistering Yemeni sun. Palms, you know what I’m talking about. Mom, think chicken noise) I made an OOH-OOH-AHH-AHH noise and flung my arms about in a little spontaneous monkey dance. They were like “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” or, more accurately, “OOOH TEACHER! WHAT YOU DOINGK?”
“Ummm… that was a monkey, duh.”
And they go, “that’s a monkey?! Well then what was Ra’afat riding?!”
Later ra’afat told me he had six people check his paper before he gave his speech, and monkey made it to the bitter end. Listen, it's called a donkey.
He goes “oh yes teacher, I rode the monkey everyday, every day!”
I go, “uh.. okaaaay. Sure.” And I gave a quizzical look to the rest of the class. They all nodded solemnly and assured me that yes, indeed he did ride a monkey, many of them had as was common in some outlying villages. Ra’afat gave me a little triumphant look as in, see teacher! Everyone is corroborating my story! Sweet, sweet victory! And then he continued on, describing how helpful he was to his family, and how, as he got older he eventually outgrew the monkey and just walked to the well- at this comment I accidently let out a derisive snort, like no shit Ra’afat, unless you were riding Koko the giant gorilla, I suspect you “outgrew your monkey” pretty dang quickly.
Awhile later in a bit of a tourettic outburst (outbursts that are growing more and more frequent as my brain is further addled by such a surfeit of time toiling under the blistering Yemeni sun. Palms, you know what I’m talking about. Mom, think chicken noise) I made an OOH-OOH-AHH-AHH noise and flung my arms about in a little spontaneous monkey dance. They were like “WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!” or, more accurately, “OOOH TEACHER! WHAT YOU DOINGK?”
“Ummm… that was a monkey, duh.”
And they go, “that’s a monkey?! Well then what was Ra’afat riding?!”
Later ra’afat told me he had six people check his paper before he gave his speech, and monkey made it to the bitter end. Listen, it's called a donkey.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Crucial pronunciation activity
The other day I played a clip of someone yelling “RUBBER BABY BUGGY BUMPER! RUBBER BABY BUGGY BUMPER! RUBBER BABY BUGGY BUMPER!” over and over again for no discernible reason until my whole class was shouting it as fast as they could at various degrees of success.
Awhile later someone finally asked “why did we do that teacher?"
“Um..Because it was funny? Claro."
Awhile later someone finally asked “why did we do that teacher?"
“Um..Because it was funny? Claro."
Saturday, November 14, 2009
touche
Every once in awhile I’ll give my classes a pop quiz, just to keep them on their toes, to ensure that they are studying. They like it because they get extra credit or treats; I like it because it takes time and is virtually effortless on my part. I give the quiz to both classes, with the implicit instructions that the first class not say anything to the second class. Pop quizzes are supposed to POP up and catch you by surprise. Usually the quizzes pertain to some sort of grammar minutiae or spelling nonsense. The other day however, I bombarded them with the “Life and Times of the Hanley Family, Quiz Explosion!” I only included questions that at some point, no matter how fleeting the mentioning might have been, I said in class. My first class sucked, but as always there was a clear winner who happily enjoyed a chocolate bar and some extra cred.
I announced the pop quiz to my second class and their clapping and fist pumping turned to groans of dismay when I wrote the topic on the board (in hindsight I should have noticed the sly glints in their eyes… hmph.)
I went over the answers orally after they all handed in their papers-
Taryn: “Where am I from?”
Class: “Bremerton Washington! In America, Not Obama’s Washington! The state!” They all shouted. Whoa.
Taryn: “What did my parents get shortly before I moved to Yemen?”
Class: “Two cats! Two cats, one black, one white! Puf! Pip!”
I started getting suspicious. They all grinned back at me innocently.
Taryn: “What appliance recently broke in my house?”
Class: “Your washing machine! It broke last night! All your clothes are soaking wet!”
Taryn: “How do you spell my sisters name?”
Class: “K-A-L-L-Y-N! She is older than you by two years, she lives in Portland!”
Taryn: “ALL I ASKED WAS HER NAME! HOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE SHE LIVES? WHO TOLD YOU THERE WAS A POP QUIZ!?”
Before I could even ask the rest of the questions they all started shouting “You went to Lehigh University and played girl baseball. You are afraid from the spiders! Your favorite color is GREEN like the color of Islam! WOOOHOOOOO!!”
My second class, sneaky devils that they are, ALL, and I mean every single one of them, memorized the answers for the super secret pop quiz. Every single person got a hundred percent. They were cracking up at this, the ultimate joke on the teacher. Here I thought I was being funny and silly by quizzing them about the life and times of TK Hanley but really they were getting me good. They started shouting, “Treats and Extra credit for everyone, teacher! Bring cake! No test tomorrow, 100% for everyone! Full marks! We want a party!”
I announced the pop quiz to my second class and their clapping and fist pumping turned to groans of dismay when I wrote the topic on the board (in hindsight I should have noticed the sly glints in their eyes… hmph.)
I went over the answers orally after they all handed in their papers-
Taryn: “Where am I from?”
Class: “Bremerton Washington! In America, Not Obama’s Washington! The state!” They all shouted. Whoa.
Taryn: “What did my parents get shortly before I moved to Yemen?”
Class: “Two cats! Two cats, one black, one white! Puf! Pip!”
I started getting suspicious. They all grinned back at me innocently.
Taryn: “What appliance recently broke in my house?”
Class: “Your washing machine! It broke last night! All your clothes are soaking wet!”
Taryn: “How do you spell my sisters name?”
Class: “K-A-L-L-Y-N! She is older than you by two years, she lives in Portland!”
Taryn: “ALL I ASKED WAS HER NAME! HOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE SHE LIVES? WHO TOLD YOU THERE WAS A POP QUIZ!?”
Before I could even ask the rest of the questions they all started shouting “You went to Lehigh University and played girl baseball. You are afraid from the spiders! Your favorite color is GREEN like the color of Islam! WOOOHOOOOO!!”
My second class, sneaky devils that they are, ALL, and I mean every single one of them, memorized the answers for the super secret pop quiz. Every single person got a hundred percent. They were cracking up at this, the ultimate joke on the teacher. Here I thought I was being funny and silly by quizzing them about the life and times of TK Hanley but really they were getting me good. They started shouting, “Treats and Extra credit for everyone, teacher! Bring cake! No test tomorrow, 100% for everyone! Full marks! We want a party!”
wait... we can both speak English
A couple days ago I was at a store buying some more phone units for my mobile. I was loitering around outside trying to enter the super-de-duper secret pin code, as was another older man of solid European stock. We both glanced up, gave each other a nod and a friendly, “salaam aleikum” “wa aleikum asalaam, kaif halek?” “Be kheir, Hamduliallah( insert generic Arabic greeting/pleasantries here)” and returned our focus to the pressing need of sending text messages. After a second or two we both looked up at the same time, made eye contact and I stammered… “uh.. I mean.. hello. Hi there, how’s it going?”
And he goes, “yeah… I mean hello. Clearly neither of us are Arab. So… hey, what’s up?” and we giggled shyly, smiled, and went on our merry way.
And he goes, “yeah… I mean hello. Clearly neither of us are Arab. So… hey, what’s up?” and we giggled shyly, smiled, and went on our merry way.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
There's just not a lot happening in Aden
Almonds from seed to dish of nuts
Yep. You read that right. Almonds are front page news in Yemen. You should have seen the photo-spread on cashews in last weeks edition!
Pregers?
Instantly what do you think this is a picture of?!
It’s supposed to be a girl with a fever but my goodness it looks like she’s breaking the news to a soon to be father. I first discovered this pic mid lecture and turned beet red and started sweating and giggling in class. I wrote in the margin, “pregnant?” so the next teacher who got my book would get to partake in the fun. Luckily not a single student thought that it was even slightly suspect and all shouted out that the poor girl had a fever. I chose not to elucidate, it would be highly uncomfortable. In fact the other day I was teaching about parts of the body and got all flustered when I realized we were slowly and inexorably heading south and WHAT SHOULD I SAY, BOTTOM OR BUTT?! CAN I JUST IGNORE IT?! NO ONE PREPARED ME FOR THISSSSS!
It’s supposed to be a girl with a fever but my goodness it looks like she’s breaking the news to a soon to be father. I first discovered this pic mid lecture and turned beet red and started sweating and giggling in class. I wrote in the margin, “pregnant?” so the next teacher who got my book would get to partake in the fun. Luckily not a single student thought that it was even slightly suspect and all shouted out that the poor girl had a fever. I chose not to elucidate, it would be highly uncomfortable. In fact the other day I was teaching about parts of the body and got all flustered when I realized we were slowly and inexorably heading south and WHAT SHOULD I SAY, BOTTOM OR BUTT?! CAN I JUST IGNORE IT?! NO ONE PREPARED ME FOR THISSSSS!
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