Turkeytime

          Ten tricky two-toed turkeys trotted on the table...now say that five times fast! This was our warm-up tongue twister for the day. Every time I teach, I'm amazed by the number of little things I don't anticipate. I thought this was just a funny tongue twister, but it led to a discussion of how turkeys walk and how many toes they have, if any. We talked about Thanksgiving today. The students wanted to know how many people were on the Mayflower, how turkey tasted different from chicken, why Americans ate all day long, why it was on a Thursday, why pumpkin pie was first (it wasn't, I misarranged my flashcards and so they are now convinced Americans eat dessert before dinner), why the Englishpeople left England ("for religious reasons like persecution" didn't suffice for them), why the ship was called the Mayflower, what sort of things did they do with the first people, and many, many other questions. The only answer that satisfied them was that we say "first people" or "Native Americans" and not "Indians", but only because they found that so obvious. Silly Americans.
           In other classroom news, today a student, cutting the feathers for her turkey, lamented "Oh my God." In perfect English, with a roll of the eyes. I burst out laughing and, of course, the entire class repeated it. Not sure how that comports with the religion ban in the classroom but it was absolutely hilarious.
            In the next class, again, cutting feathers out, a girl asked me for help. Her seatmate shook his head and told her "You aren't the queen of the classroom. Don't you think she [me] has other people to help? Do it yourself. Is cutting a piece of paper that hard?" He had, by this point, cut off one of his feathers and I was in the midst of giving him another sheet of paper. She responded, "Be quiet [nice of her not to say shut up, wasn't it?]. You're not the king of Saudi Arabia. I want my feathers to be perfect." First of all, I am glad to be acknowledged as an expert with safety scissors. Secondly, the conversation proceeded into a fight about who was older and therefore could be king or queen. I accidentally cut off her feathers, too, in eavesdropping.