Subbing for the Spanish teacher at the elementary school, I played “Stuart Little 2,” as instructed. There was some initial complaining from the students when they realized that the movie was neither in English nor included English subtitles. So, to make it interesting, I assigned them to write down as many Spanish words as they could identify, with the corresponding English translation alongside.
“But they talk too fast,” said Mackenzie.
Do the best you can, I told them. You know more than you think. As an incentive, I offered a prize to the student who recognized the most Spanish words.
“What’s the prize?”
A hundred dollars.
“What?” This was too much for Anastasia, who came to the front of the room to verify for herself what she had just heard.
“Really?”
No, I don’t have that much money with me, I confessed.
“What’s the prize then?
How about a pen?
“Can we see it?” asked Daniel.
Sure, I said, extracting a TD Bank ballpoint. It’s practically brand-new, I said. That was true. Good enough. More than half of the students started paying close attention to the soundtrack.
At one point early in the movie, the husband (Hugh Laurie) and wife (Geena Davis) kiss at breakfast. It drew a predictable response from third graders: “Ew, gross!”
Mairead was having none of that. “Uh, you’ll have to do that some day when you’re married,” she advised her classmates, giving them perhaps their first hint of matrimonial bliss but for now seeing the kiss more as obligation than desire.
Fast forward to the end of the period. We tallied up the recognizable Spanish words, and the pen went to Daniel, who listed an impressive 92 words in about 30 minutes.
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