KATHY PERRY’S FRIDAYS VS MINE. The most expected moment of my week is Friday at lunch. It takes me 30 minutes to drive from my office to Merida’s south where the orphanage is located. If you ever walk in my office on a Friday at 1:30 you might be totally ignored by me since I can’t be late to my 12-teenager appointment. They are very demanding and they have many other activities so I can not miss a single minute. 24 years ago I started teaching English to pay for my way to college and since then I have always been a little or much involved in teaching. In different moments of my life I have thought both in private and public schools, both in big or small corporations. I have thought from the most important executive to the humblest group of workers. But I have to admit that this is the most special group I have ever worked with. Their interest to know everything what is going on outside in the world is amazing. Being surrounded by my teenager son and his friends, who have it all and take all incredible things of the world for granted, makes me unprepared to answer the simple questions made by my students who have lived the most difficult lives. Every class is me who actually learns, every session is a self discovery journey. But as kids they share common teenager behaviors and they get bored easily. I need to prepare my class with hundreds of cool stuff in order to keep their attention. I have only one hour with thirty minutes to prepare them with the best of me in order to give them that one more tool that has been so decisive in my life so they can be better prepared for their uncertain future. But no matter how perfectly organized my lesson plan is, there are days when I just have to adjust it according to the class circumstances. Last Friday, in the middle of the class, a girl asked me, “…hey professor!, when can we translate and sing a song? . “it is such a good idea” I responded. “Do you have any favorite singer in mind?” I asked. One of the students rushed to answer “Kathy Perry!!” In that moment, fueled by the excitement of the class I recalled that just a week earlier my son downloaded a bunch of songs to my newly bought intelligent phone. I told the class to give my minute and there it was. “FRIDAY NIGHT” by Kathy Perry. All the girls yelled as they recognized it as one of their favorite songs. And so we started. Translating the song was, let’s say, kind of a challenge from the very first sentence. All started with a “There is a stranger in my bed” followed by a very strong “wooo huu” by all of the kids. In that moment I hoped the rest of the song was going to portrait some of the angelical well behaved looks of Kathy Perry. I could not be more mistaken!! It was then when I realized that her looks are totally deceiving. I had to put up with such sentences as “skinny dipping in the dark”, “I smell like minibar”, “Im screwed” , I even had to introduce them to French in order to explain the term “menage a trois” But I could not stop. I Couldnt sensor myself. They were so happy and eager to finally find out what Kathy Perry does on Fridays, it couldnt break their hearts, it was too late, stopping would mean killing the fun and besides, I had the opportunity to ethically explain some of these delicate terms and tried to give them “the softest” definitions as possible without lying”. It was when a student asked me “what is the difference between “a hickie or a bruise?” that I definitely had to lie and give an answer that totally did not make any sense. I have to give Kathy Perry the credit and admit that her lyrics were easy and totally suitable for simple past which is what we are analyzing in class. At the end we all sang this catching but dirty orgily beautiful song. Now I am glad my son takes so many things for granted. I hope the song incident passes unnoticed. Even if my classes are totally voluntary work. if they are cancelled, I will never forgive Kathy Perry’s Friday if it screwed mine!!!
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 19:30:15 +0000