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11/20/10
Being Mrs. Mac
Filed under: General
Posted by: @ 5:51 pm

Being Mrs. Mac

MrsMac2

OK. Along with trying out new foods, new squatty potties and a new language, I’ve been trying out a new career as a teacher.
I am now Mrs. Mac.

Most of my students are Korean, meaning, these kids aren’t smart, they’re super smart. Asian students can memorize anything short of the entire answer key of an ACT test. While some students struggle with English grammar, others make insightful observations…

“Mrs. Mac? Why do American girls begin all of their sentences with the word “like”?

SPongeKIA

Writing reports on Asian countries would be an exercise in cutting and pasting memorized facts in their efficient brains. So instead, my Social Studies students recreated their own world. One student’s country can only be described as sci-fi meets Ken Burns. Another created Miss PacManistan, where Xboxes are used as currency and the national anthem is the same diddly from the classic arcade game.

WorldBIg2

I work with two six-grade gems in an ESL reading class. The girls used to be shy but now I can’t get them to shut their Kim Chi holes. I urged them to write the author of one of the books read. And guess what? The author wrote back! I think I’m more excited about it than they are.

School has changed since my days at Hooterville High. I do share with students some of our escapades, including flicking the eyeballs from a dissected frog at other students in Mr. Bednarowski’s biology class. We use the Internet daily in my media class. We don’t have Google, but choogle. It’s the Chinese version of Google, meaning you have a fifty-fifty change of getting the THIS PAGE IS FORBIDDEN MESSAGE with every search.

Students came up with the conclusion that “there is no such thing as cool” in China. Since advertising doesn’t get past the firewall, lots of the pressures teens face don’t make it here, either.

Sponge Bob did make it pass the firewall. He is my hall pass.

SpongeStudent

I’ve probably learned more in my classroom than my students, especially regarding study habits and goals. Working with an international buffet of brains, I’ve noticed that it’s the American students who struggle with their studies—especially spelling. That includes me. I’d be lost without SPELL CHECK.

Then there’s Henri, an eleven-year-old from Canada with a vocabulary the size of Saskatchewan. Watch out world. That kid can write better than Hemmingway.

PA200029

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