Student Faces

I think I posted something like this already, but for some reason it is in my head, so here it is (again):

A few weeks ago when I went to one of my favorite classes, a post-beginners class (they are learning fast!), I began by joking around with them. They are used to this by now, since I have talked about monkey burgers and tomato ice cream for a while.

However, on this particular class day, I picked out the quietest girl in the class and said, "Haley's mom called me this morning and said Haley loves to take tests!"

The girl in question jerked her head up towards me and said something to her partner in Korean (there are 10 kids, our max, in the class).

Since Haley was obviously quite flustered, I asked her partner, "What did she say?"

"She said 'Teacher tell a lie"."

Although I was joking, technically this was true, so I could hardly get mad at the statement. I wrote on the whiteboard "You are telling a lie," "Don't joke with me," etc.

But the look on Haley's face remains with me--a look that communicated "My mother wouldn't call you, and if she did she would never say that!" without any words whatsoever.

Priceless.

I have tried to recreate the look in other students' faces ("Justin's mother called me this morning and said . . .") without any success.

Sigh.

I need a new strategy.