Violin Vs Choir Tour

9-yr-old boy, who doesn't like playing violin.  His dad comes to every lesson.

Dad: Now, next week there's a bit of a problem.  We won't be able to come to a lesson, because J will be on choir tour!
Me: Ooh, that's exciting.
Boy [whinging]: But I don't want to go on choir tour!
Dad: Well, I tell you what.  Next week, you don't have to come to violin.  How about that?
Boy: No!  Violin is much better than choir tour!
Me: Wow.
Dad: But - you've never been on a choir tour.  How would you know if you'll like it or not?
Boy: But I know I won't like it!  I want to do violin instead! [Really?  He must really not want to do this tour]
Dad: So maybe we should leave Toowomba really early on Saturday morning, and come back for a violin lesson, and then go back and join the tour again?

Poor kid.  Sounds like an awful weekend ahead for him.  Mwahahahaha.

Ah, Geography

[Great.  It just took me 3 tries to spell 'Geography'.  In the title.  I got it right first time, in this sentence].

9-yr-old boy, whose dad sits in on the lesson.  Boy has a pair of Iranian grandparents.  He'd accidentally brought his brother's violin, 2 sizes too big for him, so we were doing some theory and general knowledge at the start of the lesson.  We started with Barcarolle, by Jacques Offenbach.

Me [inner smirk - this is always entertaining]: Who wrote this piece?
Boy [squinting]: Jack...wez... Off... batch...
Me: I know it doesn't look like it, but his first name is zhark, and his second name is Off-en-bark.  [boy looks skeptical] Trust me.  Where do you think he's from?
Boy: Iran?
Me: Umm... no.  His first name is... [stunned look on boy's face] from France, and his second name is German.  He's actually German.

We then went on to talk about the name of the piece, and what it means.  It's from a French opera, which doesn't really help.

Me: So, we have this guy with a French first name, and a German last name, writing an opera in French... [boy starts to giggle]... and this song is a boat song from Venice [his dad laughs].  Do you know where Venice is?
Boy: France?
Me: Er - no.  This country starts with the letter "I".
Boy [quickly]: Iran!
Me: I knew you were going to say that!  No, this country is where pizza comes from... and spaghetti... Ferraris [running out of ideas]
Boy's dad: Where are Italians from?
Boy: Oh, Italy!!!

We then had a delightful discussion about Venice and not riding a bike to school through the canal.  Unless it's a hover bike.

What Dad Does

It's a long walk from the junior school classrooms to my teaching room.  On the way, I was talking with a grade 3 girl, and she mentioned her dad having to work on Saturday.

Me: What does your dad do?
Girl: Well, when people are about to go into surgery, he knocks them out by hitting them on the head with a hammer.  And when they're done, he wakes them up with a coffee.
Me: So ... he's an anaesthetist?
Girl: Yeah... but I prefer saying he knocks them out with a hammer!