Kneesand

OK, so where were we? Ah, yes, I was just about to tell you about the seven more classes I picked up and my trip to Paris.

So, I picked up seven more classes and am taking a trip to Paris.

First, the classes. It started with three kindergarten classes. However, there are five kindergartens in the comuna (a handful of villages), so once the fourth one asked me to come, I figured I’d hit for the Tulgheș cycle and offer my services to the fifth.

So now, on Tuesdays, I have five kindergarten classes. It’s exhausting, but adorable. We mostly sing songs together, but they have a good time, and I’ve had a good time seeing them retain and progress.

Our current set list includes “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” – even though they all call those things on your legs “kneesand” – a variation of “One, Two, Buckle my Shoe” that I made up, and my favorite: “How Are You?” set to the tune of “Are You Sleeping?” It goes a little something like this:

How are you?

How are you?

I’m goooood. I’m gooooood. (with big smiles)

How are you?

How are you?

I’m NOT good! I’m NOT good! (as pouty as possible; they love this part)

I’m not crazy about reinforcing the negative response, but the main goal here isn’t to make them fluent by the time they reach first grade, it’s to forge an association between “English” and “fun,” maybe spur some interest and give them a small head start. So far, so good.

Last week I also started my adult classes. All 30-something of us met, and after the first hour, it was unanimously decided that, moving forward, we’d do a beginner class and an intermediate class.

Shortly into our first dialogue – “What is your name? Where are you from? How are you?” – it became fairly obvious that we had two different levels: those who’ve done this stuff and just want to freshen up their English, and those who haven’t had any English at all. (All the while, I was fighting the urge to sing my “How are you?” song because it was still fresh from the kindergarten class an hour earlier.)

More on that later.

So I’m going to Paris! I made a really great friend in my town who goes to school outside of Paris and offered to let us stay there. So, while weighing my options for Christmas vacation, I realized I’d be crazy to turn down a free place to stay in Paris, which also happens to be somewhere I’ve never been. So, a $300 round-trip ticket later, and I’m on my way (in two months)! I’ve started Pimsleur’s French – hey, already studying Romanian and Hungarian, why not throw in a third? This way, I won’t be totally clueless, just mostly.

Asta e tot.