Christmas in my Classroom

The whole week before Christmas I did nothing but play Christmas games and make decorations in my classes...and it was awesome! The Christmas spirit in Poland is wonderful and I really enjoyed learning about Polish Christmas traditions from my students.

~Merry Christmas to all and 

a Happy New Year~

Homonym Hilarity

As a Native English speaker trying to teach the language to English as a Second Language Learners, it often becomes apparent how difficult the language is to learn. Take homonyms, for example, a group of words with the same spelling and pronunciation but with different meanings. There, their and they're is a good example of a group of homonyms that, unfortunately, even Native English speakers struggle with. While this causes me anguish at the sight of misuse on Facebook, it brings me joy in the classroom.

Scenario #1:
Question: "What is your favourite dish?"
Student: "Ummmmm, my favourite dish is a plate."

Unfortunately I did not have the where with all to ask her why a plate is better than a bowl or a cup.

Scenario #2:
Question: "Are the roads slick? Are they icy?"
Co-teacher: "What do you see?"

Think about it...

Scenario #3:
Question: "Say three things that smell good and three things that smell bad."
Student: "Three things that smell good are flowers, perfume and rain. Three things that smell bad are...boobs. Smelly boobs? Boobs right?

Nothing to do with homonyms, just an incredibly coincidental swapping of 2 letters.

Happy Santa Claus Day!

Capitalists Rejoice! In addition to celebrating Christmas, Poland also celebrates Santa Claus Day on December 6th. How do they celebrate you may ask? By receiving gifts from Santa Claus, of course. So for those of you keeping track, that's two separate holidays on which Santa Claus brings you presents. I know, I couldn't believe it either.

Thank you Poland for yet another amazing holiday that I will be taking back to the United States with me.