Best Compliment Ever

I was leaving the After School Programme and a group of girls were ahead of me. Three from the programme, one was not.

"Miss, Miss, Naomi saying you have flak backside!"
Naomi says crossly, "Miss I not saying that, uh."
"Miss, she saying it foh true!"
"Miss not true uh!"
I tell them, "Hey hold on let's talk about this. I'm not mad."
"Miss, Naomi say you have flak backside."
"Did you say that?"
"Yes miss."
"What does it mean?" I ask.
"Miss it meaning 'flat.'"
"Miss like not round backside."
"Ok, well it's true. I have flak backside then. Why is that?"
"Miss when you bend down you have flak backside."
"Well there are two reasons for that. One is that I wearing pants that ah a little too big for me, they not tight on me like some women weh."
"Miss yuh pants too big on you?"
"Yes, but also I'm white and many white people have smaller backside than many Lucians."
"Miss, Asians having flak backside too eh!" I was surprised the girl did not say "chiny," as most people here refer to Asians.
"Miss, where you from?"
"I'm from the United States."
A few ask at the same time, "New York?!"
"No, I'm from Texas."
"Miss, how you having so many moles?" The same girl that said "Asians." I was surprised she knew the word for mole, too. I've often heard younger children call them "buttons."
"Well I was born like that, with feh skin and moles."
Naomi looks up and asks, "Miss, are you a tourism?"
"Eh eh, tourist, Naomi!" the other girls correct her, "Tourist, tourist!"
"I'm not a tourist; I live heh and I wuhk heh."
"Miss wheh you livin'?"
"I livin' Augier."
"Miss looking like tourist, eh."
"But that's only because I'm white. Do I dress like a tourist?" I want to challenge their assumptions about white people.
"No, miss."
"What do tourists weh?" I ask.
"Miss dey wearing shoht skuhts an' fing."
Naomi asks, "But Miss if you from United State how come you not talking yahnking?"
"Talking yahnking?" I ask, "What that mean?"
"Miss you not sounding like you from United States ey." Naomi explains.
I smile. This is what I've been working on, a secret to me as much as anyone. "Well I livin' St. Lucia ovuh a yeh now, I pick up the accent."

They asked a few more questions, but our conversation was cut short because a teacher that livin' near me came outside and was starting her car. I got a ride home.




I work with children ages 5-11 on basic literacy. Much of this involves learning and reviewing the sounds letters make. I found out over a year ago it was useless to try and teach them the sounds they have in American English. So the sounds are easy to get right. The dialect came later. Slowly I tried incorporating different phrases and words that would make me better understood by the young children. My classroom management skills are improving, but a lot of it is just the fact that kids understand what I'm saying now.

I look white, and maybe it's something that my students think about often. I don't, however, but I do take advantage of cultural education. Maybe I need to introduce real flour tortillas to my students so I can explain my moles better.