This evening in Tlacochahuaya, I had the intermediate English students. We were wrapping up a section on time. I had a clock and posed it at a particular time, asking: What time is it? The students would say the time: “It is seven-thirty or half-past seven.” They have been practicing this for more than a week and are good at their numbers in English and understand the clock (for the most part), so we moved on to midnight and mid day. This was a bit more difficult, especially because of the word “night.” This word comes out of their mouths more like their word for “neither” which is “ni” and sounds somewhat like “knee” in English. Some of the reasons for this are that the “I” sounds like our long “E” and because the “H” is silent.
However, once we got “night” right, I would give them a time and ask them which greeting they’d say to me at that time of day. I reminded them of the (mostly) corresponding greetings in Spanish, but I also introduced “Good Evening.” It was a fun way to get them to learn the salutations and time together.
We also reviewed colors and months. Using a mix of this knowledge, we played a game where I’d ask them? How do you say Enero (January) in English? It is 8 a.m., how do you greet me? What color is this? (Green was extraordinarily difficult.) What is “Good night” in Spanish? We played for chicle (gum). They immediately wanted to know the word “gum,” and Gerardo, one of the students, even tried to use his notebook to get an edge over the others (I confiscated it). In the end, they were delighted to leave with a stash of gum, and this sweet incentive brought out even the very timid Magdalena. She wanted purple pieces and even nearly mastered the word green to earn one.
I was fortunate to have the gum in my bag as La Fiesta de la Sangre Preciosa de Jesus (The Celebration of the Precious Blood of Christ) has been taking place all week but really gets going the 27-30. There are carnival rides being assembled right outside the classroom. These ingenious kids have figured out how to make the teacup rides spin with their own might when the people putting them together are not around. Class time, before the gum appeared, was taking away from their opportunity to “ride” the rides for free.
shewhodaresnothing 