I like to eat pizza

This has been quite a popular phrase in fourth grade English class the last few weeks. It all started when I asked the question "What do you like to do?" We made a whole list of things on the board - swim, dance, sing, go on trips, fly...
And then André said it: "I like to eat pizza".
Innocent enough. Simple enough. But I had no idea how those 5 words would define the next few weeks of English class. After that, things were never the same. Every day, someone would ask me "When can we make pizza in English class?" Sara said it. Ronaldo said it. Josua said it. No doubt about it - my fourth graders were going to mutiny if I denied them the opportunity to make pizza in English class. We were coming to the end of the current unit. "Maybe next month", I told them. "Maybe isn't good enough", Josua informed me. "What do you like to do", I asked on the English test. "I like is eat pizza", Sara wrote in response. I laughed out loud while grading the test, beginning to feel like the unjust judge, plagued by the widow who just would not let him alone until he did what she was asking him to do! :) (Luke 18)
And then I found it. My lifesaver! The next unit I had planned was on ancient history, focusing on Rome and Egypt. Beautifully, wonderfully, Rome happens to be in Italy, which happens to be the birthplace of pizza. As I was looking through the teacher's manual, I realized there was even a lesson on food likes, dislikes and preferences! I came to class armed with the good news. And we finally decided on a date. Tuesday, June 3 was going to be Pizza Day. Then they stopped asking and waited in eager anticipation. At last, the day came. I came to school with a market bag full of pizza supplies - bread, sauce, cheese, mushrooms, sausages, mayonnaise. Mayonnaise? On pizza? Oh yes, Peruvians are very fond of mayonnaise and I do believe that every single pizza (except for mine) had mayonnaise on it. That was Aarón's suggestion. Someone else suggested sausages (salchichas). I burst out laughing when Ada Sol, in a voice pregnant with deep longing, crooned "Ah...salchiiiichas...". They went in my bag too. Armed and ready, I entered fourth grade. The excitement level in that classroom that day was extraordinarily high. I was thankful that Dawn Weaver, one of my friends, who also happened to be a missionary in Peru for three years and the English teacher for this class last year, was visiting and offered to help out that day as well. There are three groups of four and one single desk in the classroom. So I invited them to come up three at a time, while the rest of the students looked at English and bilingual books I pulled from the school library. I was determined to make this an educational experience as well, so we focused on several phrases: "What would you like?" "Would you like __?", "I would like ___.", "Yes, please." and "No, thank you." The kids only speak English if they absolutely have to (I'm trying to change that one), but they did pretty well with it. At the end of the class there were 12 very happy students (one was absent, unfortunately) and lots of little pizzas (2 for everyone) ready to go into the church's oven downstairs.
The students still had to sit through two more 45-minute blocks of classes before recess, when they could finally eat their pizzas. When Dawn and I came up during recess with four trays of pizzas, we were met with many excited fourth graders who couldn't wait to eat their pizzas (after all, they'd been waiting for about three weeks for this). Lots of them even wanted to take one home to show and share with their families. The kids did amazingly well and the entire day was a great success. It was a wonderful bonding experience and I think I enjoyed it as much as they did! :) I grabbed some pictures. Enjoy! Provecho! (Spanish for "enjoy your food").
In order, the pictures are as follows:
Josua, André and Sara making pizzas
Miss Nancy (the fourth grade teacher), Nurieth and Ronaldo making pizzas.
One tray of pizzas ready to go into the oven (the white stringy stuff is the mayonnaise)
Crhisnna, Magna, Ada Sol and Alicia eating pizza
Josua, Sara and André eating pizza
If you'd like to see more pictures, I have some on facebook. Click here to see them.