It’s grading time, so I will now regale everybody with funny grading stories.
A student was answering the question of “What were the only acceptable choices for women in Franco’s Spain?”
The answer I expected was “a wife, a mother, and a nun.” In the student’s interpretation, this response sounded as “a domestic slave, a breeder, and a nun.”
Clarissa's Blog 
Interesting, I love it! Also, I know this is probably horrible of me, but I love the Abominable Snow monster add that you have on here too. It’s insanely funny.
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I’d give full credit. 😀
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That’s exactly what I did. 🙂
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Funny ‘grading’ story (to share with Spanish literature nerds):
Q. What is the literary text you enjoyed the most this semester and why?: A. “Cancion del pirata”
Q. What is the literary text you enjoyed the less and why?”: A. Poems by Espronceda.
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Oh, thank you so much for making me laugh! I’m so exhausted and I thought nothing could awaken me, but this is good.
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I need to vent. My students and I discussing:
Me: Did you like reading La de Bringas? Do you think it is relevant to read that novel today and why?
Students.: We did not like it.
Me: Why?
Students.: Because it is hard to read.
Me.: Difficulties notwithstanding, it this a relevant reading today?
Students.: More or less. It is not as relevant as other novels from the 1990s and 2000s.
Me.: OK… but what about the financial crisis, debts, and the use of credit in the 19th century and today?
Students.: Oh… but you should have told us that! How are we suppose to make that connection!
Me. We saw a 1989 movie based on Galdos’s novel, but the action is in present-day Arkansas. I thought you would connect the dots.
Students.: You could have given us more movies about the economy today, Or another novel. More contemporary.
And this is how I failed as a teacher this semester, but I will get better.
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And how will you get better, move to a different planet? 🙂
I’m sorry to laugh but this got better and better with every comment. What kind of a weird weird weird creature does not enjoy La de Bringas? I read it for the first time exactly 5 months after I started learning Spanish. It was extremely hard to understand, but God how I loved it. And it did wonders for my Spanish. I read it in Havana. In the shadow of the University of Havana.
Oh youth, oh innocence. . .
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“We saw a 1989 movie based on Galdos’s novel, but the action is in present-day Arkansas.”
-What movie is that and why don’t I know it?
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The movie is called Rosalie Goes Shopping by Percy Adlon. Awesome for teaching purposes and showing how comtemporary Galdos’s novel is. Theoretically, I guess.
I also read La de Bringas when my knowledge of Spanish was intermediate at best, and I peed my pants, even if I did not get 50% of the book. Oh well… I am glad I made you laugh!
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Thank you! I totally need to watch it.
My students didn’t enjoy a documentary on Che Guevera because it’s “booorrrrring.” I’m finding it very hard to encounter things that are not booorrrring.
My father taught me when I was a kid that the capacity to be bored is evidence of low intellect and general worthlessness as a human being. I haven’t been bored since that lecture.
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