On the third day of school I received word from a teaching partner that I was getting a new student this morning, and no hablo ingles! Oh, dear. Si. Okay I go to meet him in the cafeteria and he has a gigantic, very ornery smile, looks at me and doesn't seem to understand a word I say. Well, we go to the classroom and try to get him situated. I have space beside the two only other hispanic students I have. I tell them to help him as much as they can. Of course they are not fluent spanish speakers, but they do understand) They are doing a pretty good job and I'm using the limited spanish that I have from 6th grade, 35 years ago to try and talk to him. I do find out his name, and I can say SI and NO. Well, we begin our math meeting and several kids say Ms. B we need Juan's birthday for our birthday graph. I ask my little hispanic helper how do you say birthday in spanish, he shrugs his shoulders and says, "I DON'T KNOW MS. B, I JUST SAY PINATA!!!!!! OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES. SO PRECIOUS, I LAUGH AND TELL EVERYONE ABOUT IT ALL DAY. SO CUTE AND SWEET.
More to come on Juan soon, I'm sure---
Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
