Salsa dancing and Shakespeare

Since my last post, things have been looking up. I had a swell week and a fun, busy, weekend. I was out dancing salsa until three AM on Saturday night! I am catching up on sleep still. While I'm not sure I'll stay out that late again--how on earth did I have the energy?--it was such a great time. It's wonderful to have a structured form of social interaction that's creative, artistic, active, and fun integrated in the culture!

Friday I also went out, though in an entirely different manner. I had English class in a pub! We are allowed one outing a cycle and Friday seemed like a good day to escape the fifth floor classroom and go out on the town. With my two o'clock class, I went to a café. It was funny to be with a bunch of high schoolers and have a third of them drinking (legally). A couple ordered a drink that's popular here, called michelada: it is beer, with pepper, sometimes mint liquor, hot sauce, and salt around the rim. Though I really miss good beer--darn gluten--I can't say I'm very tempted by that combination of flavors. But, people do love it here!

My later class went to a popular pub. My only claim as to the legitimacy of the selection was that it was an Irish pub and so we could order in English. Such good practice!...ha. Ha. (It has been done before, I made sure to check.) We did converse in English the entire time, of course, and both classes were much more vocal since we were in such comfortable settings. That day I believe I solidified my friendship with the students.

There's an odd dynamic between teachers and students here. It's interesting since students are roughly our age, and older (at least for me, as one of the youngest teachers). Some teachers are intimidated by their students (I know the feeling), some are sarcastic with them, some call their students dumb, some are bored to tears in class, some like their job. One of the administrators in my school, who used to be a teacher, even told me that when it came to points, I had leeway. There are areas I could define as certain, subjective categories as far as awarding points and that's where I could "get back at the students," if I wanted. Get back at them? For goodness' sake, I don't feel like I'm battling them. They're human beings who want to learn a foreign language to enjoy their life more: whether it's by travel, greater opportunities, or just for the sake of communication and social interaction. I have the knowledge and they want it. Why don't I share it and a bit of kindness, too? That's been my plan thus far, and it sure works! I don't really comprehend the thought of wanting a sort of vengeance against them. Rather unusual, it seems to me.

I think that results from not seeing the students as equals. People are people, too...that will be my refrain 'til the day I die. C.S. Lewis said it much more eloquently:

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

That's from his "The Weight of Glory." I recommend reading it. It takes but a few brief minutes, and ought to be of infinite value. Trust me, though. There are days I absolutely do not want to teach, or leave my house (or even my bed), or walk to school, or enter the classroom with a big smile and a friendly, "hello!" But, I strive to do it anyway. And yet, some days I am bored or tired or impatient. One day at a time. Baby steps through eternity seems like the only way to thrive.

Armed with those good intentions, I taught a couple students Sonnet 116 last week. One of my Conversation Clubs has a few students who are actually interested in literature and poetry--gasp! What a joyful discovery! I pounced on the opportunity to discuss books (one girl has already begun The Brothers Karamazov on my recommendation--I dearly hope she gets through it and loves it as I do!) and poetry, too. Because of the way it so beautifully describes true love (that humanely impossible love, unconditional, sacrificial, and everlasting), I wanted to share this particular sonnet with them. It's the standard of love for which we should strive. (And the love in which we should have faith.) I remember tearing up a bit in class my sophomore year at Hillsdale when we discussed these lines:

...love is not love
which alters when it alteration finds,
or bends with the remover to remove.

Oh, how we alter! And it's no excuse.

And so, with those students, I laboriously went over the very new (or old, rather) vocabulary and then we discussed the meaning, word by word. Not only did they point out some allusions in addition to the few I explained, they were really moved by the poem. After concluding with Shakespeare's pointed couplet, we sat in stillness for a few moments. The boy carefully murmured, "this poem is beautiful" and the girl who earlier found great allusions--she must be a poet--summed up the entire lesson: "So, I have never really loved anyone."

Perfect, just perfect.

TEFL doesn't have to be all grammar and vocabulary. Truth, beauty, and goodness can be discussed and explored, even in incorrect English!

The following day, believe it or not, I brought out some Aquinas for 'em:

To love is to will the good of another, as other.

We discussed what that meant and how it looked in our lives. And went back to the sonnet to see how love is disinterested and immutable. I don't ever want to merely discuss siblings, hobbies, or favorite television shows. I want to try to cultivate critical thinking and English skills! There's no need for grammar and beautiful truth to be mutually exclusive. I know my attempts aren't much, but it's something. I do what I can.

Work is as lovely as I allow it to be. Tomorrow, though, I'll have to really embrace the bits of good I find...during my twelve-hour day! I will leave the house at 8:30 AM and arrive home at 8:30 PM.  Yikes! I've got placement exams in the morning and then several Conversation Clubs and (thankfully) movie day with my Advanced 2 classes (no lesson planning!). I've actually been requested by the same, brilliant, poetic students to bring in some of my own poetry...I told them I would on a day I was feeling brave. Maybe that's tomorrow!

Therefore, I must go to bed. Now, in fact. Oh, but I'm so close to finishing Brideshead! I might allow myself a bit of time to read, then lights out. Good night, dear people.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved.