Learning English with Justin Bieber

I was sitting on a bench outside the school between classes. The kids were on break, running around in their funny little uniforms, the fourth grade boys playing soccer together, the kindergarden girls eating their candy dutifully in the grass. The plaza was a hubbub of yelling and kicking, giggling and quiet chatter. Many kids came up to me to ask me questions from my post on the bench, but I kept up the “I only speak English” act, to ensure success in future class and to motivate the kids to ask me questions using words I knew they know. What I didn’t know, what I didn’t expect to come from one of the mouths of the small girls in my fourth grade class was the following, more an exclamation than question...

“CONOCES A JUSTIN BIEBER?!”

    She had passed by moments ago listening to music on her cellular device, and it all came together. I didn’t allow the shock that made my heart skip a beat to reach the veins in my face. I kept my cool. “I don’t speak Spanish. Ask in English!” She went on about how much she loved him, and the whole conversation was more or less causing problems for my brain. I just couldn’t register the significance of the smile on her face as she pulled out her phone and started singing and dancing to this American pop star’s songs. She knew all his lyrics.

    Note to self: All surprises we work towards will be listening to music of a genre of their choosing. Activity could be to do a pie chart on the board of different genres of music enjoyed by the class. Most popular genre is selected for when we reach a surprise day and we will listen to the selected lyrics.