Also from yesterday: Miss Minnow doesn’t like Tenacious D

Miss Minnow: (in Japanese) I don’t think Teacher should make us color. It has nothing to do with English.

(They are coloring because I need to keep them busy long enough to check their homework.)

Me: Minnow has rocked for a long, long time…

Miss Minnow, disgustedly: (in Japanese) That’s a weird song.

Me: Now it’s time for her to pass the torch - new crayons? What color crayon do you want?

Blue: Blue, please!

Spaztastic: Pink, please!

Miss Minnow, angrily: Green. Please.

Me: Here you go. She has songs of drama and hiss-y fits -

Blue and Spaztastic: Thank you!

Miss Minnow, her rage towering like Olympus: Thank. You. (in Japanese) That’s a weird song!

Me: You must give your cape and scepter - to Blue! And another for Spaztastic!

Blue: To Blue!

-

Though in success news there, I have taught Miss Minnow and Spaztastic to say “Eeny meeny miny mo / Catch a tiger by the toe” instead of the Japanese version. (”Dochira ni shiyou ka na / Kami-sama no iu tohri,” translation “Which should I choose? \ The one the god chooses.”) And they use it without me telling them to! Out-of-class, even! Blue is still having trouble with “catch a tiger by the toe,” and says a bunch of nonsense syllables instead, but she still does it without being told. Yay! (I’m not going to try and teach them the second half - Miss Minnow might be able to manage it, but not the other two.)

And I’ve got Spaztastic singing the first line of the Ponyo song in English now. Miss Minnow won’t do it because it doesn’t scan properly, and she has taste, thank you very much.

(Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.)

My one class on Thursday: Mr. Rat, age 9

(We’re drilling a list of adjectives he had to study.)

Me: Is the elephant fat?

Mr. Rat: Yes yes yes.

Me: Are you tall?

Mr. Rat: No no no.

Me: Is your mother pretty?

Mr. Rat: …

Me: Pretty! (I do the prettiness gesture. (It’s hard to describe.))

Mr. Rat, in Japanese: I know what it means, I’ve just got to think about it…

Me: What? Why?

Mr. Rat, in Japanese: She’s okay, I guess.

Mr. Rat’s other bad habits include sticking the toys in his crotch and gesturing. There was one incident where he actually put some marbles in his pants. I washed them afterwards.

(Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.)