A Blow To His Confidence 25

K has updated us on her lunchtime French crowd, which is meeting through the summer:
Hello Mr. Slavic:
I wanted to update you on the first summer lunch group meeting. It went very well. I’m pretty sure that my parents are crazy since they allowed 25 teenagers to be in their house for a very long time (they kept saying that we could stay longer and would be “absolutely thrilled ” to  have them all back whenever).
An e-mail I got from a friend pretty much sums it up:
Bonjour K!
Je suis desolé que cet e-mail est en le francais et l’anglais. Je ne sais pas tout le mots francais à écrire il en le francais. Vendredi ete tres rigilo et comique. J’aime les histoires de “spin off” [K adds – note: these “spin off ” stories are  kind of weird. Basically we take a story that has already been generated (from a previous day, another student, or from a book) and we read, translate, and just talk about it (standard procedure that we used in your class) Then they write down their own version of the story  as a free-write. If they don’t know a word, they can describe it using words they do know  or say ” Comment dit-on …? This is hard because sometimes I don’t know the word they are looking for. After ten minutes those who would like to volunteer suggestions hold up their notebooks. Because it is their story, they get to pick how we do the next part. Either everyone at one point or another gets to be in charge of the story , which means I just pick someone and we use all of their suggestions or I pick up several, select what I think are the best, say each selected statement, and the class votes – oui (put it in the story, as a structure and maybe choose another notebook. Sometimes after one or two statements they have ideas and don’t want something pre- written so they say “arrête” ou “non” (read the next statement). When everyone is satisfied they say “bonne histoire ” and then we choose actors, act it out while someone writes a quiz. Every 6 minutes I do a comprehension check. As they act I write down the story so that it can become a reading. At the end, someone does a retell and the grammar person – new job created for IB because of the tests (they wanted to know why this word is spelled  like it is and things like that) asks their two questions. Their job if they want is to come up with two questions about anything that didn’t make sense that isn’t related to comprehension. Sorry for the long explanation]. 
My friend then continues:
It was really weird how Mrs. S. and our new teacher came and you didn’t know about it, but the good news is that our new teacher came and seemed pleased. Your parents are very nice and optimistic, and I can tell that you are close with them. There are three things about your house I keep thinking about: the two signs by the front door that say “You are welcome in this house if you are the same or different gender, race, religion, political view, sect as me. If you are a jerk, you are not.” And the second one that says “We have made it our goal to be happy about our lives and everything we do. Although this is never always possible we try.” And then when your dad came home early, and I was surprised since my parents never do that and he said ” Why else are we born then to be with the people we love and do the things we love doing?” I responded, “We can’t always do that. “His response has got me thinking. He said, “No, we can’t. But when we can’t, instead of looking at it as something you don’t what to do, look at it as an opportunity. In an opportunity there is hidden optimism. With optimism, you see the good things, however few, instead of the bad. With this new focus you like some aspects and then it becomes something you like. When doing something you like you have fun – have enough fun and you love it. When you love what you’re doing, success is automatic.”  That’s a really good way of looking at things that I’ll keep in mind. The second thing I’ve been thinking about is a motto, since your family has adopted the one described above. I keep remembering your shirt you wore on Friday. It had a picture of three smiling kids in wheelchairs with the caption Wheelchair Sports Camp, 2005″ and on the back it said “I am unbound” like unbound by circumstances, free to do whatever. Pretty cool. Unbound: My new motto for 2010-2011.