15 January
My fifth graders never cease to amuse me.
According to them, not only do I have the chickenpox
but I’m also preparing for a trip to the moon.
It’s inevitable that teaching science in a foreign language
will lead to some confusion –despite my efforts using miming, drawings, and
(attempts at) Nepali to explain the more difficult concepts in the book. At the
end of class yesterday, I bounced back and forth between two discussions: one
describing the plane ride back to America and the other assuring two boys that
there is not, in fact, a tree growing on the moon.
To a passerby, it sounded a bit like this:
“Nope, I’m going on a plane because it’s bigger than a
helicopter and can hold more people and all their bags…”
“…nothing can grow on the moon because there is no water or
gases for it to live. But people have visited the moon. They travel in a very
big spaceship and it takes a long time to get there…”
“…it’s a long flight –almost a whole day –to get to my home.
The plane flies very high above the clouds, so it’s hard to see the ground…”
“…no, the men on the moon didn’t cook daal bhaat in their
spaceship. They had bags of food that were ready to eat…”
“…you don’t get hungry because you get boxes of food and
things to drink on the plane…”
Purnima apparently had been piecing together bits of these
two conversations and came up with her own explanation. Her head, which had
been buried in her notebook, jolted up in surprise. “Annie Miss! You’re going
to the MOON?!”
And with that, the bell rang, marking the beginning of
recess and the students rushed from the room like a rocket blasting off from
its base.
Hmm. This is one of those lessons that may require further
explanation…
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