What a week! It seems like I was just preparing last week’s blog post. The kids are loving the quotes and love hearing from you all. Last week’s blog post has been viewed almost 500 times. It’s been viewed all around the bootheel. It's been seen as far south as Houston and as far north as Grand Rapids Michigan. The kids were ecstatic last week when they saw their blog had been seen all the way in Spain! Can you believe that?
This week is Homecoming week! Go Indians!
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This week’s quote is a Chadian Proverb. “Laughter is a Language Everyone Understands”
No matter how different people are, finding a shared joke or a similar sense of humor will help them to come together and become friends. If you want to connect with someone, the best way is to find something that you can both smile about. It has been scientifically proven that all human beings share the same basic emotions, and that laughter is particularly well recognized as a sign of happiness.
Have you ever noticed everybody laughs the same? All things considered, a few giggles are somewhat impossible to miss, however everybody on the planet realizes what a snicker is. You could be stuck in a foreign country trying to ask where the bathroom is and everyone would be staring at you, but they would instantly recognize a laugh.
Laughter, like smiles, is one of the few universal methods of communication between humans. Even some animals seem to be able to follow along when we laugh. When people share laughter, there is a special connection between them, even if they aren’t speaking the same language.
I began today’s introduction of the proverb by playing a clip of a student talking in German. Before I showed the clip I told them to pay close attention to the message that the child would be trying to get across to them. I started the clip. My students were lost and confused and looking at the smartboard trying to figure out what had happened. I apologized to them and told them I must have clicked on the wrong video. I pulled up the second video. In this video children were talking in a foreign language, but shortly after the children in the video began laughing. The laughing was contagious. Before you knew it, my entire class was laughing. We had no idea what they were saying, but we knew they were happy! I figured this would happen, so I had my phone out ready to snap some pics. After we calmed down I gave them the moral to the story.
No matter where you are in the world, a smile or a laugh will be understood!
In my classroom we use laughter to bring people together. Whether it’s whole group in the classroom or a couple at the small group table sharing a joke, the result is the same. You feel better and closer when you laugh. Laughter is good medicine. How often we laugh and where we use laughter all depends on the day and what our social groups consider appropriate. We are steadily working on being aware of our surroundings and what is appropriate.
My rule: You might want to try to stress a little less and laugh a little more…and consider doing it with friends.
Enjoy the pics of the students enjoying our day!
See you all next week!
Mr. B
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