This hilarity comes from my ESL class. Our class meets in a community center and shares a space with a group of senior citizens. We sit on one side of the room around one or two tables and they sit on the other side of the room and use 3 or 4 tables, think small cafeteria. We all gather around 9 a.m. and go about our business for about the first half hour, they play donimos and we teach English.
Some days we are quiet and some days we are a little more lively depending on how many people show up and what the mood is in the group. The seniors are the same, sometimes loud and sometimes a little louder depending on how many of them can hear I guess. Anyway, we use them as an example in our lessons sometimes like when we are teaching superlatives, we are loud and they are louder! They are the loudest ones in the room. See? Everyone in our class gets the idea. The seniors usually start playing Bingo around 9:45, after dominos and exercises. I think they love Bingo and as a bonus they win food when they Bingo! It is a great program for them as this may be the only decent food they have all day.
Meanwhile, we are trying to teach English on the other side of the room. Competing for air space amidst B-5, O-52, N-24....called out in a very LOUD voice with a serious southern drawl. One of our students, I'll call her Porque, because (porque)she says that word between every phrase! Like some people use the word "like", she uses porque. She is a funny lady and the class clown, she cracks me up regularly, she is infectious with her twinkling eyes and occasional scattered brain-ness. She is always sincere though and we all love having her in class.
Anyway....one day we were minding our own business and doing our lessons. The 9:45 Bingo game was going along and the louder the caller called the letters and numbers the louder we had to talk. It sometimes becomes a competition, she is loud and then we are loud because we can't hear anything if we aren't louder and then she is even louder... Still working on the loud, louder, loudest lesson? Bingo caller lady shouts B-4, then maybe O-50 and so it goes, and out of the blue....from our side of the room, Porque shouts...."BINGO"! Our entire class cracked up, we were trying to hide the fact that we were howling with laughter from Bingo Caller Lady but I know she heard us! Porque sat there just snickering with that little twinkle in her eyes! I think most of the seniors had no idea what was going on but I'm sure Bingo Caller Lady heard and was unamused. Maybe the reason she shouts the letters and numbers is because most of the seniors are hard of hearing, but then again it could be because we are loud too. Now, Porque only whispers "Bingo" to our group, and we all get to have a little private snicker amongst ourselves. Hope you snickered too, Happy April Fool's Day!
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