Your favorite place

Well, today was the first day of teaching with the new class, and to keep it as easy as possible I used a lesson from a lesson plan book that the Peace Corps provides. This one is actually part of an environmental course and the lesson was focused on the notion of "My favorite place." So you start by talking about how you love to travel and then you talk about one of your favorite places. The idea is to get them to think about, describe and talk about their favorite place. I chose Southern Utah and showed them pictures on my computer from a recent camping trip down there. They were quite taken by the beauty of the place, for good reason. Then I talked about why I go down there and what it means to me and then I asked them to come up with their favorite place. First I paired them with another student and they had to interview the student about their favorite place, asking such questions as "What is your favorite place?" "Why do you go there?" "What do you do when you are there?" Then they were put in groups of four and asked to introuduce each other's favorite place and fill out a couple of group questions. Finally, each group reported to the class. Many of them named places in nature but more than a few talked about cities. There were definitely some places worth tracking down. Anyway, the lesson went fine, though nothing spectacular. I am going to link it with a lesson in which they are to write poetry about their favorite place.

HOT: The heat has returned. After a brief respite scorching temperatures and high humidity are the order of the day. I went to put on a shirt I wore last week and found it caked with salt.

Suan nai: It is a running joke. There is a little mom and pop shop on campus where I used to buy yogurt (suan nai) but the last couple of times they have been out. Still, I walk buy their every day and ask the wife of the owner "Do you have yougurt" (Yo mei you suannai) and she recognizes me and smiles and says "Mei you' (Do not.) It has gotten to the point where she simply says "Mei you" when she sees me.

Interesting language note: The word for 'yogurt' is the same word for 'garlic,' though with a different tone. However, the word you say when you can't agree on a price with a seller is the exact same word and tone as the word for garlic. This could be confusing if you were bargaining about garlic.