kids. English. staredowns.

I’ve been teaching English here in Padova to the 8, 9 and 10-year-olds for the past week or so and let me tell you…trouble makers are my favorite kids! The kids who find themselves in big time trouble are always boys for some reason that I’m sure is explainable by both life circumstances and also by the pure fact that they are little boys. In my class, there are so many boys and for some reason I tend to bring out their ability to challenge people and try all attempts at every cost to be funny. they succeed at this..they challenge me to not laugh at them and join in their fun and games. So, over the past week, I have quickly noticed these kids as they have stood out in my mind and actually started to gravitate toward me in situations. I wouldn’t have it any other way and to just be honest, when I hang out with them, I may at times cause more problems than actually help. In the long run, I’m able to build trust with these boys because they understand that I like to have fun and goof off, but there’s a time to be serious too. We’re building that trust right now as it will be made wildly clear to you in the story that follows…

                There are so many kids who stand out to me, but this time I’m going to take time to write about only two. The first kid is Owen and he is nine years old. Owen is Phillippino and speaks Italian. He understands almost everything I say in English…I know this because of his facial expressions and the look in his eye that silently dares me to make him actually follow directions or to speak the English words I know he knows.  He has this dark skin and black hair that is cut to naturally spike up enough to give the appearance of one of those kids who are just too cool for school. He has these huge brown eyes that stick out to you. If you see them once, you’ll never forget them because he uses them to communicate. He will stare you down until you give in or until his stubbornness comes to an end. He sinks into the background, but does so only to get away with as much as he can. He is stubborn and ornery and knows that I see that in him. He knows when he does something wrong and tries to hide it, but only with a sly grin that really tells the truth to the question I asked…this kid speaks my language and by disobeying me in class today, he had me cracking up.

The second kid is named Kyle and Kyle is also from the Philippines and only speaks Phillippino. When he came to class one week ago, he could barely understand the question, “What is your name?”. So, to everything I asked he simply replied, “uhh KYLE!”. Then he smiled this massive smile that brought out the small dimples that just screamed the good nature this kid has. That good nature was proven only by his willingness to help work and clean things up. He does not need to be asked to help move tables or chairs and has often been so productive that I have had to undue things he’s put away because we still needed them.

Today in class, I had all boys…and as you can imagine, I moved them to a place where we could be really loud without disrupting the rest of the group. So, These two boys were in my class. Coincidentally they are becoming very good friends. Kyle looks at Owen’s papers and copies the answers only after I check to make sure Owen has the right answers and after Owen checks the already completed books for answers when I’m “not looking”. Upon being caught, they give me two very sheepish smirks and continue their work.

Today, I made a rule that if the kids were caught speaking Italian in my class, they would have to write one sentence for every time they were caught. So, the boys jumped on this train. At one point, Owen and I had a stare down to get him to write out his twelve sentences. He sat in one chair with his pencil in his hand and his eyes fixed, determined to beat me. Little did he know, I’ve had experience in these types of competitions, so I held his glare until he finally broke the stare and said “alrite alrite alriiieeete”. The rest of the boys thought it was funny so naturally they were on my side. Shortly after, Kyle came up to me and informed me that he had talked in another language besides English and that is why he had to write an extra sentence….the contrast is extraordinary. We have many more weeks together and both will be able to have conversations with me by the time the summer is over. I look forward to it. These boys speak my sarcastic, unique language that includes an occasional staredown and sometimes a broken rule just to make things interesting..wouldn't have it any other way..