Temprano to Guano

Wish there were more teachers like you Gerry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good idea, Amy!

It's preferible that you go (might go) to the office early
Someone waits for you with cinnamon sticks and guano

TK--thank you, but once you see that translation you might reconsider!

A correction--that should probably be cinnamon bread sticks.

Words in free-fall flight, with spice to delegate left from right. Two languages, one vision! Radical, Gerry!

gerry!! I LOVE IT! you made me laugh. thanks!

Glenn, I love that line you wrote! Talk about words in free-fall!

Jessie--thanks a lot, as I am deeply humor challenged, and what really triggered this was Minnie W. and I starting a humor project. So I am more inspired than ever.

Gerry - You are a born teacher, and seems like a wonderful way to enhance understanding and use of a second language. I just yesterday started relearning Spanish, from day 1, and have enlisted the aid of one of our Spanish Professoras to be my mentor. Como te llamas, Que tal, and Hasta luego seem like a breeze of a start, but the grammar and conjugation have me shaking deep in my heart.

Thanks for the fun rhyme - I'll share with my hispanic kids by asking them to translate - hopefully we'll all get a big laugh.

Well done Gerry
I know exactly what that second language problem is. Things are very weird in any new language. The idioms and pronunciations are so different.
But you found the way !!! Wonderful. You made a difference and that's what counts.

After visiting two free translation websites I picked this one for the best possible and returned to find you'd been coaxed into translating yourself.

Is preferably that go to the early office Someone expects you with fritters and guano.

If you can have a little fun and make the learning go easier, more power to you. Thanks for sharing.

What an inspiring teacher you are, Gerry!

This poem does so much in so very little space! I am happy to see that you are an innovative teacher. I began my study of French in high school and found that writing rhyming poetry in French was quite easy. I wrote two songs in French during those years. Muchas Gracias!

Tom--the looks on your students' faces will probably say "What kind of weirdo wrote that?" but that's okay. I have to get students to lighten up. Good luck with your relearning, and please remember that grammar is nothing more than a road map with all the short cuts to how people speak. Look for patterns, remember that adults have big advantages over kids for formal learning and please direct your questions to me whenever you are confused!

Fred--you should know, you Afrikaans veteran (sp?) Thank you telling me I made a difference.

Sandy--I guess that tells you something about free translation websites, and thanks for seeing the laughter inside this!

Kathryn--I hope it inspired you somehow, though you seem to carry your own supply aplenty!

Jan--I never would have thought of this as a little space; I would have thought it too extensive. Do you still have those French songs or other poetry? I don't know that I could read it, but I'd like to try, and de nada!

You make the extra effort, amigo mio, which is my criteria for separating the special teachers from those who could care less.


Es probable que haya muchos maestros con alma,
pero creo yo que Gerry se lleva la palma.

It´s probable that there are many teachers with soul,
but I believe that Gerry wins the gold.

Gerry, I wish I knew some Spanish words! I would have left a Spanis comment here.
Wait..let me do something.. :)
Be back soon!

Here!! :P

"Bien que mon cerveau dans l'anticipation nue, attendent des pensées poétiques,
Son votre visage de poker, monsieur, qui me fait penser beaucoup"

Gerry, methinks you have started off pretty well!! Hope we enjoy this new venture!

awesome Gerry, I thoroughly enjoyed this contemporary poem that has a wonderful and humorous crecendo. I love your devotion to your work, your vocation

Juan, gracias por escribirme algo que me importa, que me pega en el corazón.

Minnie, I am reluctant to go to a dictionary while I have time at lunch to read, so I can only get part of this:

Well that my_____in the anticipation ____, waiting on poetic thoughts,
On your poker face, sir, that makes me think too much

Please let me know if I got close at all!

Ed, those words mean a lot. I guess I am pretty devoted to my vocation, but then aren't most of us who write poetry on Gather?

Minnie, I suspect your poem is a great start!

Gerry, This was very entertaining! I love both your poems (though my spanish is rudimentary) You must be an awesome teacher that kids remember forever.

Gerry, I wrote that in an online TRANSLATING WEB SITE , used it for the first time.
If I remember it exactly as I wrote it, then this is how it went,

My brain waits, in naked anticipation, for poetic thoughts
But it is your poker face, sir, that makes me think a lot.

Hope you saw the funny side in this ;)
What if I were one of your students, attempting to write poetry in Spanish, wondering as you explained, looking at your enthusiasm and zeal and rather than writing good poetry, ended up giving you this?? :P :P Would I have been thrown out of the class, SIR?

I, too, might have thought you'd lost it there for a minute! But no, it's the old "method in madness." ;-]

Okay, Minnie, now I see what you're up to and how we might start this humor project!

Atticus--I don't know how many will remember me. The teacher never really knows, but thanks for the thought!

John--indeed! One has to be at least a little mad to teach and I wish I could be even crazier so my classes were laughing all the time.

I bet your kids love you.

This is inspired teaching at its best, dear friend.

This was a different experience Gerry...Lovely style ...my son speaks spanish with his friends, he is just 5 and seems that I must learn to speak Spanish atleast to know what they are talking...:)

Barbary--I wish I could be this inspired all the time, as you're probably seeing a high spot here, but thank you for the thought.

Bhawana--if you could learn enough Spanish to understand the general idea, it would be a powerful adventure for you!

Oh ..this is a sweet and expressive poem..
You provoked the teacher's needs and worries too.. which I tend to have too..
Cause being a teacher is demanding...yet EXCITING..lol..

Rima--thank you so much for those sweet thoughts. So you have these teacher feelings too--what do you teach?

I teach English as a second language for grade three and four..

I like the straightforwardness of your poem and the rhyme was really good; actually quite clever considering the topic. The humor was a welcome addition and made me think of a Jim Carey movie.

Anytime a teacher can give a lesson with some dynamic that spurs interest and motivation, that teacher deserves applause and a pay raise. You have my applause.

Thanks, Bill. I'm trying to find that vein of humor buried inside me somewhere.

If you were especially humor challenged, Gerry I might ask if the students laughed or just groaned?

Who cares, as long as you can pull them in and they learn without knowing it, you've done a better job than most--right???(agree with me, it's just a good idea lately).

Maybe you should do it as a clean limmerick?(And don't ask me to spell it right, it'll just frustrate me).

Roxy--laughed or groaned--I'm not sure. Perhaps they were somewhere in between. That class is pretty quiet, so I really don't know what they thought, but I like your overall point, and thank you!

Raven Spirit--as always, you are so very generous with me and I am thankful for your inspiration.