Tuesday, May 13, 2008

"under water in the deep end"

a few years ago i had a little girl in my classroom who had the fantastic combination of being very dramatic, very determined, and also spoke only basic survival english. she knew enough to get by, but not nearly enough for her dramatic thoughts. (this made her a beautiful writer because any time she spoke she practiced 'showing not telling' in order to get her message across).

one day she dramatically walked into my classroom in the morning, shook my hand hello and said, "oh miss l, it feels as though i am under water in the deep part of the pool". it took me a few minutes, but i finally realized she was trying to tell me she felt stuffed up in her nose from allergies and had sinus pressure.

any time i am having bad allergies and am very stuffed up i can't help but wanting to tell everyone that it feels like i am under water. in her limited english she absolutely described allergies perfectly. it's much better than 'snotty mess', which also describes the problem.

i spent the entire day today blowing my nose and hearing her little dramatic voice in my head.

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