School Stories

I haven't written about anything for a while, so I wanted to give you an update about my job.

There is a sixth grade boy that I teach. He has been studying at GnB for about five months and he has studied English at his elementary school for the past two years. In class, we have been talking about animals and what they can and can't do. Here's an example: Can a cheetah run fast? Yes, it can. So I assigned a bunch of that type of questions for homework one day. The next class, I was very surprised to read Nicolas's homework.

The question was 'Can kangaroos jump high?' Nicolas answered that challenging question with, 'Can a giraffe eat leaves?' A question answered with a question. This boy was either rebelling against the insanely easy question (it was easy to everyone else in class, and the monkey I showed it to at the zoo), or he was demonstrating his low brain activity.

I told him to read the question again and change his answer. He got angry and wrote, 'Does a peacock have soft feathers?'

I think Nicolas knows no English at all. I have asked him, "Nicolas how was school today?" He has never answered. So I have rephrased the question into Konglish and asked, "School-today-good(thumbs up)-bad(thumbs down)-ok(a wavy hand)." He usually doesn't answer to this, but he has replied with a, "Yes" on a couple occasions.

When I'm bored in class I will ask, "Nicolas, how are you?" He will always stare at me blankly. "Good?" Blank. "Bad?" A hollow stare. "Completely oblivious to the world around you?" Yes.

Nicolas also has a younger brother. What is the name of younger brother of Nicolas? Why, it's Nick, of course. Nick and Nicolas, or dumb and dumber.

I taught Nick for about three weeks when he first join GnB. I would sometimes stop teaching and gaze at him as he stared blankly at the ceiling. When other students would rouse him, he would then stare at me. I would stare back at him dumbfounded by his behavior. He thought we were playing a game, because he now stares at me everyday.

Before his class, I have a break and I spend it in the teachers' office. Nick comes in, stands next to me, and stares. The outer rings of his nostrils are caked with dried snot. The inner walls are probably plastered with it too, but I would gag if I took the time to glimpse inside his nasty little nose. At least now it is dried. A few months ago his nose was wet with huge, green boogers. When he would play his staring game with me, he would sometimes laugh, forcing a big green guy out onto his upper lip. I woud give Nick a tissue. He would give me a confused look. I would make a motion like I was wiping my nose. Another conused look. Then I would point to the booger and he would wipe it up.