By the way

I teach ESL sometimes. This past week, I had a breakthrough with two kids, one eight-year-old girl, and a 12-year-old boy.

The girl, she writes "Curse you!" in a story she wrote for me. There was something else, too, but what eight-year-old exclaims "Curse you!" It's so awesome. Before, she was writing these boring diary entries. "We had noodles. I went swimming." Now she's writing about why a girl's called Hannah Banana, how come Curtis dyed his dog's tale pink, et cetera. I love it.

The boy, he simply took an exercise I created in which I take a place, say a swimming pool, and I get the kids to list out everything that would be experienced through the five senses. Sight: Fat men jiggling in swim trunks, pools, puddles, lap clocks, et al. We make a list of everything in class and at first, the kids are always sort of slow to come up with description, but you contribute a really great visual like "fat men jiggling in speedos by the hot tub" and the kids come alive with suggestions that take you by surprise. So, anyhow, he had this great experience of taking everything that was there and enriching it with, like, "stepping out of the sauna, I feel the cold air whipping my skin."

Holy shit, dude, 12! Right fucking on.

I've taken to pushing my kids lately. (GayBoy, the above kid is the one I was bitching about when you, I, and P had beers at H's last week, that I couldn't motivate him -- he shocked me that night!) I've begun mocking them. I tease and taunt them when they fail to wow me. I make fun of them for failing to take chances. If they take chances and fail, I laugh it off and praise their balls. If they take a chance and it succeeds, I praise them to their parents with the kids in earshot.

The lesson they learn is, "If I'm going to be mocked for playing it safe, then I have nothing to lose. I'll take the chance, then, Alex, for $200."

I'm really proud of the advances I see. There's a great deal of pride to be found from making kids excited about stories.

And curse you if you disagree. ;)