Shapes R us

I went for a walk
My daughter tagging along
She begins to talk-
To various geometric shapes we belong
Did I learn from her.

“I’m so puzzled mama,”
She claims, picking up dirt
“I feel a triangle in my heart.”

We walk further
“I can see so many things
That I see my eyes going in circles,”
Says she.

“Oh! This sun,” she complains
“Now I’ve become a square,”
Saying so, she squats
And doesn’t move an inch.
I carry her back home,
feeling so cylindrical.

And if you see
No connection
Whatsoever
Between the shapes and us
Don’t point your finger at me
Point it at my daughter
Who has become a rectangle
On the bed, just now!
(shhh! She is resting!Taking a nap!after that walk!)

The substitute

I remember watching the movie "THE SUBSTITUTE" long time ago when I was a student myself; save for the action packed grim things I don't remember much about the movie. But few days ago, when I was given a substitution class in Class PP, the first thing that came in my mind was the name of that movie.Whatever, there is no link between that movie and my substitution class anyway.

So, I went. twenty plus students were crawling, literally crawling all over the place. The first thing I had to do as a teacher was to get them seated. So, I started," Choe duetsu good boys da good girls eenna?" Immediately many of them sat on their tiny stool and replied, "een la madam!"

"Mo dhi naughty een la," they were pointing to a little girl sitting on the extreme left of the class. "Mo gi ngachey dramm may la." They added before I could ask them why they felt that little girl was naughty. "menn la!" the girl retorted and hit the boy next to her before I could blink. No wonder, they called her naughty.

I went near her, held her tiny hands and told her," drangni meyong tup?" she nodded religiously but pat went her hand as soon as I reached near the teacher's table. She was irked with one of the boy who seemed to be bent on proving her naughty.

To steer them away from this topic,I began, "choe duetsu gi zhapdra shey....." I couldn't even complete my sentence, a chubby boy sitting beside the so called 'naughty girl' started, "ngesem ngesem" and the whole class followed him, singing the famous song from Singlem. What was interesting was the boy who actually started the song knew just the "ngesem ngesem" part, he was mute after that. Seriously! :)

"Can I teach you all songs?" I asked them. All of them shouted,"yes"

So, I began with 'twinkle, twinkle' which many of them knew and sang with me. Then we sang "mary had a little lamb". a little boy knew this song too and he proudly sang with me while others couldn't get the words. So, I stopped after one time. I knew some were getting bored. PP kids can be so restless, what excites them one minutes ago, bores them to hell the next minute.

So, then I called five students and lined them up in front of the chalkboard. So, then began the literal enactment of the song. I made them jump while we sang, " five little monkeys jumping on the bed," and I too jumped with them. And as the monkey goes bumping its head, I literally pulled them near the table and gave them a little bump, just a wee little bump and "hahahahahaha......" went the whole class. Before long the whole class wanted to be the monkeys so we landed up singing that songs for more than six times.

I was panting after the last round but they loooked as fresh as the morning dew. As I took my seat on the chair, one of the boy came near me and said, " madam, toilet."

"No, wait for the bell," I told him sternly. He straightened his two lower limbs together,clasping his hands right inbetween the thighs. I saw an emergency there. So, I said," ok, go!" But as soon as I said that magic word 'go' the whole class went out, like a sheep following one another.

But they returned soon. and getting them to say, "please may I come in," was a cute adventure.

"doro zhabdra thengay la!" they pleaded. and we had more songs and jumping inside the classroom. The bell rang and as I came out, thanking them with a big smile,they pleaded "Madam naba ya sho tupga?"

This single line of plea made my day. It felt so good to be wanted by these twenty plus restless kids!

Cleaning Campaign

October is here. We, in the school measure our milestones by the important ocassion we have to prepare for. So, as I was saying, its October! and a week from now, we will be celebrating the Royal Wedding Anniversary. So in preparation for the same, we conducted a cleaning campaign from our school till Kurje ( our senior students are there participating in the Baza Guru Dungdrup).

Here are some pics I took of my kids:

Nervous Readers

"Namgay Wangchuk, come!" I call out. Namgay Wangchuk performs a round of twists and turns before he reaches in front of the class with his English text book. His crimson-blush almost invisible in his sun-darkened face. "Read!" it's a command. He puts his free hand on his forehead, "letter from Laya..." he begins and further scratch, scratch, scratch goes his hand on his head. And it is more scratch as he continues to read.

"Is your head itchy?" I want to ask him but put it off knowing full well that it is just an act of nervousness and nothing else. Every time I cast a look on him, I see a undefinable smile dancing on his lips and he averts his eyes away, away from my gaze.

"Ok, go now." Namgay almost brushes me out as he rushes to his seat, relieved to have finished his share of reading for the period.

"Ugyen Uden!" I call out, the next reader.A large fat tongue greets my gaze. Slowly the biggest girl in the class gets up from her seat. She tugs her tego, as if checking whether it is tugged in place or not. Her hand goes swish!swish! beneath the front fold of her kira and as her hands is pulling at her loose pony tail, I shout, "Ugyen! Come fast!"

She comes but doesn't come fast enough. some boys mumble something and I see Ugyen Uden casting them an angry glare. I wait for that bulky girl to continue reading. She struggles with the first word itself. She gives it a shot, shakes her head vigorously, tries again and again shakes her head. Deki, who is the best reader in the class softly pronounces the word beneath her breadth. I find it funny but I don't laugh. Ugyen Uden's hair is dancing infront of her eyes while she keeps on pulling that particular strand behind her ears. Three fourth of her three minutes is spent pulling out that stray hair than getting her words correct.

"Raj Gurung." He scurries like a tiny mouse. He is tiny but more than Jerry mouse, he reminds me of Pluto, Mickey Mouse's dog. Maybe it is his ears that stands out on the either sides of his almost bald head. He gives me his full toothed smile. Every line he reads, he slams his foot on the floor. I wonder, " class four downstairs must be wondering what's happening up here."(if they can hear his footsie by anyway).

Next is Tsheten's turn. This boy's laughter is a force in itself to reckon with. After every word, he makes his head take a plunge between his shoulders. And this tremors of his giggles and quaking of his shoulders become more intense whenever I look at him.

Finally I call Deki Seldon, the tiny Minnie Mouse of the class. She is a pretty little girl who is the best reader. But every time she comes in the front, the whole class roars with laughter. She has this peculiar habit of squinting her eyes and casting a sideways glance at her textbook with her body twisted half way. And her eyes grow further smaller whenever she comes across big words.

Just then the bell rings and before I can ask her to go back to her seat, she hurries away on her own. I pick up my stuff, thank them and come out. All these images makes a quick run in my mind as I walk back to the staffroom and I smile biting my lips hard so that I can continue hiding the big laughter. But I know by the time I reach the staff room, I would meet so many other sights that these nervous little kids' images would be drowned into oblivion.
(Do you think so??????????? ;) :) ;) )