On smarties, linguistics and understanding each other (25/11/16)

25/11/2016

On smarties, linguistics, and learning to work with each other

SCENE ONE

(A big, classroom. High ceiling. Walls painted a faded white. Windows can’t be opened, neither can shades. Students sit around hexagonal tables. They look worried and their conversation creates an agitated background murmur) 

(The spotlight focuses on five students at the table in the middle, next to the “windows”)

Alba: Do you have the pptx. presentation?

Maria: Yeah, of course I do.

Andrea: Ok. Anyway, I uploaded it to Drive, just in case”. (They all nod in agreement). And, Kike, you’ll be doing Maria’s part, right? (Maria looks up, questioning). The other Maria.

(Maria, the teacher, enters the scene)

Maria T: Hello, guys. Thank you all so much for the wonderful presentations you’ve sent me. They were great. However, they weren’t quite what I asked for: they were too long. I think you worked too much.

All: (An astonished murmur) Worked too much?

(End of scene one)

SCENE TWO

(The same table, but the teacher is sat in it too. Two laptops on it. Kike’s eating handful of smarties Maria the teacher has given them)

Alba: So, do we have to redo it all over again?

Maria T: No, no. It is very good, just try to make it shorter so that it can be explained and understood in around five minutes.

Kike: But, it’d be a pity for all that work to not be shown. Besides, I can’t really decide on the slides. I like the cat one. (He looks at his hand, where the smarties had been. He then looks expectantly at Andrea’s. She hands him a couple).

Maria T: And so do I. It’s funny, but the video is too long. Try to summarise it, please.

Maria: We could put the first two slides together. You know, the ones in which we talk about his life and all that.

Andrea: Yes, and maybe also the ones where we talk about his predecessors and the people he influenced.

Maria T: Aha. That’s what I meant. You’ll see, we’ll get used to working with each other in no time. Things will go more smoothly then.

Kike: Yes, it’s that we didn’t really understand what we had to do, so we did what we are used to doing.

Maria T: I understand. It’s alright. We’ll just go with it and see what happens.

(End of scene two)