Oh sing, choir of angels...

I know, I know. Great photograph. I couldn't have taken one two days ago when they were all sitting in their seats attentively. Okay, that never really happened, but they sure can sing. I actually had a better picture, but my memory card was full and I just realized it when I tried to find the picture. From the left we have Anna, Cathy (who is unfortunately out of frame), Hannah, Jin, Alex, Tommy, and Dave. Absent this day were Chelsea and Anne, two stars of the Christmas song recording. You snooze, you lose.

This class is really growing on me, kinda like a fungus. The little guy laying on the desk is Dave, who wears the biggest cat-ate-the-canary grin perpetually. He does a thing where he will look at me real seriously and then raise one eyebrow that floors me every time. He caught me this evening while Anna was reading and I broke out laughing. Sorry, Anna. I guess it's payback for all the times she breaks out laughing while I'm talking. The mischeivian (Did I just make that word up?) with the cap in the back is Jin. He played dumb for the first few weeks, giving me blank stares and shaking his head. However, once we started practicing our Christmas song, he showed his true colors. This kid belted out every word perfectly, confirming my suspicion that he was just pretending to not understand. It's a shame that Cathy didn't make it into the picture, as she is a real joy. I'll have to give her her due later. Although, Hannah was hiding in the other picture, so I'm glad I caught her. Hannah is very nice and well-behaved, but also very shy. Alex is a very bright one, and the boy next to him, Tommy, is new but has alot of potential. Sorry, I'm still in evaluation mode.

So these kids blew me away last week when I taught them the first verse to "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" and was greeted with the usual blank stares. This was Monday. Well, Wednesday I walked into class and they had not only learned the entire song Tuesday, but they were singing it in perfect harmony (Well, at least compared to my other classes). It may very well have been my happiest moment at work. We re-wrote the final verse that night to include everyone in the class's name in the song, and started recording Friday. We finished Monday, and tonight it was back to business. However, things were different with our normal lesson as the kids were finally interested and I was enjoying their company and having fun. It's too bad they can't all be like this--I'll talk about my nightmares on another occasion.

Stay tuned as I will post some thoughts on public transportation as soon as my lovely neighbor Pamela sends me the pictures...