Friday, March 6, 2020

Adults are just big kids at heart

I have started a brand new course at night school and it is intended to cover EVERYthing: a bit of general knowledge of English-speaking countries, some history, geography, grammar and vocabulary.

About 6 weeks ago I read a book on German hyperinflation in the 1920s and about 4 weeks ago an article in The Economist, and both publications mentioned the 'Goldilocks level'. When I brought up the name of Goldilocks in class last week, one student, who had formerly worked in finance, mentioned the term 'Goldilocks economy'.

Yesterday, therefore, I decided to teach the story to my class. We started with the 1837 version by Robert Southey and then I handed out photocopies of the same story as published by Ladybird for children aged between 2 and 4 years.

When I told them that, traditionally, the voices of the three bears are distinct - a booming voice for Daddy Bear, a normal voice for Mummy Bear, and a reedy, piping voice for Baby Bear - they took the information on board and seemingly with delight tackled all the different voices with gusto. Men and women ranging in age from 34 to their late 50s, Germans and one Russian-speaker, all did the different voices. I didn't think they would - but they seemed to enjoy themselves.

I never thought I would ever expose my adult classes to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, but it was such fun. Truly, at the heart of every adult is a child just dying to get out.

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