{"id":1169,"date":"2012-02-22T11:23:53","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T10:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.katebailward.com\/drivinglikeamaniac\/?p=1169"},"modified":"2012-02-22T11:23:53","modified_gmt":"2012-02-22T10:23:53","slug":"singing-in-the-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.katebailward.com\/drivinglikeamaniac\/2012\/02\/singing-in-the-rain\/","title":{"rendered":"Singing in the rain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>My students are yelling and leaping up and down with joy. Sadly it\u2019s nothing I\u2019ve done to make them so ecstatic. Well, apart from being rubbish at classroom discipline.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Tuesday night and a minute previously we\u2019d been entering the last 15 minutes of the final lesson of the day. I\u2019m about to introduce an activity to finish the lesson but am interrupted by an excited Alessandra. Guys! Listen to this!<\/em> She starts reading a message from Facebook, via her phone, out loud to the class.<\/p>\n

As she reads, her delivery gets faster and the tone of her voice reaches a pitch that only dogs could to pick up on. I haven\u2019t got a hope of keeping up with it. However, the rest of them are with her every step of the way. As she finishes on a shriek it\u2019s like a multiplication bomb has been dropped in the room. Instead of the six students that I had before, suddenly I have fifty whirling dervishes. Out of nowhere a hundred other phones appear. The noise is *incredible*. \u00a0Laughing, I\u2019ve given up on keeping order and instead just concentrate on not being knocked over by windmilling teenage arms and legs. What\u2019s going on, ragazzi?<\/em>\u00a0Antonio takes pity on me and translates, gabbling his words and grinning fit to burst. Apparently all the schools are closed tomorrow, by order of the Mayor, because of a severe weather warning<\/a>. But the thing is, our school *never* closes! Giulia\u2019s school is practically never open<\/em> – Giulia cocks an eye at us and nods with matter-of-fact cheeriness – but we never, *ever* get the day off! Ohmygod!<\/em> At this point words fail him and he starts to whoop with excitement, punching the air and pogoing wildly.<\/p>\n

In a last-ditch attempt to regain some semblance of control, I throw him a board pen and suggest playing hangman. With a grin, he draws nine dashes on the board and then whispers in my ear, \u2019happiness\u2019 has a double \u2019s\u2019, right?<\/em><\/p>\n

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Image by Mark Sebastian<\/a> (Creative Commons)<\/p>\n

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