LOVIN' my job!!

So today was actually pretty sweet... This morning, I spent two hours preparing for two ELL (English-language-learner) classes that I was going to teach about tobacco today. I translated a TON of stuff, I practiced my facts, I read info in Spanish... I fully intended on presenting at least some of the info in Spanish to the class. (All of the kids spoke Spanish as a first language.)

I was stoked to do my first tobacco lessons en español! On the drive over to the high school, I only listened to music in Spanish. I practiced facts and pronounciation and I was feeling pretty confident.

When I arrived in the classroom, I was shaky and nervous, but very excited as well. I greeted the students with a hearty, "Buenos dias" (good morning), and I asked them (in Spanish) if they all spoke Spanish. They responded affirmatively. I then asked if they'd prefer to receive the information en ingles (English) o español. To my dismay, they chose English!! What are the odds???

Anyway, it also turned out that the second ELL class I was supposed to do today cancelled on me! They came to a lesson we did yesterday, so the teacher had other plans for today's class. Bummer! The kids in the class I *did* teach weren't bad. They thought it was funny whenever I got geeked out about something (as evidenced by my jumping up and down or shrieking out something). However, they talked during the ENTIRE video I showed, which was annoying to no end. Upon the conclusion of the video, I asked for comments and questions. They brought up a few for a couple minutes, then were silent! They sure had had enough to say during the movie!! Grr... Anyway, they were at least interested, and they were basically courteous to my face. I left a little annoyed, but it wasn't terrible.

Lunch for the high school is between the 3rd and 4th blocks of the day, so my roommate and I had pre-planned to do lunch together today in his room. We had a lovely meal that his office-mate cooked for us, and my rommate's friend joined us, too. The 4 of us had a good time, and we were all able to chill a bit.

After lunch, James (my roommate) asked if I needed to go to his drama class to present any information, since my other class had been cancelled. (You see, I'm recruiting the drama class to help make new anti-tobacco videos, so James & I are collaborating to make it happen. His kids are excited about it, too, so that definitely helps!) Anyway, I said that I'd go in for a few minutes and just give some basic info.

Wow!! "A few minutes" turned into over an hour!! The students were extremely interested in the information I presented. They had excellent questions, and we had an AWESOME discussion!! We talked about whether tobacco should be legal or not... A few students shared stories about loved ones who'd died from tobacco use. We had quite a few people shed tears. It shocked the crap out of me! The kids took notes, they participated actively... it was just wonderful. Those are the times when I'm *really* glad I'm still teaching in some capacity! Man... I'm just so in love with my job. It's so cool.

Sorry... it's hard to explain just how sweet today was. I'm finding (my to my surprise) that I *like* most teenagers. Up until recently, I'd decided I didn't. However, they're smart and they're interested in things and they're still fairly idealistic. Sigh. One of the students today even took the liberty of writing down everyone's questions that I couldn't answer, so that I can get back to them with the information. Awesomeness. Another student, after learning that there are traces of urine in manufactured tobacco, exclaimed, "Gross! That alone makes me really want to quit!" I couldn't help but beam.

Next week, we're starting an experimental cessation class for high schoolers in the area. Apparently, our office has never done one, and I (yours truly!) will be facilitating it!! I'm so stoked! My boss is going to help me for the first class or two (of six), then I'm on my own. So far, 12 kids are signed up for the class... my goal is to get them all at least thinking about quitting. I figure I'm doing something good here.

Also of note... statistics! The kids in James's class were oddly fascinated with numbers! A lot of the questions I couldn't answer centered around stats. (e.g., " What is the average age of death for people who die from tobacco use?", "What percent of children of smokers go on to become smokers themselves?", "How many infant deaths are caused because of tobacco use?") I mean, MAN, these kids had some good questions!!

We even delved into politics and public policy. I explained that my job is funded primarily by the tobacco tax, and that there's the new SCHIP initiative to have smokers essentially fund some child health care. I asked the students what they thought about taxing smokers to do this. One student replied, "Man, they should tax the industry, not the consumer!" Oh... it was just so cool!

Ok, I've gotta go look up a LOT of stats for these kids before I forget! Suffice it to say I'm very happy with my job! :)