A Healthy Discussion

While back home in Tennessee kids, and teachers, are making plans for spring break, here we’re trying to end the school year. It feels awkward to say this, but I’m writing final exams on Feb. 1 and they are due in the office by Monday. The 07/08 year will officially end on March 14th with summer break from then till we begin again on May 15th. Of course, the summer heat is here so it feels like it should be summer break. I have a hard time believing it’s February. At home they’re looking at snow flurries and cold, cold temps. But one way I can tell it’s almost the end of the year is that all the students have a bad case of summeritis – difficulty concentrating on classes, focusing on vacation plans instead of homework, etc. Same disease strikes at home around April, right after prom. Nice to know that some things are the same the world over.

Another thing that I think is the same is health, as in health class. I somehow managed to get 4 health classes on my schedule. Twice a week I go to the P1 classrooms and discuss things like washing your hands after using the toilets with 6 year olds. That’s not bad although my singing voice was not really made for the scrub those germs away jingle. Twice a week I also teach health issues to P6 and M1 classes. Those classes don’t involve jingles, thank goodness, but the subjects probably don’t lend themselves well to songwriting: I Got the Puberty Blues or Sexually Transmitted Diseases Rag. Still, even without the singing I do manage to get some interesting reactions. Nothing like telling a room full of 12 year olds that boys will soon grow hair on their chins, chests, underarms, and other less public (hopefully) places. And while they act very blasé about the topic, I’m sure that many of the 14 year olds in M1 know where to buy X or other drugs within a mile or two or the school. Once again, half a world away from home and some things are just the same.