Peace, Goodwill and plungers

After half a week of 6-hour days in the classroom, my students get burned out and exhausted, so I try to do fun things on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. This week we're in a unit on homes and have been doing vocabulary related to rooms, appliances, furniture, fixtures, and decorations. Today I took them to Goodwill. I prepped the activity by talking about thrift stores. They had to predict what types of items they'd find. We also made a wish list of how we'd like to decorate our classroom. Then I gave them a worksheet to fill out on-site, and we headed off to the store. I realized that they were the first passengers in my new car.

They'd never been anyplace like it here, and they were fascinated. So many things! It's a great vocabulary lesson. They hold something up and I tell them what it is. They have to categorize things on their worksheet. The Taiwanese guy, Y, was fascinated by a white rubber toilet plunger whose handle was a clear PVC tube filled with rice. (I have to say, I was intrigued myself. My main thought: "Why?") The Korean woman, E, used her time to do a little shopping for her family, though she couldn't find a junior-sized swimsuit. I myself snagged a stoneware crock with a lid, a Pampered Chef stone breadpan, and a paperback copy of Edith Hamilton's Mythology. I also gave them 10 dollars to buy things for the classroom. E picked out a small resin witch figurine (she likes witches, what can I say) and Y pleased me with his choice of a handsome oak knick-knack shelf. I found a set of checked curtains to round it out.

As a chronic notetaker and listmaker who is rarely without a little notebook or a scrap of paper and a pen, I should have remembered how nervous it makes employees when you go around their store marking down items on a piece of paper. They think you're from a rival store. I don't know what other thrift store Goodwill would be locked in such a battle with, really, but fortunately I discovered the situation before the manager completely launched into E and took her worksheet away. Lady, it's just a field trip! She was apologetic and nice after that.