Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Jackal

Every time I step into a classroom I am asked where I'm from. Every time. I've grown tired of it—particularly as whenever I reply, "Australia", I'm greeted with disappointment ("All supply teachers are Australian"). So I try to mix it up whenever I can. Here is a list of my favourite guises:

Argentinian
Bulgarian
Polish
Russian
Belorussian (the kid asked if I was Russian, so I thought, I can go one better than that)
Spanish
Portuguese
German


Here are a couple I haven't been able to pull-off:

Panamanian (because they thought it sounded fictitious, like Transylvanian); and
Native American (I was over-confident)


I'm rarely questioned further, though one kid did ask me to say something in Spanish to prove I was Argentinian. I got over that hump easily enough. I said I came from a small enclave in Argentina that spoke only English—problem solved. There's always a small enclave.

With hindsight, perhaps I should have just said, Hola, but deceit comes easier than Spanish.

3 comments:

Sweet Olive Press | Helen said...

"deceit comes easier than Spanish"

that's my new favourite quote. I will be constantly looking for opportunities to use it.

Anonymous said...

Teachers:

Screwing the minds of children for generations.

Anonymous said...

Just so you know, that wasn't me-anonymous.
K