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h: Flame on.

But sometimes, I just have to.

I have the utmost respect for my students when they try to speak English. I understand how hard it can be. With that said...

I am reading a story with 3 other kids, the 3 that needed the most help out of the class. We are reading this 4th grade level book. It is about a story of a potato farmer that moved from Iowa to Idaho because of the Great Depression. One kid didn't understand what the Great Depression was, so I explained simply that it was a period of time in which many Americans lost their jobs. "Jobs?" he asked. Then I get into explaining what a job was. So I asked, what does your dad do to make money. He replied, "nothing." So I asked, what does your mom do to make money? He hesitated and replied, "she clean house." So I told him, you're mom clean houses to make money, that is her job. She cleans houses, and people pay her."

So onto the story, we get through the story and I am working on helping them make a summary of the story. One question that I prompted them with was, Why did the family move to Idaho? Then followed with other little prompts like, Did the father have a JOB in Iowa? What did they do with the POTATOS in Idaho?

He answered, "They go clean potatos?"

That answer was so sincere that I couldn't help but cover up my face, turn around and laugh. Guess you had to be there.

And another one.

This happened with a kid with VERY limited english. It is actually kind of sad to see a kid of this caliber to be with a classroom with students who already have a minor foundation in the language. Without his Viet friends that help him translate, he'll be up Shit Creek. But to continue. I've already had this minor problem of him copying his friends. I've approached him with this problem and have always gotten a *nods when I ask him not to do so.

So we were having a class disscussion about the story. I laid a question on him that he couldn't answer. Usually after 1o seconds of silence, his classmates would whisper the answer and he would repeat it back to me. Well this time, after a long silence this other kid just said "Bow wow wow. Yippie yo, yippie yay." Just to pass the time as the class was waiting for an answer. Then, with the thickest Viet accent, with the most sincere tone I hear, "Bow wow wow..." I cut him off with a loud snicker and buried my face in the desk.