TGIF

Thank Goodness it Is Friday!!! I haven't used this little saying for a long time, but today I am thankful the week is done and that it is FRIDAY!!

Working and coming home and working has been challenging to say the least. Before when I was working I could come home and just sit back, put my feet up and veg! Now, with an extremely active two year old, who has been right ticked off at me, things are a little, well ......different.

I thoroughly enjoyed my week of substitute teaching. Usually I am really nervous, have to plan absolutely everything and even write out bits and pieces of an introduction about myself, the grammar, the activity, etc. But this week I felt comfortable, really comfortable. I planned all of my lessons and even had to abort some of my plans as it was just too hard for the kids. Winged a few activities and made up games and things to keep them occupied when my time managment skills were lacking to say the least. Surprisingly I was not stressed or freaked out. I am not sure why it was so different this time, maybe it was because I have a bit of experience teaching ESL now, maybe it is because I am older and hopefully a little wiser or maybe it is because I have to entertain a two year old all the time now and I have just had to learn to go with the flow and not worry so much if plans didn't go as they were 'planned'! None the less it felt good, I loved teaching and I will really miss my students (they all fly home on Sunday).

I have often said that I need to record the funny things that kids say. I remember my Mom telling stories of some of the sayings the Grade two's would come up with and of course when teaching ESL there are some pretty funny little mix ups with words, meanings, etc. That is all part of learning another language. I remember learning Spanish and one night I was feeling rather brave and proud of my new found language training, so I boldly said good night to some friends in spanish. They all started laughing hysterically and I didn't understand how saying goodnight in Spanish would be so outrageously funny. Well it turns out, I mispronounced the one word and it completely turned my attempt of saying "good night" into "good buns" (to put it nicely). So the guy that I thought I was saying good night too, got a "good buns" instead! I worked very hard on my pronunciation after that! :o)

This week, one little boy had to stay behind (as punishment) and work on grammar. He wasn't understanding the grammar worksheets I had left behind for him, so one of the other teachers asked him where his dictionary was. The boy replied that it was with God. A little confused as to what he meant, the teacher kept prying a little and finally by the end of the conversation realized that he had left his dictionnary at church. The little boy couldn't remember the name of the building (church), so just told him that it was with God! :o)

We had another older student that told his teacher that he was "so engine"! He kept repeating; "teacher I am so engine today!" A little confused, the teacher asked him what he meant by engine and proceeded to explain what an engine was. The student thought that engine was the word for angry! We all had a good chuckle over that and everytime we see the student we ask him if he is "engine" today!! :o)

I am sad that this week is over, but glad too. I missed my little boy and he has been a little ticked off at me. Daddy was off a couple of days this week and got to spend time with him. He is such a Daddy's boy and they did all sorts of fun stuff together. He doesn't seem to miss me much (or at least that is what I think) and likes to ignore me when I come home or go to pick him up from my inlaws ( I didn't get the same response that John always gets when he comes home from work). However, every night this week, when things are winding down and I tell him how much I love him, he has always responded and told me that he loves me too (I "low") and gives me a nice hug and an "oh nice momma, nice momma"! That just melts my heart. He has said "I love you" before, but never as frequently!

I hope you all had a great week and are glad that it is FRIDAY!!!