I'm sad because my lover left me

03 Apr 2009
Posted by Jordan
Jordan's picture

An activity that I sometimes do with my students involves showing them a cartoonish picture of someone sobbing or smiling or looking angry, and asking them what emotion is being portrayed. I then ask them to complete the sentence "I am [feeling emotion x] because..." on a piece of paper, along with a drawing to help me understand what they are trying to express. A few of the more interesting and/or unexpected answers:

 

  • "I am sad because my lover left me." Oh the heart wrenching drama.
  • "I am happy because my poop came out." There was no doubt about this one, thanks to the detailed drawing accompanying it -- this was a girl by the way. Only in middle school, or only in Korea? Or both?
  • "I am upset because my mother catch me on 19 website." Actually, all the boys at a certain table had some variation of this one. Remember that everyone is a year older in Korea, so a "19 website" is... well, I think you can figure it out. I can't say I was surprised by the actual occurrence--it was just the level of candidness that threw me; I wanted to tell them "I'm just your teacher! Don't tell me this stuff!"
  • And one that needed a bit of correction: "I am in love with my sister because she is cute."

I would love to see the

I would love to see the drawings that depict the mother catching them on the websites. those must of been funny. For some reason, whenever I have the students do an exercise involving drawing, the students include me in the drawing and I am being murdered or covered in poo.

my turn:
I am lonely because I am so far from my family and friends in Puerto Rico and the States. Weird that I still feel lonely despite having a family here too. http://www.winnie-the-pooh.kwakkers.com/img/eeyore-2.jpg