A Case of the Mondays

Monday. Most people hear 'Monday' and react the same way they would to the word 'vomit'. They cringe at the thought of another day of work or school or anything else that kicks off a week of unpleasant exertion. I used to be that way. But this year's different.

On Monday nights I teach at an aluminum can manufacturer to about 19 business professionals. It's seriously hilarious every time! Last week I was teaching how to ask follow-up questions. One of the students Everest asked, "Allison, I hear in America many people have credit cards. Do you have one?" I answered, "Yes, I have a credit card that just pulls money from my checking account." (Time for the follow-up question) Everest smirked and with his pen to his notebook said, "Hmm, ok, and what is the code?" Nice try, right?

Tonight's lesson was on interpersonal communication in the office, with a portion devoted to office gossip. I thought for an activity it might be a good idea to play the childhood favorite game of Telephone. For a refresher to those that might have forgotten this classic, a message is whispered from one person to the next in a line of people. Simple enough. Wrong! This game is FAR MORE entertaining with ESL students. Take poor pronunciation, mediocre listening skills, and you've got a whole different level of enjoyment. I was crying laughing and so were the 19 other people in the room. The girls were having to fan their false eyelashes because if they cried laughing, their eyelashes would literally fall off. Quite the dilemma...

The best part of this enthusiastic crowd is that they clap at the end of the lesson and say "Sank you!" (Thank you!) We've worked on the 'th' sound, to no avail. The clapping throws me off every week, as if I've performed. We did grammar and played Telephone- I didn't dance the Nutcracker. And this is yet another reason why I love my job...and Mondays.