1. I played this song quietly in the background with my 1st graders in an attempt to calm them down and create more peace and harmony:
6. While my 1st grade girls were getting ready for gym in their locker room, I noticed they were gossiping about each other. I don't specifically know what they were saying, but they were whispering, and mentioning another little girls name and looking at her. I don't need to fully understand Russian to know what was going on. So I started chanting and clapping in some impromptu made up rhythm: "Secrets, secrets are no fun, unless they're shared with everyone!" I did this over and over until some of them started to try to chime in. One little girl even added a "Hey!" at the end. I doubt they knew exactly what they were saying, but as long as they were too busy chanting to gossip to each other, I was happy.
7. One of my 1st graders LOVES music and to sing. And let me tell you, she is a belter. I played this song over and over for her during playtime, until she started singing the chorus with me:
8. You should see my 1st grade boys play soccer at recess. The cutest, most hilarious thing ever. They are actually pretty good. They get really into it, and as I really don't know specifically what they are saying, I make up dialogue in my head. I should video tape them and add my made up dialogue subtitles one day.
9. I made my favorite soup for dinner last night (ham/cabbage/potato). As I was shopping for the ingredients, I ran into another English speaking American at the grocery store. He bumped into me and said "Sorry". At first I was confused. (no one speaks English here... normally if someone were to bump into me, it would be followed by some mumbled jumbled letters and sounds towards me...or just nothing.) I was half paying attention so I didn't really think anything of it at first. He thought I was Russian so he was attempting to ask me in Russian if the fruit in his hand was an orange or a grapefruit. I was getting ready to spout out my Russian catchphrase (Ya-ne gavaroo pa-rooskee...."I don't speak Russian")..when I slowly realized that this man apologized to me in English! So I said "Do you speak English!?" He said "Yes! How do you know English so well? Are you American?" We then made quite a scene as we became the loud mouthed expressive Americans that we are.
10. After the grocery store, I went to another store to try to find a pot to cook my soup in. Normally I think customer service here is awful, usually no one asks if you need help...which is ok, they usually do not know English and couldn't help me anyway. Which is why I was extremely flustered, nervous and uncomfortable when a man working at this store asked me if I needed help in Russian. I told him in Russian that I do not speak Russian, and then I told him in English (knowing he would not understand) "It is ok, you really won't be much help to me. I'll just figure it out myself like I always do. You can leave, I'm fine." He told me in Russian to stay right there. I should've bolted out of there while I had a chance. In all honestly, I did not need help. I knew they did not have a pot I needed. I didn't need anyone to help me. But I did stay right there. The gentleman came back with about 4 other people that worked there. They all were super tall and wearing red shirts as they completely surrounded me (kind of like the pirates from a few posts back...if you remember), which made me even more flustered. One of the workers came forward as the one who "knows English" (but really he must've just started taking lessons the previous day) and slowly asked "Interested...uh... what you?" After I performed some pantomiming and very little Russian words...they basically told me they do not have what I am looking for.
No duh, people...but how nice of them for trying to help me.
11. (I know I said "10 quick stories"...but I thought of one more) I asked a Russian colleague how to say "thirsty" in Russian. He did not understand what the word "thirsty" was in English, so he handed me my Russian/English translator and asked me to show him this word "thirsty" in the translator. When I flipped to the "th" section in the dictionary he asked in a shocked voice "No f? Firsty not start with f?" This is ok, I make similar mistakes with Russian on (more than) a daily basis.
-Gina
2. I started playing "rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" with some of my first graders during their breaks this week. The little boy who recently learned the word "shoes" from me always says "rock, paper, scissors, SHOES!"
3. In 3rd grade, two of my boys were verbally fighting in Russian. Roman knows more English than Misha. I wasn't sure what they were arguing about, but I said "Boys, stop fighting, be nice to each other. Be friends." Roman says in a calm, serious, Russian/British way "But Miss Gina I can't." I responded "Why not?" Roman: "I don't like Misha". Gina: "Why" Roman: "Because Misha stupid".
...its hard not laugh when Misha has no idea what is being said, so he just smiles as he is unknowingly being torn to pieces by his "enemy of the day".
4. My 3rd graders were learning how to describe people (what are they wearing, what color hair/eyes/height/etc.) I asked them to describe what I was wearing, hair color, etc. Here are some things that I got: "Miss Gina not tall, not short", "Miss Gina is brown straight hair", "Miss Gina has beautiful blue eyes!" (this started a trend), "Miss Gina has beautiful red trousers", "Miss Gina has got beautiful white clock (watch)", "Miss Gina has beautiful black eyebrows", "Miss Gina has beautiful shoes", Miss Gina has beautiful red mouth", "Miss Gina has beautiful long (points to sleeve) shirt". Either these children think I'm the most gorgeous lady that walked the planet, or their adjective vocabulary is not so broad. I like to believe the first one, really boosted my self-esteem that day.
5. I gave my 3rd graders an activity sheet where they were directed to draw specific articles of clothing on a person. I was confused at first when for number 2 that said "blue pants", most of my students were drawing blue underwear on their person. Some children have learned British English. I later learned that in British English, they use "pants" to say underwear. To say pants, they use trousers.
7. One of my 1st graders LOVES music and to sing. And let me tell you, she is a belter. I played this song over and over for her during playtime, until she started singing the chorus with me:
8. You should see my 1st grade boys play soccer at recess. The cutest, most hilarious thing ever. They are actually pretty good. They get really into it, and as I really don't know specifically what they are saying, I make up dialogue in my head. I should video tape them and add my made up dialogue subtitles one day.
9. I made my favorite soup for dinner last night (ham/cabbage/potato). As I was shopping for the ingredients, I ran into another English speaking American at the grocery store. He bumped into me and said "Sorry". At first I was confused. (no one speaks English here... normally if someone were to bump into me, it would be followed by some mumbled jumbled letters and sounds towards me...or just nothing.) I was half paying attention so I didn't really think anything of it at first. He thought I was Russian so he was attempting to ask me in Russian if the fruit in his hand was an orange or a grapefruit. I was getting ready to spout out my Russian catchphrase (Ya-ne gavaroo pa-rooskee...."I don't speak Russian")..when I slowly realized that this man apologized to me in English! So I said "Do you speak English!?" He said "Yes! How do you know English so well? Are you American?" We then made quite a scene as we became the loud mouthed expressive Americans that we are.
10. After the grocery store, I went to another store to try to find a pot to cook my soup in. Normally I think customer service here is awful, usually no one asks if you need help...which is ok, they usually do not know English and couldn't help me anyway. Which is why I was extremely flustered, nervous and uncomfortable when a man working at this store asked me if I needed help in Russian. I told him in Russian that I do not speak Russian, and then I told him in English (knowing he would not understand) "It is ok, you really won't be much help to me. I'll just figure it out myself like I always do. You can leave, I'm fine." He told me in Russian to stay right there. I should've bolted out of there while I had a chance. In all honestly, I did not need help. I knew they did not have a pot I needed. I didn't need anyone to help me. But I did stay right there. The gentleman came back with about 4 other people that worked there. They all were super tall and wearing red shirts as they completely surrounded me (kind of like the pirates from a few posts back...if you remember), which made me even more flustered. One of the workers came forward as the one who "knows English" (but really he must've just started taking lessons the previous day) and slowly asked "Interested...uh... what you?" After I performed some pantomiming and very little Russian words...they basically told me they do not have what I am looking for.
No duh, people...but how nice of them for trying to help me.
11. (I know I said "10 quick stories"...but I thought of one more) I asked a Russian colleague how to say "thirsty" in Russian. He did not understand what the word "thirsty" was in English, so he handed me my Russian/English translator and asked me to show him this word "thirsty" in the translator. When I flipped to the "th" section in the dictionary he asked in a shocked voice "No f? Firsty not start with f?" This is ok, I make similar mistakes with Russian on (more than) a daily basis.
-Gina
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