In the hall of the mountian kids

Hahaha, you see what I did there with the title? Oh yeah, I'm so witty. Anyways, this post is going to be about me guest teaching at this middle school that was way out there in the mountains. See, hence the hall, and mountain, and kids part working to punny effect! See, told you I was witty.

That's right folks, jokes work best when you feel the need to explain them out in detail.


So I was invited to guest teach an 2 hour lesson at this middle school that was way the hell up. When I say I was invited to guest teach an 2 hour lesson at a middle school, I mean my counterpart said, "hey, no need to come to school tomorrow. The administrators want me to show you this place that is more than an hour away" the day before.

At 10 in the morning, me, my counterpart, and this administrator set off to this mysterious (to me at the moment at least) and far away land on scooters. We get to the base of the mountain when we are joined by a teacher who teaches at the school we are trying to reach. It was a good thing this guy came too, because these dirt roads where hell. They where all manner of windy and hilly and bumpy and unsafe-y. To make matters worse, the roads were coated with lots and lots of rocks that where about the size of tennis balls. Falling down was a very possibility. In fact, it actually happened! But it was one of those slow motion falls, so no one was hurt. It was at that point that the group decided that the teacher from the mountains should be the one to be responsible for getting my fat ass up the impossible terrain on a 125cc scooter.


The trip was absolutely breathtaking. Trees, rock, mountain, you get the idea. I wanted to take pictures, but whipping out my camera while on the back of a scooter that is already barely staying upright would have probably been a bad idea, so I did not do it. Might have damaged the camera you know?

Then we finally get to the school. They ask me to introduce myself to the class, which I was expecting. Then I open it up to questions and the students were super shy, which I was expecting. Then I was told to take the class for the next to hours, and I was all like "lol, what?" I struggled for a bit, but then when I walked around I noted that the kids were freakin' transcribing things I was saying into the International Phonetic Alphabet. Turns out their teacher majored in Phonetics at college. I was like "holy crap!" Then it was clear what I needed to do.

I was using the IPA to show them how words spelled totally different could have very similar sounds. I was pinpointing the sounds that they were having trouble with and worked on those by contrasting them with sounds that are similar, but not quite the same. I was showing them how spelling cannot be trusted at all when it comes to pronunciation. In short, it was the best lesson I have taught thus far, and I did it all on the spot. The students were nailing pronunciations by the end. They were getting that "omigosh, I get it" look every time I explained something new. They all went from being super quite to absolutely eager to try out their pronunciations on the American teacher. They were all super happy at the end, and so was I. However, what gave me the most joy of the day was that my LINGUISTICS DEGREE has finally proven itself to be not absolutely useless.


Ok, that was a lie, the "omigosh looks" were by far the best part. Anyone who has taught knows what I'm talking about and the effect that look has on a teacher.

Miscellaneous pictures bellow: