Substitute Teacher
"So we all change seats, and you take the name of the person's seat you are in, the Sub will never know the difference, and all raise your hands, answer to that name, but never know the right answer. Got it?"
Sure fire plan, also to drop books at EXACTLY 12 minutes after the hour, this should be a GREAT time. Usually Spanish was not fun with grammar and vocabulary tests given by old Senora Raymond. Someone had seen the new Sub already, and he had not a clue.
For the first time all year we were eager to get to class. In class on time, we waited in our "assigned" seats. No Sub. The bell rang, but there was no teacher in the room.
Whispers sprung up, and students' focus turned to present intrigues and going-withs, girlie giggles and voices that manned up as the talk turned to the weekend sports.
"POP"
All eyes turned to the front of the room, where a smallish man stood with an open black umbrella.
He was dressed all in black, suit coat, pants, heeled leather shoes, and a hat. He had black hair and a black mustache, and even though his umbrella was open in the classroom, I did NOT think friendly Mary Poppins thoughts. Words started to come out of his mouth, definitely not Spanish. They sounded, well, sort of Russian? I could not figure out what he was saying, everyone was confused, and a murmur arose, trying to tell him, "We Do NOT understand!"
He did look quite confused, stopping, and looking at a paper, looking up, muttering something in a foreign language again, and then, haltingly, in a strange accent, "You must excuse me. I must have misunderstood. I am your teacher, but I do not speak Spanish. I do apologize. Maybe you can teach me, YES?"
He spoke slowly. We were mesmerized by his speech. No one realized that the moment to drop the books had come and gone, and we were still getting acquainted. One of the top students offered to show the Sub where the books were, and lead the class. She had forgotten we were changing names, and gave her "real" name. The Sub closed his umbrella and placed it into the corner. He stood near the windows, squinting.
"The light hurts my eyes," he stated. One student stood on a chair to close the blinds. He jumped down and did a victory dance. He was on the football team. Students cheered, and the Sub looked at him in surprise. The class quieted.
The Sub had a way of pausing and waiting for us to listen, and then we quieted to hear his unusual words in that hypnotic voice.
"I am new to this school," he volunteered, "This is all new to me, what your customs are." We wonder where he is from, what he is doing in our room, when we should have, a Spanish teacher. This is a misunderstanding for sure!
The class moves along with the students following the student leader, and the bell rings for the next class. I have a regular class day and call my friend Emily, who had Spanish later in the day.
"Did you have a Sub today"
"Yep."
"Weird, wasn't he?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the way he was dressed, and all."
"Oh, I guess. "
"And how he spoke some other language."
"We must have had a different Sub. Ours spoke Spanish. We all went to the pencil sharpener at exactly 1:30. He got really mad! It was a riot in there!"
"You didn't have the man dressed in black with the Russian accent, the umbrella, and the mustache?"
"Are you trippin'? That sounds like you had Count Dracula or something....I bet you slept through the class. You better check that you don't have some huge homework assignment! You'll be sorry when Senora Raymond comes back tomorrow."
Sure fire plan, also to drop books at EXACTLY 12 minutes after the hour, this should be a GREAT time. Usually Spanish was not fun with grammar and vocabulary tests given by old Senora Raymond. Someone had seen the new Sub already, and he had not a clue.
For the first time all year we were eager to get to class. In class on time, we waited in our "assigned" seats. No Sub. The bell rang, but there was no teacher in the room.
Whispers sprung up, and students' focus turned to present intrigues and going-withs, girlie giggles and voices that manned up as the talk turned to the weekend sports.
"POP"
All eyes turned to the front of the room, where a smallish man stood with an open black umbrella.
He was dressed all in black, suit coat, pants, heeled leather shoes, and a hat. He had black hair and a black mustache, and even though his umbrella was open in the classroom, I did NOT think friendly Mary Poppins thoughts. Words started to come out of his mouth, definitely not Spanish. They sounded, well, sort of Russian? I could not figure out what he was saying, everyone was confused, and a murmur arose, trying to tell him, "We Do NOT understand!"
He did look quite confused, stopping, and looking at a paper, looking up, muttering something in a foreign language again, and then, haltingly, in a strange accent, "You must excuse me. I must have misunderstood. I am your teacher, but I do not speak Spanish. I do apologize. Maybe you can teach me, YES?"
He spoke slowly. We were mesmerized by his speech. No one realized that the moment to drop the books had come and gone, and we were still getting acquainted. One of the top students offered to show the Sub where the books were, and lead the class. She had forgotten we were changing names, and gave her "real" name. The Sub closed his umbrella and placed it into the corner. He stood near the windows, squinting.
"The light hurts my eyes," he stated. One student stood on a chair to close the blinds. He jumped down and did a victory dance. He was on the football team. Students cheered, and the Sub looked at him in surprise. The class quieted.
The Sub had a way of pausing and waiting for us to listen, and then we quieted to hear his unusual words in that hypnotic voice.
"I am new to this school," he volunteered, "This is all new to me, what your customs are." We wonder where he is from, what he is doing in our room, when we should have, a Spanish teacher. This is a misunderstanding for sure!
The class moves along with the students following the student leader, and the bell rings for the next class. I have a regular class day and call my friend Emily, who had Spanish later in the day.
"Did you have a Sub today"
"Yep."
"Weird, wasn't he?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the way he was dressed, and all."
"Oh, I guess. "
"And how he spoke some other language."
"We must have had a different Sub. Ours spoke Spanish. We all went to the pencil sharpener at exactly 1:30. He got really mad! It was a riot in there!"
"You didn't have the man dressed in black with the Russian accent, the umbrella, and the mustache?"
"Are you trippin'? That sounds like you had Count Dracula or something....I bet you slept through the class. You better check that you don't have some huge homework assignment! You'll be sorry when Senora Raymond comes back tomorrow."
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