Unintentionally Funny

Teaching English has its challenges. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is trying to keep a straight face when a student unintentionally says something funny during a lesson. Mistranslations and pronunciation mistakes yield some interesting sentences and situations in class.

The other day I was teaching my third graders transportation words and the word 'ship' was on the vocab list. I held up the flashcard, pronounced the word, and gestured for the students to repeat. Unfortunately, about half the class apparently misheard me and thought the /p/ sound was a /t/. So it was that half of my third graders proceeded to unintentionally and collectively curse in class. I was quick to correct that error!!

The Poles are especially cute when I try to teach them to pronounce the /r/ sound (which always comes out as a /w/) or the /th/ which is always mispronounced as an /f/. I had to try so hard to stay serious as I tried to teach my class of adults to pronounce the word 'rare.'

"Repeat: rare," I directed them.
"Wawe," they said.
"Rrrare," I demonstrated.
"Wwwawe," they said.
And so it went.

A misused preposition never fails to have my class of teenage boys in an uproar (yes, the class is all boys).

Maybe it's my English teacher humor, but this video had me cracking up:

 Just remember: don't cry over spilled chickens before they're hatched.

All Saints' Day

While Halloween may not be an important day for the Polish, the two days after - November 1st and 2nd - are big holidays in Poland. The 1st and 2nd are the Catholic holidays of All Saints' and All Souls' Day. All Saints' Day (Wszystkich Swietych in Polish) is an official public holiday in Poland so everything is closed. The day is specifically intended as a day of memorial for family members and friends who have passed away. In the days leading up to the holiday, people go to the cemeteries and clean the graves of their family members. On All Saints' Day, special church services are held and family members get together to celebrate. Everyone gathers at the cemetery and graves are decorated with flowers and candles and pine branches.

I didn't know about this holiday until I asked why all the stores were suddenly selling so many candles. My school director told me that I must go visit the local cemetery on the weekend to see how beautiful it all was. When I set out on Sunday, I wasn't actually quite sure where the cemetery was located, but found that it was easy to locate by following the crowds of people headed there. By late afternoon, all the graves had already been decorated. Not a single one was left empty. My boss told me that strangers decorated the graves that were bare because family members could not visit. Yellow, purple, white, and red flowers blanketed the graves, and candles and lanterns were arranged in careful displays. People were everywhere, praying and talking. While the holiday seems very solemn, the mood was actually quite joyful. Families were gathered, laughing and chatting, little kids were roaming around, and there was even a stall set up selling food and cotton candy outside the cemetery. It was a memorial, but also a celebration.

I stayed until the sun starting setting and all the candles were lit. There were thousands. Light overflowed from the candles and lit up the whole cemetery. Candles glowed steadily on every grave. Hundreds more were placed around a crucifix in the center of the cemetery for loved ones who were buried far away. People continued to gather and say prayers.

When I left the cemetery, I could still see all the lights from blocks away. All the candles were lit again the following day for All Souls' Day. It was really one of the most beautiful holiday traditions I have ever observed.

Just Like Medieval Times

Last week was filled with activities related to Halloween. Halloween's really not much of a holiday here in Poland, in fact it's even a little controversial with people who are very religious. The kids who do wear costumes usually dress up as angels or saints. The school director encouraged me and my American co-workers to do Halloween-related games and activities in our English classes as a sort of 'culture class.' I had my younger students make construction paper headbands of either a spider, a cat, or a pumpkin as their 'costume' and then we went trick-or-treating from classroom to classroom, which the kids absolutely adored. The school secretaries followed us around taking pictures because the kids looked so cute!!

I personally didn't do any specific Halloween-related things, but on the 31st I decided to take a daytrip to visit Malkbork, which is about 30 minutes by train from Elblag. Malbork is another small Polish town in the north. It's known for the famous Malbork castle, which is an old medieval castle originally completed in 1406. The castle is pretty massive, in fact it's the largest castle in the world by surface area. It was first constructed when Malbork was a part of Prussia. The builders were the Teutonic Knights, a German Roman Catholic religious order of crusaders, who intended for the castle to be a fortress. They named the castle Marienburg (Mary's Castle) and the town of Marienburg (now Malbork) grew around the fortress. Over the years, the castle's been used for everything from housing soldiers, serving as a makeshift hospital, and acting as a destination for pilgrimages of the Hitler Youth in the 1940s. During World War II combat, over half the castle was destroyed and restoration has been ongoing since 1962.

Guys look I found a castle!

Despite the fact that so much of the castle has been restored, when I stepped into the castle courtyard I immediately thought that if everyone there was just wearing more 1400s-style fashion it would feel just like medieval times. The castle's quite big and it was hard to know where to start (unfortunately I didn't get an audio guide because they were all in Polish). I just generally poked around, which was ridiculously fun considering that the castle has plenty of doors that seem like you shouldn't be allowed to go into, but actually open if you try them and lead to rooms with displays. Some of the halls were a little dark and creepy, so it felt appropriate that it was Halloween. I spent several hours wandering inside the castle, and then walked around the outside walls enjoying the beautiful fall day! There were plenty of views to appreciate.

Creepy...