Thursday, November 02, 2006

I Saw The Sign

Kids are so clever. They really are. I'm impressed. They want to be social and they will find ways to be social through hell or high water, dammit.

Case in point:

These kids are supposed to be reading silently right now, no talking. And I just looked up and caught several kids signing to each other with their hands. Apparently sign language is now being taught in the school, as a foreign language option, and these kids are now using their hands to talk without really "talking," i.e. to communicate with each other silently while pulling the wool over my eyes.

(I just re-read the above paragraph. Wow. That is the most badly written, repetitive paragraph. I'm not going to rewrite it, though, because [1] I don't feel like it and [2] I'd rather leave it there as an example of "how not to write a persuasive paragraph." Call it the teacher in me.)

I barely have the heart to tell them to "stop talking" and do their reading because I'm impressed by their ingenuity. I mean, hell: we definitely didn't talk via sign language in class way back in my day.

8 comments:

CawfeeGuy said...

kids are amazingly creative that way. nice blog.

Gina said...

memories of Children of a Lesser God comes flooding back...

Anonymous said...

Internet addiction can be harmful for those who delve into the darker side of the web, such as online gambling, cybersex, online affairs, and online gaming. But how do you know when you or someone you love is addicted to the Internet? When is it time to pull the plug and seek treatment?

Here's a list of common symptoms to watch out for:

1. Lying about how much time is spent online.
2. General decrease of physical activity and social life.
3. Neglecting obligations at home, work, or school to spend time online.
4. Spending too much money on computer equipment or Internet activities.
5. Feeling a constant desire to be online when they're away from the computer.
6. Going online to escape real world problems.
7. Disregarding the emotional or physical consequences of being in front of a computer all day.
8. Denial of the problem.

Erik said...

Ilene, was that you writing to me about internet addiction?

(i'm kidding, it was spam i'm assuming, but your comments are always anonymous, so i wanted to ask you if it was you)

Erik said...

Gina, TOTALLY.

Erik said...

cawfeeguy, thanks (re: nice blog)!

and yeah, kids are very creative. where there's a will, there's a way.

Anonymous said...

it's sad that you don't know when i eff with you.

Anonymous said...

i was totally going to say something about children of a lesser god, but clearly i've been beaten to it.