Friday the Thirteenth with 7abT

All week, my students have been behaving slightly worse than normal. I figured it was just back-to-school blues, one week removed, until I talked to my mom yesterday and she reminded me that tomorrow is a full moon. Now, stop rolling your eyes - she’s worked in schools for almost a decade, mostly with special needs children, and I spent that whole time scoffing at her full-moon theory. But... I think there might be something to it.

And today I had my 7abT (Társalgás, aka optional conversation) class. This is the class I’ve mentioned several times, my four adorable, troublesome 7th grade boys. I think I like them because in addition to being hilarious and offbeat, in my project to determine which class’s English is most like my level of Hungarian, I think they win. Our classes are usually them talking to each other in Hungarian and me trying to coax them into English, and me talking to myself in English and them trying to coax me into Hungarian. I love it.

My lesson plan with them today: Circle of Death. Yes, the old college classic is making a comeback as an educational game. Instead of drinks, I used points, explaining that the object was to get as few as possible (just like Beloit - ha!). The rules for each card are a bit modified:

2 - left (the person to his left gets a point)
3 - me (he gets a point)
4 - right (the person to his right gets a point)
5 - table (last person to smack their hand on the table gets a point)
6 - talk 60 (he has to talk for 60 seconds in English. If there’s any Hungarian, he gets a point. The other boys especially loved trying to force the speaker to use Hungarian)
7 - assign (or “give”. He gets to give out 2 points for a red card, 4 for a black)
8 - secret (he should tell the group a secret or take a point. My kids just made up lies)
9 - rhyme (he has to make up a rhyme or take a point)
10 - social (everyone gets a point)
Jack - categories (he picks a category - animals, American cities, etc - and we go around the circle. If he can’t name something in the category, he gets a point)
Queen - questions (going in a circle, keep asking questions. The first person to not ask, not answer, or use Hungarian gets a point)
King - talk 30 (he has to talk for 30 seconds in English)
Ace - freebee (nothing happens. I was considering using this as the “make up your own rule” card, but that would have been too much.)

We played all hour without getting through all the cards. I was tied for first place until one little punk drew a black 7 and gleefully assigned me all 4 points. Grrr... whatever. They had fun. Apparently, so much fun that one extra boy, who had tagged along today to sample the class, decided that he wants to sign up for it. Yay, another recruit!

Now, I have to eat something, then go back and face the rest of my classes. After that, I’m meeting Gaines and we’re off to Heves, Eger and Egerszalók for a nice calm weekend of wine and hot springs. Wait - CETPers, drunk, half-clothed in bathing suits? Oh, how could that possibly lead to any sort of drama?