kids' writing

the 4th graders are taking their end of unit writing assessment which has them write an article for the school newspaper describing a medical condition and the ways that homeopathic and modern medicines can be used to treat the illness. here are some funny things kids wrote (unedited for spelling):

• "Kids over 5 and under 18 are onerable" - i think he meant vulnerable.
• "German chamomile is originally from Germany, as you can tell by the name. This remedy is commonly used by peole with chicken pox in Germany."
• "...but some signess are if you are coughing, and also if seenzing or if your weak and also if you have bugers..." - we're working on his spelling, as well as his long run-on sentences...
• "Also you can use yago to exesice breathing." - i don't know yago, but i do know yoga...
• "You could alose use chines herds like digehantang or put a bag over your moth." - writing a letter backwards can change "herbs" to "herds" and then change the whole message of the sentence
• "When you take all of the stuff like take a good, dring tylenol, and drink Dimtop you feel better and you could do fun stuff, go out to partty's." - sometimes it's like deciphering a new language. what kind of parties do kids think we're going to while they're sick anyway?
• writing about a sore throat - "It hurts cause everytime you swallow something it's like somebody very little on your tonsole hitting it every time you swallow something." - a very apt description of a sore throat

students' writing ranges from tragicomedy (unintentionally funny, and sad that they're writing this way at 4th grade) to hilariously brilliant. reading their thoughts on paper never ceases to surprise us with what they misunderstood and what they very clearly understood and later framed into their own articulate wording.

lost in translation

i guess tim and jessica were talking how there's not a need to go over something again and again, so she had said, "you don't have to beat a dead cow." tim told her the phrase is "beat a dead horse" and jessica went on to explain that her phrase came from another phrase, "stubborn as a cow," to which tim explained that it's "stubborn as a mule." jessica normally blames her 4th grade teacher, but this time she's pinning it on her parents, from whom she heard a mandarin idiom that literally translates "to be stubborn like a cow" and how she remembers it that way because her dad is the most stubborn person she knows and was born in the year of the cow.

tim classified this as a 3-parter - the mixing of the two idioms + the correct usage of the mandarin one.

we've suggested that they use these mixed idioms as their wedding table identifiers, rather than the standard issue table numbers.

insightful ninja turtles

so growing up, i loved watching the teenage mutant ninja turtles. my favorites were always raphael and michaelangelo. i'll skip the reasons why for another time.

i think it might be safe to say that i was one of the few people who teared up during an intense fight/argument scene between leonardo and raphael in the new ninja turtles movie; i actually had to take my sleeve to fight a couple of tears away. what struck me was how intense raphael's feelings were - it was equal parts love for his brother and anger towards him for leaving them. it seems like such a dichotomy of feelings - love and hurt/anger, yet he's only hurt/angry because of the fact that he loves and values his brother so much. there's a life lesson in there... loving something a whole lot and then being incredibly upset when you're disappointed by that which you care about/love and the frequent inability to deal with the disappointment. in a rash moment, it can make you want to lash out, hit some things with a large, blunt object, though these choices inevitably lead to remorse and contrition, not to mention further damage, sometimes irreparable.

anyway, a seemingly mindless kids' movie made me think - worth the price of a movie ticket.

some kind of earthy matter

jessica declares, "i'm not going to be an optometrist anymore! i'm going to look for a new job. it's time to turn over a new stone."

tim and i are like, "umm, you know it's a new leaf, right?"

jessica: "i swear it's a conspiracy! because, who hides stuff under a leaf? it's so flimsy! you know, because they hide treasure under a stone."

you can't make this up! life is great.

kumar!

this is how i know i'm not as stressed as the first half of the year: i'm looking up a pilot for a tv show that's being filmed right now next to school in k-town on imdb called "the call" and it stars kal penn of harold and kumar fame. dude...i'm so walking over either at lunch or after school to see if i can spot a real celeb. nifty.

rko - i'm going to be trying to find your twin. :)

it's due to slang

i love coming home to something funny and comedic...

according to jessica, you are well-hearsed when you're knowledgeable about something or just really well-prepared.
me: you can say "well-rehearsed"
jessica: yea, it comes from "well-rehearsed", but because it's "slang" you don't need the "re" so it's just "well-hearsed."
the rest of us: uh...i think it's well-versed, to be well-versed in something
jessica: oh well whatever.

wrestling move or anti-apartheid activist?

so the other day, i was at home and susan asked me to name the wrestling move where you put your arm under that of your opponent and bring it around the back of their head. i was like, "half-nelson?" and she started laughing. of course, i asked her why it was funny. she told me that earlier, jessica had said to tim that she was going to use that wrestling move on him, but she called it a "mandela." that made me laugh...a lot. i was told that jessica had tim look it up on wikipedia to because "mandela" could've been slang for the wrestling move. ahaha...good times.

a teacher's worst nightmare

ok, there are actually a number of nightmares that teachers have, but one of them is oversleeping and being late to school. so, yesterday morning, i was pretty sick. our office manager gave me some daytime theraflu. midday, i was ok, but by the end, i felt hot...and was perspiring a lot...not good. i had class in the evening and got home around 8:30pm. i sat at home, rested, drank some meds, and fell asleep. sadly, i had failed to set my main alarm and my cell phone alarm was not enough to wake me up. so...i overslept and didn't wake up until school called! BOO! i freaked out when i looked at the clock and it said 8! anyway, they were worried because they knew i was pretty sick yesterday and were ready to call a sub. i got to school a little over an hour after the day started, but good thing jenny had them working on math problems from the text.

at lunch, i was talking to the other teachers and almost all of them have a similar story, which made me feel better and not as big of a dork. still...arg. may this never happen again.

happy little trees

today, my class had to take a state writing test. since we've been drilling them with writing for the last 3 weeks, we decided that the rest of the day (after the test) should be fun and relaxing, like a celebration of their accomplishment. we passed out drumstick ice cream cones after lunch and did some art. i taught the kids how to paint a landscape, right after jenny taught me how during our lunch. here's my attempt:

i kind of felt like bob ross. i wanted to tell the kids to paint some happy little trees. anyway, while they were painting, i heard one of the girls say, "calm down your horses." i laughed quietly, then called her over to let her know that the phrase is "hold your horses" but that my roommate also says "calm your horses." jessica felt redeemed, i think, when i told her the story.

in addition to feeling very bob ross, i felt very disheveled, a total mess. during recess, i went to the workroom to get paint, only to have it spill on my shirt because of a loose cap. later, i dropped chocolate ice cream on my shirt. i had planned to meet grace after school to go to santa monica to get some sand for her class project. i did not feel fit to be out in public, but didn't get a chance to change. as we were crossing the street towards the pier, a random older white dude in a SUV on a cell phone yells out, "gabrielle says hi!" right at me. so, i smiled and waved at him - "hi" right back at you, gabrielle. my stained shirt might have made me look like a target...

friends doing cool stuff

i'm a little behind the times. i think it was in the summer that quest church in seattle held their annual faith and race class. these guys i know (aacf co-core, friends, neighbors, surrogate big bro) made this video:


the vid stars:

mel - "who am i?"

simon - "i'm a foreigner"

jon - "i can't speak english"

dennis - "i know kung fu" - you are still so missed...

gar - "i'm a ganster" - to be fair...i thought you were a gansta too when i first met you :)

fongster - "i'm a bad driver" - i'm not familiar with his driving...but his track record with flag football injuries to others isn't so hot...

chong - "i love math" - and jar jar binks :)

g-sak - "i am American" - i hope japan treats your ex-pat self well!

the video is a great reminder of stereotypes we deal in each and everyday and the struggle to break out of these molds. plus, it makes me miss the days of "guerilla" filming. chong and gar shoot some footage here!