the poor little rabbit who wouldn't jump

Substitue teachers never had a chance in Prague. Before they could negotiate contracts, form unions, or babysit Mr. Stryker's second period biology class, some Czech principal pulled the rug out from under them. And in the process, that principal many years ago made me not only a fulltime teacher, but also, about twice a week, a substitue teacher.

"Supply" lessons, as we translate them to be, are actually not so bad. Over the past two years and a bit, supplies have been a time to meet new students, have non-lesson-related conversations, play games, or (usually, I admit) catch up on grading while the students, er, "study."

This year I've compromised. I dangle the carrot of free time in front of my students as long as they'll complete some outlandish English task first. I've started with "I'm a little teapot," sung in mass spojeno choir. The results have been, well, really funny.

This morning, 4.A, who performed the teapot song in supply last week, returned the favor, teaching me a Czech children's song, complete with a dancing circle (we held hands), and a "London Bridges"-esque "bunny rabbit" crouched in the middle. This is the rough translation:

Little bunny rabbit in his hollow all alone
Poor little bunny rabbit, what's the matter?
Why won't you jump?
Hop and jump, hop and jump? Hop and . . . JUMP!

They got me. I was taken in. Even though we needed those 5 minutes to finish the lesson...so it goes.

Joel