Little Rascals

My Grade 1 English as a Second Language (ESL) class is definitely one of my most interesting classes. I’m not sure if it’s this particular age group or the combination of these four personalities, but WOW! Half the time I’m pulling my hair out because they’re so energetic and talkative and the other half I’m trying not to laugh when they come up with things like the following:

-One of my boys walks by me, looking at me strangely, and as he continues on his way, he keeps looking over his shoulder at me. Finally he stops walking and says, “Miss Nutt, you look like an elf!”

Oh the craziness!
My four Grade 1 kiddos from PNG, Costa Rica, and the Netherlands.

-I heard wailing emanating from the girls’ toilet, so I went down to investigate and found one of my Grade 1 ESL kids, locked in a stall, screaming and wailing at the top of her lungs. I was pretty sure I knew who it was, based on the wailing, so I said, “Hey, what’s going on? Are you okay?” She replied something about “Much bugs” and “Can’t come out,” and I immediately figured out what was going on—it had rained hard the night before, so there was an abundance of rain bugs, flying insects that don’t bite, they’re just a nuisance. There were (apparently) a whole heap of them in the stall and she was standing on top of the toilet, screaming. At this point, the principal came in and rescued me, and was able to talk the girl off the toilet and out of the stall. She’ll never go to the toilet without shoes again! (Which actually is a school rule…that is much ignored by students!)

-While telling my Grade 1 class about the Christmas party we were going to have the following week:

Me: “Since next week is the last week of school, we’re going to have a Christmas party!”

Students: “Yay! What are we going to do?”

Me: “Well, I’m going to make gingerbread cookies and bring some frosting so you can decorate and eat some cookies!”

Boy: *raises his hand* “I don’t like cookies. Can you make me something else? How about pie? I really like pie!”

Me: [out loud] “Ah, no, I don’t think I’m going to make you a pie. Everyone else is getting cookies, and so are you.”

[in my head] “No I’m not going to make you a pie! I’ve never made a pie in my life…I don’t even like pie! Argh! Children…”

-One of the Grade 1 boys was running his fingernails on the metal siding of one of the school buildings; a teacher walked passed and said, “Stop it! That sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard!” One of my kids came along and agreed, “It makes my teeth squeak!”

-And then, just when I think I'm going to lose my marbles, they run up to me, give me a hug, and tell me that they love ESL and thank me for being their teacher!