"Maîtresse, how old are you?" one of my 2nd-graders asked today as they were (supposed to be) lining up to leave my class.
"23" I told her in English.
I got no response but a vaguely blank look, and then the tell-tale nervous giggle that means "I know I'm supposed to know this but I haven't got a clue!"
With a little prompting we got to vingt-trois ans.
"Oh," was all she said before going to get in line.
Then she came back to my side. "But, I thought you were younger than that!" she said, smiling.
Child wisdom or child insult?
I started to try to figure out whether she meant that I look younger than 23 ("you look young!"), or that she now thinks that I'm old ("wow, you hide it well!") ... But then reminded myself that these are 8-year-olds who don't really have much concept past the fact that les grands in the building are about 11-years-old.
No comments:
Post a Comment