So I'm an English teacher.

I have an internship here to teach English at a local elementary school. I have two 6th grade classes, one with 42 students and one with 39ish. Needless to say, it's an adventure. The students are wonderful and a TON of fun. I treat it a lot like Day Camp and make sure to keep it interesting, but whether or not they are making progress is up for debate.

Now, I would never make fun of my students, but I can make fun of myself and my minor failures as their teacher. Here are some unexpected challenges that I have had (the list is sure to grow weekly):

• Pronunciation issues with the animals: Really, what is the difference between bear/beer, bird/beard, and duck/duke? They seem interchangeable to me... 

• Assignment: 5 sentences describing me, the teacher. After learning colors, clothing vocab, description words, and the verbs to be and to have (unfortunately I wrote them side by side on the board), I thought this would be possible. I have a lot of work to do. Some favorite responses include:
• She has eyes black. (black?!)
• Is my teacher is fat. 
• She is thicher? 
• She is has tall/ she is has blonde/ she is has pants, etc etc etc. (whoops)
• She is teacher the inglish (aww)
• She is sock. (I did not teach sock. Props to this kid for calling me a sock.)
• She jamie she tall she thin she blonde she smart. (who needs verbs, anyway?)
• I AM THIN. YOU IS FAT. (yes, in capital letters.)
• And my ultimate favorite: We are have. 

• The other day, a squirrel came onto campus. Yes, a squirrel. Everyone FREAKED OUT. Squirrels are very rare around here, and since there are only about 2 trees on campus, it was the highlight of recess. Kids were throwing things, feeding it, trying to capture it- any possible entertaining activity that can be done with a squirrel. Very fun to watch. 

• Yesterday, I accidentally wore two different shoes to class without realizing it, and the girls in my first class noticed it. Needless to say, it was pretty fun for them to laugh at me. When I went out to recess with the kids, I told my next class about my shoes so they wouldn't make fun of me. The boys in that class felt bad and decided to all switch shoes to make me feel better :) Whoever said middle school kids are difficult should really meet my students!

• Dancing. For some reason in Mexico, dancing is an important part of the school day. My students are preparing their performances for el Día del Niño (Kid's day... why don't we have it in the states?), and all they do is dance! Each class has a choreographed routine and their teachers spend class time every day practicing it with them! This is a little taste of my 6a group's routine, to the ridiculously popular song, Danza Kuduro