The Adventures of Banana Teacher- 03 Boss Queen

One of the most rewarding things about living and teaching in Japan is seeing how much progress your students are making and how proud they get when the can communicate with you effectively. With that being said, there are...times... when things don't quite make sense or words that you don't normally use every day are thrust at you with so much enthusiastic force that it makes you pause a bit. Here are some of my favorite phrases that my students have come up with.

1. "It's 3 hot outside."

It was a hot summer day and my students were changing from their swim clothes into their uniforms. I made the comment, "It's too hot today," while wiping the perspiration from my brow. My quietest student Ko-kun looked up at me with a deadpan face and said, "No Banana-teacher. It's 3 hot today."

2. "My an*s hurts."

One of the requrements for my upper level students is to write a weekly journal. I let them choose whatever topic they want. This gives them an opportunity to tell me things that they normally don't have time to tell me in class. Ma-chan decided that for her weekly journal she would tell me in vivid detail that, "My an*s hurts because I diarrheaed all night." It was definitely unexpected.

3. "You are a boss queen."

I was reading a story to my kindergarten class when the word "boss" came up. I explained to them what a boss was and how it is an important job. Yu-chan looks at me and says, "Banana teacher, you are a boss queen." Yes, yes I am Yu-chan.

crown + power suit = boss queen

Situations like these always add a little extra fun to my day. Have your students ever said any interesting phrases?