"What the Heck?! Wednesdays" focus on the
heart-warming, ridiculous, and sometimes frustrating stories from our
school days. Teaching in Turkey is trying and difficult. We come home
exhausted, and our days off are nothing short of precious. That being
said, we love our students. Most of the time. They are creative, silly,
smart, obnoxious, loud, affectionate and adorable. And they make for
some delightful stories. Enjoy...
I teach a lot of kids here at Bahçeşehir. I teach 4 grade levels, 8 classes, and approximately 200 students. Sometimes it makes me crazy to plan for so many different age groups, and keep track of so many different children, but I love all of them. And I love love LOVE my four-year-olds. I get to spend a few hours a week singing and dancing and playing English games with them, and they are just so sweet I want to squeeze their little faces (which, incidentally is culturally acceptable in Turkey).
After watching them for a year, I have come to the conclusion that they aren't four at all. I think they're three. I think they count years differently here. Either that, or American children are gigantic, and SUPER self sufficient compared to Turkish children. So if these children sound a bit young to you, join the club.
If you have children, or you spend any amount of time with young children, you may know that being polite, graceful, and proper are not high on their list of priorities. Oh no. Priorities include having what they want the instant they want it (most likely the thing the kid next to them has, or anything that flashes and makes an obnoxious noise), and doing what they want whenever they want to (running, jumping, shouting, climbing anything taller than them, and throwing anything they can pick up). They aren't too interested in impressing anyone with their refined behavior.
So it never surprises me to see a little boy running around with no pants on, or a little girl in a tiny skirt sitting with her legs spread wide open. It doesn't bother them, so it doesn't bother me.
But it bothers Talya. Talya is a four-year-old in my class. One who has apparently been taught all about being proper and sitting "like a lady." While we were all sitting on the carpet one day, I noticed Talya giving the stink eye to Eslem, while looking back at me as if to say "Will you look at her?" So I did, and thought she was aiming her disgust at the fact that Eslem was laying down rather than sitting.
"Eslem's laying down. She must be tired."
This clearly didn't satisfy Talya who rolled her eyes and continued the stink face. I didn't realize that she was horrified by Eslem's un-lady-like stance of legs splayed, skirt up around her stomach, and underwear in full view, until Talya reached down to try and straighten Eslem's skirt.
There wasn't much she could do with that little jean mini while Eslem's legs were spread so wide so her next attempt was to push Eslem's legs together at the knees. Eslem didn't seem to mind, but the second Talya let go, those knees snapped wide open again.
At this Talya leaned in real close and whispered "Çok ayıp!" in her ear. (Want to know about Çok ayıp? Click here. )
Eslem brushed away Talya's whisper as if it was a fly, and kept right on sitting like that.
After multiple more attempts at re-arranging Eslem's legs, Talya found a solution to the "slutty stance" that was bothering her so much. She leaned over Eslem, with one elbow on one side of her knees and her body on the other side, clamping Eslem's knees together, while managing to keep her own legs crossed "like a lady" the whole time.
Kids.
I teach a lot of kids here at Bahçeşehir. I teach 4 grade levels, 8 classes, and approximately 200 students. Sometimes it makes me crazy to plan for so many different age groups, and keep track of so many different children, but I love all of them. And I love love LOVE my four-year-olds. I get to spend a few hours a week singing and dancing and playing English games with them, and they are just so sweet I want to squeeze their little faces (which, incidentally is culturally acceptable in Turkey).
After watching them for a year, I have come to the conclusion that they aren't four at all. I think they're three. I think they count years differently here. Either that, or American children are gigantic, and SUPER self sufficient compared to Turkish children. So if these children sound a bit young to you, join the club.
If you have children, or you spend any amount of time with young children, you may know that being polite, graceful, and proper are not high on their list of priorities. Oh no. Priorities include having what they want the instant they want it (most likely the thing the kid next to them has, or anything that flashes and makes an obnoxious noise), and doing what they want whenever they want to (running, jumping, shouting, climbing anything taller than them, and throwing anything they can pick up). They aren't too interested in impressing anyone with their refined behavior.
So it never surprises me to see a little boy running around with no pants on, or a little girl in a tiny skirt sitting with her legs spread wide open. It doesn't bother them, so it doesn't bother me.
But it bothers Talya. Talya is a four-year-old in my class. One who has apparently been taught all about being proper and sitting "like a lady." While we were all sitting on the carpet one day, I noticed Talya giving the stink eye to Eslem, while looking back at me as if to say "Will you look at her?" So I did, and thought she was aiming her disgust at the fact that Eslem was laying down rather than sitting.
"Eslem's laying down. She must be tired."
This clearly didn't satisfy Talya who rolled her eyes and continued the stink face. I didn't realize that she was horrified by Eslem's un-lady-like stance of legs splayed, skirt up around her stomach, and underwear in full view, until Talya reached down to try and straighten Eslem's skirt.
There wasn't much she could do with that little jean mini while Eslem's legs were spread so wide so her next attempt was to push Eslem's legs together at the knees. Eslem didn't seem to mind, but the second Talya let go, those knees snapped wide open again.
At this Talya leaned in real close and whispered "Çok ayıp!" in her ear. (Want to know about Çok ayıp? Click here. )
Eslem brushed away Talya's whisper as if it was a fly, and kept right on sitting like that.
After multiple more attempts at re-arranging Eslem's legs, Talya found a solution to the "slutty stance" that was bothering her so much. She leaned over Eslem, with one elbow on one side of her knees and her body on the other side, clamping Eslem's knees together, while managing to keep her own legs crossed "like a lady" the whole time.
Kids.
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