That's their job...

You know those moments when a kid says something, or asks a question, and it's not really related at all to what you're doing but it's a great time to share a little bit of wisdom with the students. It's that time when you can teach your students something that's not necessarily in the curriculum but essential for the kids to know in life. Well, I had one of those teachable moments yesterday during my after-school club. We were making papel picado (see my previous post for pictures and how-to make this awesome project) and the room was getting a little messy. We were cutting tissue paper and lots of little pieces were falling to the floor. I told my students that we would end 5 minutes early to make sure that we cleaned up the room before we left. One of my students said, "Why do we have to do that? That's the janitor's job." My heart sank a little bit when I heard that but then I realized I could take this moment and teach a valuable lesson. I replied something along the lines of, "It is the custodian's job to clean, yes, however we do not have to make it harder for them. They come and mop the floors and wipe off the tables but it is not their job to pick up after us. Whenever and wherever we make a mess, it is always our job to pick it up and keep the area looking neat and clean. We don't need to make other people's jobs harder for them." The student thought for a moment and was silent before finally saying "oh, well that makes sense." When it came time to pick up, she was the first one on the ground cleaning up all the little pieces of paper with her hands. I was so proud :) If she doesn't remember a word Spanish I taught her, at least she'll remember to make other people's jobs as easy as possible for them.