Springtime, Tabbooleh, and Other Things

At this time of each year, when the weather starts to get warm, our suffering begins. The children become very annoying. They get very hyper in the playground that they hurt themselves and their friends, and we got blamed for not keeping a good eye on them. In the classroom, however, they get unbearably lazy and sleepy. I feel as if I’m talking to myself all the time. All my attempts to capture their attention go in vain. I ask questions and all I hear is the echo of my sound. Great! It isn’t a nice feeling to be totally ignored, is it? And here I get really mad, I start yelling to wake them up. ( Am I really wondering where do I burn the calories?!). Now that they are giving a full attention, it’s me who’s not in the mood anymore to explain the lesson again :D
Ahmed doesn’t want to bother and hold his pen and write. All he wants to do is to talk, play and laugh. He even changes the subject when I try to persuade him to write.
“ Mith, mama el youm bada ta2mel mtaletlah”
“excuse me?!”
“ Mama bada totbokh mtaletlah, ana b7ebba tteel”
“ Here we go again, another riddle by Ahmed! Let me guess.. mtaletlah mtaletlah.. mda .. mdaredrah.. mdaredrah!”
“ eh mtaletlah”
“ tayeb sa7tain! Befham min hek eno you have no intention to write?! All you can think about now is the mtaltlah you’re going to eat when you go home?!”

He didn’t write anything for two days. On the third day he drove me mad that I yelled at him and he started crying. Poor Ahmed, it’s OK, let him cry :@

While flipping through grade two science book, I noticed an activity where we are supposed to prepare tabbouleh. I found it a good idea to break the routine and get the children more excited about the lesson and the school in general. Of course it was impossible for me to make tabbouleh for two classes ya3ni about 50 children. So I chose the clean ones and asked them to get the ingredients. On Thursday they got the tomatoes, cleaned and cut, parsley, mint, olive oil, lemon juice, mint, salt, onions, plates and spoons, a big bowl and even a board to cut the onion and the mint on in the classroom.
The children were very excited while they were watching me putting the gloves on and starting to cut the mint and the onions and then adding them to the other ingredients and mixing them. Finally the huge bowl of tabbouleh was ready and they couldn’t wait to taste it. Some of them ate 2 and even 3 plates mashallah. I was really happy that they liked it a lot and didn’t hesitate to ask for more. We really had a great time.
The other section’s turn was on Friday, but unfortunately, after finding the two kidnapped guys killed, the minister of education announced that there will be no school on Friday. The kids today were frustrated that the tabbouleh activity was canceled, but I promised them to do something else, cake maybe, or pizza, I haven't decided yet, any idea?