Teaching in the u.s.a.

Last week I taught French to my mother's students for a week. The fact that I taught French is probably laughable to anyone who knows me, but the point of this week was to get the kids excited about the language. Putting aside the differences in the ages, teaching in the USA was clearly a different experience. First of all, before I even stepped into a classroom, I had this gong in my head moment while speaking with my Mother's boss, where I realized not only were there books to be had, but I could make copies or create handouts.

"Oh, so it's okay, if I make copies for the class, like out of books or, like I could print from the computer?"

"Yes" (pause, coupled with a quizzical look) "Your mom or I could make copies or you could. Whatever you want"

Besides the glaringly obvious differences like reliable electricity, a computer/projector in the classroom, the realization that my entire lesson didn't have to be written on the board was shocking.  Between the class size (10 kids as opposed to 60) and the availability of paper I felt the possibilities for the week were endless.
Of course, using all of my resources, I hardly created a teaching revolution. There were handouts, PowerPoint's and a little You-Tube. Nothing too radical, but I encouraged dancing. It seems to be emerging as my teaching trademark.
What really made the week fun was the students. The 5th graders were insanely and wonderfully sweet. They were excited about the week of language and were an ideal audience. But like my students in Rwanda, their thirst for learning was the best part. The week made me come to realization that teaching is fun! For a week. I love teaching when everyone is excited, thirsty, and enthused. It is those hard weeks in the middle when you have to get through grammar and there is almost no way to spice it up that make teaching hard. The weeks before vacation when you could stand naked in front of a classroom and elicit no response that make me want to bang my head against a wall.

Being the star of a long-running show is hard. Guests spots are no problem.