Noisy Neighbors

If you remember, Borrish had the English department move for the second time in two years. It’s like we’re the dice in a game of Trouble, and she’s pushing on the bubble to have us jump all around. Lately, I think she’s been stealing turns.

This year I got placed in a room that shares an extremely thin collapsible wall with an excitable Spanish teacher. She’s always yapping, which is fine because a class like that has to have a good deal of oral presentation, but there’s a lot of high pitched delivery going on over there. You should see my kids. They jump like a gun has gone off with each of her squeals. The best way of describing the situation is to have you imagine Charo teaching the class.

Coochie! Coochie!

Speaking of musical entertainment, she plays a bunch of Spanish versions of songs. Again, I know that that too is an excellent tool when teaching a foreign language, but today I could have sworn that she was playing Stevie Wonder’s My Cherie Amour. Why is she using a song that contains a bunch of la’s to teach Spanish? And doesn't amour mean, "an illicit affair"?

Oh well, I’m sure there’s a flip side to the situation. I bet Señora Español is next door wondering about the strange sounds that seep through to her side of the wall. I’m sure it seems odd to her to hear the students’ repetition of, “This is gay!” She must be thinking, "Having students repeat phrases is good for reinforcement, but why is he having them say that?" Unfortunately that mantra is of their own doing. Yes, we're only two days in and my kids can't help but to evaluate everything as being "gay." The assignments on the syllabus are "gay." Having homework on the first day is "gay." The seating assignments are "gay."

The light weeping she hears during my planning period might need some explanation too.