It’s hard to pick a favorite class, but I think my middle school boys are awesome. The other day, we did comparative adjectives. First, I asked the boys for their favorite X-men, and we played superhero charades. Some of the boys insisted that Spiderman was their favorite X-Man, and honestly, even in English the distiction between mutations is pretty fluid. And for all I know, there’s a Chinese crossover where Spiderman fights Magneto.
Then we watched X-Men, and then we covered comparative adjectives with a superhero compare-and-contrast. It was way better than the last time I ran this lesson!
The boys loved it, I encouraged them to argue (“No, no, Storm is stronger than Rogue!”) and I was able to introduce new vocabulary. Like mutant, crusader, vigiliante, henchman and nemesis. There was too much of a culture gap in this land of no-copyrights for me to explain Marvel and DC.
And we had a little trouble with minions and mastermind, until I told them that if I were going to take over the world, they could be my helpers. (I hope I don’t get deported.)
It was probably one of my best lessons, until one of the quiet kids — it’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it? — said “This is stupid. Who cares about X-Men? Superheroes are dumb!” I wanted to give him lines, but instead I made him say “Superheroes are dumber than superheroes with genetically enhanced brainpower”.
But I secretly hope he gets beat up after class.
Next Week: If I were a superhero, my superpower would be….
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