Meester, you vote for Barak Osama?

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"Meester, you vote for Barak Osama or Maaa... uh... Maaa como se dice? Ah jes, McCain." Was my greeting from a few students today. The election buzz didn't quite catch on as much as I had expected. The US government directly effects Honduras almost monthly. You wouldn't know it if you watched CNN, but George Bush meets with Manuel Zelaya quite often.

One of my students, Ramon, did ask me about our nation's heroes. I told him that we have quite a few heroes; Abe Lincoln, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Harriet Tubman, Booker T, Washington, Hulk Hogan, and so on.

"Jes, jes I know," He contested, without even flinching at the mention of the Hulkster, "But do joo have like ahh special name for dem?"

"Well, we just call them heroes."

"Joo don have like a special word?"

"I thought hero was a special word." When I say this it triggers the usual response, which consists of the "student spokesperson" turning to the class and erupting in a swarm of Spanish insults and explanations of what I just said. I enjoy getting to know my students. Each day I observe a little bit more about their personalities and it usually makes my smile.

Today, while Nohelia was reading, Jorge, a fellow 10th grader, asked if he could read next. I nodded and motioned that after Nohelia finishes her paragraph he can read. I have this little hand signal I use to tell students that they can read next, it usually works great. I flatten my palm and turn it sideways to create a wall shape. Then I move my hand forward to create a sense of time and whisper the word "Next."

However, today Jorge misread my signal. He got up, walked back to Nohelia, politely tapped her on the shoulder and then, using his thumb and forefinger, snatched her paper right from her hands... all while keeping his eyes on Nohelia. He then returned to his seat, with Nohelia's paper in hand, and continued to read where she had "left off."

I stopped him to ask why he felt so compelled to steal Nohleia's paper mid sentence, but my query was met with quite an offended stare, as if to say, "How dare you interrupt me, cracker? Can't you see I'm reading?"

(On a side note I should mention that Jorge just learned how to correctly use the word "Cracker.")

He explained to me that he confused my hand motion to mean, "Please go over to Nohelia (right now) and finish reading her paper, she is having some trouble and needs your help. You are a very gifted reader and, because of that, you should be both the first and last person to read in each class."

I guess I can see where he is coming from, because those two hand motions are executed in almost the exact same pattern, having only a few subtle differences with which to tell them apart.

Happy voting!

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Photos

Los Burros
The guy on the right looks like the mascot of Comayagua.

Nour and Alma
Two little angels.

Eric
Eric showing off his serving tray that he made in shop class.

Carmen
When the 9th graders are done with this class the whole room smells like toxic fumes.

8th grade
Nelson in the front. Behind him is Claudio and in the white sweatshirt is Paulo.