Children are easily susceptible to suggestions, and I take full advantage of this fact every day for my own amusement. It’s definitely a symbiotic relationship because I’m exposing them to the intricacies of American pop culture so that one day they can go to college there and understand the importance of phrases like “I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is more cowbell” or “lock it up” and in return, I get to exercise my creativity every day. Winning. While grammar, spelling, and vocabulary are as necessary as a turkey on Thanksgiving, slang is tantamount to the four bottles of whiskey your uncles bring over for the party. Could you get by without the Jack? Probably, but isn’t your experience richer and more enjoyable because you have it? Definitely. This is why I use slang at every opportunity. Again children, you’re welcome. I’m doing this for you and your future. You’ll thank me later when you’re in college. You can either be the weird foreigner who laughs two seconds too late at everyone’s jokes, or the cool novelty who gets invited to all the parties during Welcome Week. It’s your choice.
I spend the most time with my Kindergarteners (who, you’ll remember, I teach every morning for four hours), so naturally they love me and will do pretty much anything I tell them to do, or anything that I do first. Last week I was feeling especially bored in class so naturally I was daydreaming about what my students are going to be like when they grow up. Then I thought “I wonder which ones will actually be able to grow mustaches” and a brilliant idea hit me like a lightning bolt.
Michael loved his mustache so much that he now asks me for one every day.
So obviously we spent the next 45 minutes talking in funny voices while they all begged me for finger ‘staches and I made them do tricks to earn them. I’ll rue the day when they realize that they can just as easily draw their own mustaches on their fingers without having to do some arbitrary task for me. Hopefully that day never comes.
Pandemonium always reigns in my classroom, but that’s how I like it.
Crehan in Korea 