Thursday, December 08, 2005
The pleasures of teaching
I have taught all my life, or, at least, since I am in my early teens. Needless to say that I love to teach. It is a lot of fun, especially when I teach languages. This semester I got to teach my best language class ever. Imagine, teaching for so long, and the last language class that I will ever teach turns out to be the best. What a treat!
The highly interactive nature of my classes allow us all, instructor and students to know each other very well. This is a very small list of things that I know—too bad I forgot so many of them:
Nancy is a fantastic grandmother. She also likes to sing and was once Elisa in her High School musical. She is also a teacher and very quiet in class. I guess she gets tired of dealing with teenagers all day and needs a little space.
Piush comes from Nepal and is always bringing chocolate candies in class. She is very generous, for the constantly shares them with us. She usually has lunch with her friends. Piush is very outgoing and is part of a very chatty group.
Aman is a very handsome young man from Fiji. His girlfriend Noriko is Japanese. Small international treat, provided by Uncle Sam’s ability to gather international people. Both are MIA, unfortunately. I missed them.
Talking about being international, I once had a dinner in my house. At my table sat 1 Indian, 2 Americans, 1 Japanese, 2 Brazilians, 1 Austrian, 1 German, 1 Swiss, 2 Brits, and 1 Argentine. Marvelous! Only in this country. That was the night I caught fire, literally. But this is another story.
Anyway, Beth plays the cello, is a librarian and has 6 cats. Her friend doesn’t like the cats, which is unfortunate. She is quite and very dedicated. A reassuring presence in class.
Drips is a delight. Being so spontaneous, she makes me laugh a lot. She comes to class with her mother, Peri, who I am sure, came to class just to keep her daughter’s company, as she is proficient in Spanish, which, by the way was a great help during the semester. I love to have other people to back me up, especially when I am a little tired and my mind is all over the place.
Drips wants to be a missionary and she likes to travel to Romania. Peri has 6 children, which is quite the accomplishment. I see her poise and wonder if I could ever be so centered having so many children. Both mother and daughter are always smiling and that feels good.
Tiarra loves to study and it shows. She is a very good student. I don’t know much about her for she opts to remain quiet in class.
Erin is a brave girl. The second day of class, she removed her 4 wisdom teeth in the morning, and showed up in class in the evening. She loves to talk and is also part of the “Chit-Chat Bang Bang”—I just named that group, by the way. This group also gave a presentation on Argentina and Erin had a 5 hour history presentation given in 7 minutes. I couldn’t understand a word she said! Good thing I could read her PPT.
Foster had some problems this semester and had to travel to LA almost every weekend. She has a son and tried to put an event together using “gambling” only to hear the day before the event that she was not allowed to do so. Bummer.
K left a little earlier. She is a researcher and writes grants for education. She is now in Chile, good for her!
Ruben is a shy young man, so I didn’t get to know him very well. I know that he was feeling fantastic on the day of his oral presentation. That is good.
Nick was elected by me to be the “vice-president” of the class—me being the president. Very reliable and always happy, he has a daughter whom he adores. He is an occupational therapist working for the school district. He just ran the Sacramento marathon. Good going! BTW, the new Narnia movie is very scary for young children.
Danny is another happy young man. He is a DJ, has always a smile to share and keeps playing with God knows what electronic device he has. He is never stressed and is very funny. I told him to become a public speaker when he retires from DJ’ing.
Veronica is quite quiet, loves her family and is very religious. She is also a good daughter and a dedicated student. She is a Chicana, thank God, which means she could help me with vocab, when I needed a word or two. Like my son Alex, who can speak Portuguese fluently, it is easier for her to speak Spanish. What a blessing, to be able to communicate in more than one language.
Juanita is always dedicated, attentive, and responsible. She studies at the big university and in the evenings, regale us with her constant presence and reliability. It seems to me that she is the anchor for the CCBB. They couldn’t get a better group mate.
Kari found a job she likes. She was a little anxious for a second there. I think we celebrated her birthday this semester, or am I totally losing my mind? She bakes great cup cakes. She is very quiet and sometimes comes to class wearing pajamas. Talk about being comfortable!
Miguelito became our mascot. Or at least, mine. Being the youngest in the class and having a true Libra personality, he delighted us all. He is also a great pianist. He is applying for colleges now, as he is only a Senior in HS! A very brave young man he is, keeping up with other college students and adults alike. You go, Miguelito.
John is a returned student. I am glad he liked this class better and, therefore, stuck to it. He is a very good student but what makes him special is his way of taking care of all of us, either by bringing a battery to fix our class clock, or by being in charge of the projector, the video, and the sound system. A great man to be around.
Amanda intrigues me. She is very reserved and erratic in her attendance. I don’t know her much besides the fact that she is also very quiet. Something is going on, I am afraid.
Clarita is funny. She looks at me and laughs. I wonder if I am the funny one. She is also very de-stressed and cares not when she gets into class. She is a good swimmer. But we feel her presence and she has a constant smile on her face that brightens my evenings.
Actually, I think this is the greatest smiling class I have ever had.
Anyway, Nancy, the last on the list. Very quiet, sitting in the back of the room, I see that she is diligent. She is the mommy of two kittens (or was it 4?). She is going to Mendoza, Argentina as an international student. She will love it!
So here you have it, in a nutshell. I wish everyone a very happy un-birthday.
Feliz Navidad y un Próspero Año Nuevo.
Adiós, clase.
The highly interactive nature of my classes allow us all, instructor and students to know each other very well. This is a very small list of things that I know—too bad I forgot so many of them:
Nancy is a fantastic grandmother. She also likes to sing and was once Elisa in her High School musical. She is also a teacher and very quiet in class. I guess she gets tired of dealing with teenagers all day and needs a little space.
Piush comes from Nepal and is always bringing chocolate candies in class. She is very generous, for the constantly shares them with us. She usually has lunch with her friends. Piush is very outgoing and is part of a very chatty group.
Aman is a very handsome young man from Fiji. His girlfriend Noriko is Japanese. Small international treat, provided by Uncle Sam’s ability to gather international people. Both are MIA, unfortunately. I missed them.
Talking about being international, I once had a dinner in my house. At my table sat 1 Indian, 2 Americans, 1 Japanese, 2 Brazilians, 1 Austrian, 1 German, 1 Swiss, 2 Brits, and 1 Argentine. Marvelous! Only in this country. That was the night I caught fire, literally. But this is another story.
Anyway, Beth plays the cello, is a librarian and has 6 cats. Her friend doesn’t like the cats, which is unfortunate. She is quite and very dedicated. A reassuring presence in class.
Drips is a delight. Being so spontaneous, she makes me laugh a lot. She comes to class with her mother, Peri, who I am sure, came to class just to keep her daughter’s company, as she is proficient in Spanish, which, by the way was a great help during the semester. I love to have other people to back me up, especially when I am a little tired and my mind is all over the place.
Drips wants to be a missionary and she likes to travel to Romania. Peri has 6 children, which is quite the accomplishment. I see her poise and wonder if I could ever be so centered having so many children. Both mother and daughter are always smiling and that feels good.
Tiarra loves to study and it shows. She is a very good student. I don’t know much about her for she opts to remain quiet in class.
Erin is a brave girl. The second day of class, she removed her 4 wisdom teeth in the morning, and showed up in class in the evening. She loves to talk and is also part of the “Chit-Chat Bang Bang”—I just named that group, by the way. This group also gave a presentation on Argentina and Erin had a 5 hour history presentation given in 7 minutes. I couldn’t understand a word she said! Good thing I could read her PPT.
Foster had some problems this semester and had to travel to LA almost every weekend. She has a son and tried to put an event together using “gambling” only to hear the day before the event that she was not allowed to do so. Bummer.
K left a little earlier. She is a researcher and writes grants for education. She is now in Chile, good for her!
Ruben is a shy young man, so I didn’t get to know him very well. I know that he was feeling fantastic on the day of his oral presentation. That is good.
Nick was elected by me to be the “vice-president” of the class—me being the president. Very reliable and always happy, he has a daughter whom he adores. He is an occupational therapist working for the school district. He just ran the Sacramento marathon. Good going! BTW, the new Narnia movie is very scary for young children.
Danny is another happy young man. He is a DJ, has always a smile to share and keeps playing with God knows what electronic device he has. He is never stressed and is very funny. I told him to become a public speaker when he retires from DJ’ing.
Veronica is quite quiet, loves her family and is very religious. She is also a good daughter and a dedicated student. She is a Chicana, thank God, which means she could help me with vocab, when I needed a word or two. Like my son Alex, who can speak Portuguese fluently, it is easier for her to speak Spanish. What a blessing, to be able to communicate in more than one language.
Juanita is always dedicated, attentive, and responsible. She studies at the big university and in the evenings, regale us with her constant presence and reliability. It seems to me that she is the anchor for the CCBB. They couldn’t get a better group mate.
Kari found a job she likes. She was a little anxious for a second there. I think we celebrated her birthday this semester, or am I totally losing my mind? She bakes great cup cakes. She is very quiet and sometimes comes to class wearing pajamas. Talk about being comfortable!
Miguelito became our mascot. Or at least, mine. Being the youngest in the class and having a true Libra personality, he delighted us all. He is also a great pianist. He is applying for colleges now, as he is only a Senior in HS! A very brave young man he is, keeping up with other college students and adults alike. You go, Miguelito.
John is a returned student. I am glad he liked this class better and, therefore, stuck to it. He is a very good student but what makes him special is his way of taking care of all of us, either by bringing a battery to fix our class clock, or by being in charge of the projector, the video, and the sound system. A great man to be around.
Amanda intrigues me. She is very reserved and erratic in her attendance. I don’t know her much besides the fact that she is also very quiet. Something is going on, I am afraid.
Clarita is funny. She looks at me and laughs. I wonder if I am the funny one. She is also very de-stressed and cares not when she gets into class. She is a good swimmer. But we feel her presence and she has a constant smile on her face that brightens my evenings.
Actually, I think this is the greatest smiling class I have ever had.
Anyway, Nancy, the last on the list. Very quiet, sitting in the back of the room, I see that she is diligent. She is the mommy of two kittens (or was it 4?). She is going to Mendoza, Argentina as an international student. She will love it!
So here you have it, in a nutshell. I wish everyone a very happy un-birthday.
Feliz Navidad y un Próspero Año Nuevo.
Adiós, clase.
Comments:
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Estimada Profesora Moratto:
Muchas gracias por su amable comentario. Me gustó mucho su clase y su modo de enseñar. Que lástima que no tenemos el gusto de su talento en el siguente semestre. ¡Gracias por todo! - Beth
Muchas gracias por su amable comentario. Me gustó mucho su clase y su modo de enseñar. Que lástima que no tenemos el gusto de su talento en el siguente semestre. ¡Gracias por todo! - Beth
# posted by 
: 9:54 PM
: 9:54 PM
Querido Profesora,
I enjoyed the class very much. It was a joy for my daughter, Drips, and me to be able to spend more time together, and to use your class as the catalyst.
(I am grateful that we did not get into too much trouble for the time we both ditched class and went to IHOP!! First of all, I don't ditch. Secondly, I don't encourage my kids to ditch. Thirdly, we have been on Weight Watchers and have been trying to eat more healthy. And we were in IHOP! I don't think we could we have picked a more unhealthy restaurant. We were laughing hysterically the whole time - we stayed there for 2 hours, so our family would think we were at class.)
And I did have so much fun in your class. I liked being able to help translate. I loved even more, that sometimes, I was the only one to understand what you were saying. I hope people didn't think I was a know-it-all. I am not a know it all. I have so much to learn-one of the reasons why I wanted to take your class.
You are right, the students were interesting and it was a pleasure getting to know each person a little better.
Thank you so much for your hard work and good luck on your new journey. If you ever teach a class again, sign me up!!
Hasta muy pronto.
Peri
I enjoyed the class very much. It was a joy for my daughter, Drips, and me to be able to spend more time together, and to use your class as the catalyst.
(I am grateful that we did not get into too much trouble for the time we both ditched class and went to IHOP!! First of all, I don't ditch. Secondly, I don't encourage my kids to ditch. Thirdly, we have been on Weight Watchers and have been trying to eat more healthy. And we were in IHOP! I don't think we could we have picked a more unhealthy restaurant. We were laughing hysterically the whole time - we stayed there for 2 hours, so our family would think we were at class.)
And I did have so much fun in your class. I liked being able to help translate. I loved even more, that sometimes, I was the only one to understand what you were saying. I hope people didn't think I was a know-it-all. I am not a know it all. I have so much to learn-one of the reasons why I wanted to take your class.
You are right, the students were interesting and it was a pleasure getting to know each person a little better.
Thank you so much for your hard work and good luck on your new journey. If you ever teach a class again, sign me up!!
Hasta muy pronto.
Peri
# posted by : 12:58 PM
: 12:58 PM
Querida profesora,
thats all you get in spanish, i am surprised how well you liked me, i left class many a time wondering if you were upset at all my back talk in class, or if i finally went overboard. but all of it was in fun, and mostly for shock value, i was happy to be the clown, or make a fool of myself for other people to have a good time, what a small price to pay for giving joy. although i realized that not all people see me as a joy, especially my mom who is continually shocked by my obnoxious behavior. see you monday, Drips
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thats all you get in spanish, i am surprised how well you liked me, i left class many a time wondering if you were upset at all my back talk in class, or if i finally went overboard. but all of it was in fun, and mostly for shock value, i was happy to be the clown, or make a fool of myself for other people to have a good time, what a small price to pay for giving joy. although i realized that not all people see me as a joy, especially my mom who is continually shocked by my obnoxious behavior. see you monday, Drips
# posted by : 9:13 PM
: 9:13 PM<< Home
