In case you are living under a rock, the World Cup is almost here. And if you didn't know that, you definitely haven't visited a school in Uruguay in the past two weeks! Students from elementary to high school to college are talking about teams and matches and anything related to the game. Which means, I'm finally learning a thing or two about Uruguay's national pastime.
Today the third grade students at School 99 started practicing the World Cup song in English. Their teacher, Maria Alicia, helped them understand the meaning of the words and together we worked on pronunciation. Personally, I think our English classes are always interesting, but the enthusiasm today was noticeably higher.
We sang, and sang, and SANG some more! The students' pronunciation was fantastic, and they were even bold enough to tell me to get out of the way because they didn't need my help. They were right! They sounded great.
So learning about the World Cup has been entertaining. In addition to learning the song with the 3rd graders, the 5th graders wrote descriptions of their favorite players so I could learn their names, dates of birth, height, and and weight. I have to keep studying so I'm ready for Uruguay's match on Friday.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to more English classes like this. Look at those smiles!
Typically theatrical, the Ateneo bookstore is housed in an old cinema with a cafe space onstage.
We also headed out into the countryside to enjoy a taste of the gaucho lifestyle.
The week would not be complete without a tango lesson, at which we Uruguayans of course excelled.
But I blush to say that a couple of us got roped into watching the Argentina - South Korea World Cup match in partisan territory.
