My Thursday Class

I just got home from my "Thursday Class". And before I tell you about that I must just say that I noticed it was not completely dark yet when I left at 6pm. It did help that there weren't any clouds. It was a beautifully sunny day today. But I'm sure winter is slowly moving along south. Yippee! I can't wait for the longer days!

So I've been meaning for a long time to tell you what I do when I'm not at home writing blogs. And today I'll tell you about my Thursdays since thats what it is today. On Thursday afternoons I teach English to a small group of Swiss children. They're learning English as a second language and they've been in this class for two or three years now. They're six years old. And although most of them can't yet really have a conversation with me in English, they're doing really well and learning a lot of vocabulary. 

The picture above was taken in June. We did a lesson on kitchen vocab- table, knife, fork, etc so I brought sweets and we had a little picnic. A few of the kids have moved away after the summer when they started their first year in school. I now only have four kids in the class but tonight two was absent. It was so much calmer! They are real little busy bodies. And chatterboxes. My most difficult customer in the group was such an angel tonight and I guess that is why I now felt like writing about this class. It feels so good when a really difficult child is being so good for a change and participating. Hopefully it will be like that next week too when I have my last lesson with them.

Now another story about teaching here: We rent a classroom at an old age home. They like seeing the kiddies around. Tonight when I walked in, the door to the classroom was closed and a "Besetz" (occupied) sign was on the door. I knew what this meant. I've seen that sign a couple of weeks before. So I open the door, knock, say hello, say hello again, and again as I'm walking closer and right up to the old lady sitting at a table. She sees me, gets up, shakes my hand, asks me how I am etc all in Swiss German so I can't tell you exactly what she said. I ask her if she has a course on here tonight? There are two mattresses rolled out on the ground and some towels on the table. She says, what? I can't hear you. I repeat myself and she still can't hear me. I see her hearing aid lying on the table and it takes her another moment to realise that too. Because, I continue then, I have kids for an English lesson here from 5-6. No no she says, impossible, she has been here for years at this time for her class. Right, I think, you weren't here last week. And I know from a previous experience that you have got the days muddled up. (I don't say this to her.) I say instead: On a Thursday?  Yes, yes, for years, she says. On a Thursday from 5-6? Every Thursday, I ask. Hang on, she says and checks her diary lying open on the table. I look over her shoulder and see stuff written in at Fridays date. Nothing for Thursday. Oh dear, she says, it's Thursday today? I had the days mixed up. And she packs her things and leaves.

Now if I didn't have a class there on a Thursday, it would have been the second time she would have sat there waiting for her people. She teaches a breathing class she told me the previous time.

Good thing I showed up to tell her it's not quite Friday yet. But she made me speak an awful lot of poor German to make her understand that.