It is difficult for us to paint a portrayal
of what a day is like in our classrooms. When asked we will often say “the kids
are crazy” or “the kids are wild but hilarious”. But no reply can really
describe what it is like. I’ve been recording funny moments or daily happenings
to give you all an idea of what a day (or 5 minutes) in the life of us is like!
Morning
“Miss, this for you” (gives me a flower).
“I love for you too much miss.”(aww)
English
class
me: “What is your favourite animal and why?
My favourite animal is a tiger because it is fast.”Ali – laughing “no miss, no fast, tiger no fast. Rabbit fast, tiger no fast.”
me: “Ahmed, what is your favourite animal?”
Ahmed: “snake”
me: why?
Ahmed: “because him eat.”
me: “what does he eat?”
Ahmed? “miss amy”
(note the difference between the boys and girls in my class)
Lunch (5 minutes and I couldn’t write fast enough!)
“Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss”
me: “My name is not miss”
(Zayed swinging between 2 desks)“Miss. Amy, Miss. Amy, Miss. Amy, Miss. Amy”
me: “Yes?”
“How many minutes?”
me: “4”
“No miss, 5 minutes, 5 minutes”
(2 boys dancing in the corner; girl crawling on the desks)
“Miss, miss, miss, miss”
me: “mmhmm?”
“He say for me bad word.”
“miss, me go toilet.”
me “Fares, don’t say bad words, yes go to toilet”
“Miss, miss, MISS, MISS AMY!!”
me: “yes?”
“look, look, look miss” (eating noodles by the handful)
“miss, MISS, MISS, MISS AMY!!!! Salem take food”
(student picking through garbage looking for stickers that were thrown out)
“miss, me go home?”
me: “no, you just had lunch.”
“miss, miss, miss, MISS, MISS, MISS AMY, AMY, AMY, AMY!”
“miss, he say bad word for me.”
Me: “what did he say?”
“he say for me, I am his brother.”
Me: “That is not a bad word.”
Later
in english
(amidst the loud chaos of my classroom all
of a sudden it goes dead silent)“eeeeeeeeew”
(whisper, whisper, whisper)
me: “What?”
(Rashed points to the screen – picture of a pig has come up in their phonics game for the letter i)
me: “click next, we don’t do that one at school”
Rashed (clicks next)whispers: “yuck, yuck, yuck”
(insert 26 disgusted, shocked little faces)
(FYI – pigs are “haram” in this culture –
against their religion – look it up! My kids still are outraged that the
alphabet book they got from the library has no letter P page in it)
Mid-day
email from our principal
“Dear
All,We have just been informed….yes…right now….that TOMORROW at NOON, we must have a FLAG DAY ceremony as it’s Flag Day in the UAE tomorrow. This is a notice received from the government so we want to make it nice, even though we only have short notice.”
(just another day in the UAE – if you thought I was laid back before, wait until I get back – deadline? What deadline? 2 days notice to have report cards done? No worries!)
me: “yes?”
“miss, umm you know Fares?”
me: “yes, I know Fares”
“he cut hair for her” (they mix up their pronouns – Fares is a boy)
me: “what do you mean?”
“he cut hair for her. like this” (shows me cutting hair with hands)
me: “Fares, did you cut your hair?”
Fares: “no, no, not for me, me no do it” (with cut hair stuck to his lip)
Me: “Fares, go wash the hair out of your mouth. And give me your scissors”
Journal
Writing
Me: “What are some things that move?”“a truck”
“a car”
“a train”
“a bicycle”
Haind: “a banana”
Later
in Social
Me: “How does your picture show you being
kind to your friend?”Ateej:“Him fall down. Him cry. Me go and say you no cry”
Danh:“Him eat ice cream and I eat ice cream”
Moza: “He say I don’t know and I go and I help him in him book”
Haind: “Banana”
(I think this is her favourite word)
End
of the Day
Another day down (including 4 preps) and I
am exhausted. These kids are consuming of all of my energy. Leaning on the door
as they are leaving for the day, wishing they would just be gone already so I
can sit down and have a moment of peace and Rashed turns around and blows me a
kiss, Sawada grabs my hand and kisses it and Maitha grabs my face- pulls it to
hers and kisses my cheek while telling me she loves me. In that moment it is all
worth it. Beyond the chaos and craziness these kids are full of enthusiasm and
love. And then Salem karate chops my hand and runs out the door… 
