joys of the little people

Teaching the littles has been very fun for me this week. They learn in English and their accents are super cute. I was quite impressed this week when they worked on nursery rhymes. First they were reciting rhymes I was not aware of (Chubby Cheeks). One morning these pre-schoolers recited this as a group and then individually. Their words and actions were adorable.

Chubby cheeks, dimple chin
Rosy lips, teeth within
Curly hair, very fair
Eyes are blue - lovely too.
Teachers pet, is that you?
Yes, Yes, Yes! 

My other personal favourite was the recitation of blah, blah black sheep. The best is when there are too many words for rhythm and it turns into organized mumbling. Many of the littles know Twinkle, Twinkle, Jack and Jill and Rain, Rain Go Away. Again, their accents kills me.

After we practiced nursery rhymes one day, many of the littles became quite excited to recite things to me. I got most enthusiastic after a complete proper recitation of the ABC's (sidebar: here they repeat "lmnop" in the song which helps me relate to Max, a character in the show "Happy Endings" as he admits he always thought lmnop was one letter). This enthusiastic affirmation ensured I had a long line of alphabet recitations. It was fun to see them take pride in something.

On Wednesday, each of the littles got a piece of paper to draw on. When they were done, one of the boys made a fan. I got a bit excited to show him how to make a paper airplane instead. Even after watching the plane fly through the air he was upset and wanted the plane to be untransformed into a fan. I was intrigued.

To some of the little people I'm "auntie", to others I'm "ma'am" and to others still I'm "auntie ma'am". Although these are all endearing terms, my favourite was given to me by an older boy (10ish) this week. He asked teresa her name and replied "Mother Teresa?". She affirmed the connection between the names. Then he came over to me and said, "you name Mother".

He stepped back and looked at the two of us, "mother teresa".

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