One of Anne’s best is also the story that has not been cracked into by English in my classes all week, not once. The fact that I am experiencing no blurting this week for the first time in my career is certainly partially due to this story. It has been the centerpiece of my week of extreme happiness, just because it’s so badass.
I will always love this story because in the future I will remember that it is the story that finally brought the blurting dog down on its knees and silenced its ugly growling head and allowed me to finally kick its ass hard, at last for a week. Maybe it was luck. But I don’t think so. I will know for sure in another month or so.
I don’t know if anyone can relate, but sometimes with something like blurting, when you have allowed it for FIFTEEN YEARS, there comes a point you reach where without fanfare you just say “OK no more of that. Done. Cooked. I won’t say a word and neither will my students.” You just get worn down so far it’s no longer on the option table. The English during CI just wore itself out in my class, in my speech, in my students’ speech. We’re done. We all want to learn French. All that stuff in English? Not interested anymore. Over.
I changed a few of the structures just because Anne has given me permission to do so:
The Refrigerator Story
is returning from school
goes into the nearest house
without knocking
takes out of the refrigerator
Kaylee is walking home after school. On the way she gets very hungry. She goes into the nearest house without knocking and gets some frog legs out of the refrigerator. She eats the frog legs and keeps going.
Then she gets very thirsty. She goes into the nearest house without knocking and gets some milk out of the refrigerator. She drinks the milk and keeps going.
Then she is very tired. She goes into the nearest house without knocking, lays down on the couch, and falls asleep. Elton John comes home, sees Kaylee on the couch, sings “I’m a Little Teapot”, and bites her.