my last day as "teacher!"

Funnies from ending interviews with my students:
- It seems that the words “terrific” and “terrible” are still difficult for some of my students. One girl told me, “I think your Albanian is terrible!!” and later “…it was terrific that [my favorite sports team] lost!”
- There was a girl in my class who is 14 years old – and taught herself English. She’s really bright – but she confused “o’clock” with “years old” several times. It was cute: “My brother is 13 o’clock…I went to the beach when I was 10 o’clock…”
- To learn opposites of adjectives, we used a cheer, which really seemed to help. “I say ugly, you say (pretty). Ugly (pretty), ugly (pretty)… Sweet/sour; clean/dirty; etc.” We did this many times. Yet 2 students responded like this: “I say high, you say…” – “oh! Uh…hello! No, no…goodbye!” It was pretty funny.
- Another task was for me to invite them for coffee, but they can’t come because they’re in school (task: how to give an excuse). “Hey! Can we go out for coffee in an hour?” Response: “Of course…” (no, no – you’re to say, ‘no, I’m at school. Maybe later/thanks for inviting me/etc.’). I repeated my invitation. Then the student said, “umm…if I’m just in school, of course I’d choose to go out for coffee. This question is stupid.”

Then there were funnies from the teacher – because sometimes I’m sort of thinking in Albanian and translating in English:
- “Please present your friend.” (instead of introduce…); “Before how much time did you go to your uncle’s?” (para sa kohe… it’s like I’ve forgotten how to use the word “ago!”); “For how long will you stay?” …
- I also confused the words “vomit” and “steal” (vjell and vjedh) several times when students asked me to clarify a question about health.
- After one girl left, I was pretty emotional. She’s such a special girl – so sincere and kind and confident. Without thinking I said to myself in Albanian, “I want to eat her heart” – which has to be one of the strangest Albanian expressions out there (meaning: how adorable, what a neat person, so sweet, etc.). I’ve been pretty weirded out by that expression in the past, so it was surprising to hear it come out of my mouth.

Last night, I printed out, signed, and stamped all of the certificates for my students. I feel like this is the first of several "finishes" for me in the next few months. Part of me is doing a little jig; the other part of me is really hoping and praying that someone will be able to continue this class. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them... It's been a good experinece.