Funnies in class

During one of my lessons this week I asked my students to make up general statements. I went around to check their work and was reading one of my Palestinian students work. He wrote a grammatically correct sentence but the content just made me want to run out of the room and laugh my head off. The sentence went like this: "Palestinian people are good at throwing stones." He looked at me and smiled and said.."but it's true" lol. It was hilarious. I had to keep it together to stay composed.
Two weeks ago we were doing present perfect e.g. I have known... This was one of the beginnings I gave them to complete. One student who was in his early twenties asked about what exactly to write. I knew this particular student just got married last year so I said "How long have you known your wife?" And he said "aaaah..." lightpulp moment, he thought for a bit and I was thinking.. How long does it take for one to figure out how long you've known your spouse of less than a year. "Twenty-four years" he said. I gulped thinking he's made a mistake and aske again are you sure? He is about 24 years old. Then it occurred to me that it was an arranged marriage of course he'd have known her all his life... Of course I proceeded to instruct him on how to write the sentence and not dwell in the details as it was just a different culture altogether!!!
Interesting things come up in the classroom at times.
Today was a holiday to commemorate the 37th year since Oman has been ruled by the current Sultan. I went to see a museum in Ruwi with my friend Lize. First we had lunch with a Kiwi friend who is moving to Saudi to teach English there for two years then Lize and I drove to Ruwi and saw the museum and an art gallery across the road. The art gallery was in an old villa that had a small court yard in the middle with a small fountain. I found myself lounged on one of the chairs there watching the soothing fountain and just enjoying the beauty of the small courtyard. It was a very random moment. It made me dream of Spain and their court yards. Reminds me we must travel to Spain in the near future!
Back to work tomorrow. I'm doing summer school in the morning and teaching adults in the evening. My morning classes are with students who basically speak very little English or none at all. Very trying and hard work but I'm slowly building a rapport with them and also figuring out how to get across to them. Not a bad bunch though. Now after a day out I'm exhausted and just wanna sleep. My body hasn't been agreeing with me lately and I've had different ailments that are just not nice! I guess life can't always be perfect:)