My students didn't know what they were walking into today. Of course, every time that I lead my English as a Second Language Class, my students have an unusual day. The lesson was the usual reading and understanding, but today it was about history- American history.
I love history. Once upon a time I majored in history. I still love to talk and talk and TALK about history. Then God gave me a captive audience of around ten people, stuck in a classroom with me, and fifteen pages of a lesson on major points in the United States in the last hundred years. *cue the malicious laugh*
Unfortunately, my laughter was short lived as I was reminded that although they were all familiar with the major events we were covering, not one of them was familiar with the proper pronunciation of the words. Factor into the situation that my students had also planned and impromptu Halloween party at the end of class and suddenly the Gabbie Lady had a group of adults (many of whom had grandchildren older than me), tired from the repetition of subject matter, frustrated by the new pronunciation, and salivating from the smell of all the delicious food that they had brought.
Nonetheless, I trudged through the lesson, because if I showed enough enthusiasm maybe it would rub off? (This is usually how my lessons go and this theory usually pays off.) Finally, I was writing vocabulary on the board when I hear one of my students turn to her neighbor and whisper, "I don't like American history."
And that is why I don't teach history anymore.
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