This will be on the test

Funniest teacher moments - a 20th episode special

Ami and Lydia

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It's our twentieth podcast episode! We decided that we wanted to give you something extra special. As (former) teachers we've heard and experienced the craziest things. Can you guess who has been told to wear more makeup? Or which one of us was pranked by her whole class on a whim?

Listen in to see if you got it right. 


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SPEAKER_03

Okay, but we gotta be.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Welcome back, A students.

SPEAKER_01

On the microphone, you've got Amy and Lydio. Woo woo! We're back with another episode of This Will Be on the Test. This is the podcast where we give life advice. We have no business handing out. So, students, you know the drill. Grab a notebook and a pen because this will be on the test. It is our 20th episode. Whoa! Um Amy and I were just talking about how it feels insane that it's already the 20th, but then also insane that it's only the 20th episode. Yeah. Because in a way it feels like we've been doing this for a long time.

SPEAKER_03

At least a year. I even I haven't even lived back from Mexico for a year. Like, I don't know. It's weird.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we started in the first episode aired in November.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that feels like forever ago.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. But to be fair, we no, we started talking about it in September.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, not that long ago.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. But it's the 20th episode. Yes. So we thought we'd do something special. We'd do a different episode. Um, no advice. I'm sorry guys, you're gonna have to you're gonna have to live life without our advice for a week. It's wild.

SPEAKER_03

But we got something else to get you through the day.

SPEAKER_01

We do.

SPEAKER_03

We are going to be sharing fun stories from our classroom.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Obviously without any names or anything. But yes, funny things that have happened to us because I'm a primary school teacher, Amy used to be a high school teacher, and kids say the darndest things.

unknown

Should I say?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you sir. Okay, so my first funny story is that um I have like this star system with my kids, with my students, and they can collect stars with good behavior. And if they collect enough stars with one of the classes, um, I agree that we would do a sleepover party at school. That's cute. And so we were parents weren't invited, just to be clear. But all of a sudden, one of the Turkish kids' mom showed up randomly, and before the sleepover, we had all eaten pizza together. Like the kids were well fed, and she came with a half-eaten kebab, and then she goes to her son and she forces him to eat some of the kebab, and he was so fully like he was struggling. And mind you, none of the other parents showed up, she just randomly showed up, and then she came up to me, she's like, Miss Mackenzie, please try, and gave me the kebab that her son had just eaten from. So, like a half-eaten kebab with his like germs still on it, and I was like, No, thank you. I'm okay. She's like, No, no, try. It's typical Turkish food. And I was like, No, thank you. I've had a kebab before, I'm so fine. And it was just like one of the most bizarre moments in my life. This the whole thing. Um, and she ended up leaving, and I didn't have to eat kebab.

SPEAKER_02

So it ended well, but it was just I mean, it's very sweet, it's very wholesome.

SPEAKER_03

It is. I feel like that's a moment where it's just like it it's a very different culture. Completely. My first one also has to do with a different culture, and I think it's my favorite story of what happened to me as a teacher. Um so it was my first year teaching abroad in Mexico, and there the the day of the king is really big, the January 6th. Yeah. Yeah. And so they have this like King's Day bread, not the same one as here in Switzerland, and you cut it up, and there's baby Jesus in the bread, and whoever finds the baby Jesus's, which like there are three baby Jesuses in the bread, whoever finds them has to bring tamales on someday in February.

SPEAKER_01

Is this why in Modern Family Gloria was trying to order baby cheeses?

SPEAKER_03

No, he was she was trying to order baby cheeses. Oh, she was okay. Uh so all of these things were new to me. I didn't I was asking them about the baby cheeses and the tamales and why tamales.

SPEAKER_01

Um and this was like a very random tradition. It does.

SPEAKER_03

It seemed random to me. Yeah. And we were talking like a week before, I was like, how do we get the bread? What happens? And one of the students just said, Yeah, and then we dance around the bread, we cut it, and we eat it. And they all were like, Yep, that's what we do. And I was like, Okay. And so the bread comes that day, and they're like, Okay, time to dance. And so they stand in a circle, we all hold hands and dance around this bread, and they're 14. They're 14, 15. Yeah, they're like giggling, but no red flags. Like, not not those. Weird giggling, because they're teenagers, and then we cut the bread, and none of them say anything. And this is why it's the most impressive story to me. I go out of this room, and the whole tradition to me is like, cool, why not? I go out of this room and I meet the teacher that's in the opposite room, and she was like, How was your first King's Day? Did you enjoy the bread? And I was like, Yeah, the bread's delicious. The dance is a little weird though, no, and she looks at me and goes, What dance? And I just started laughing so hard. These clever little assholes. Oh my god, I was like, I had never been more proud of a class, I think.

SPEAKER_01

Because one of them's very impressive that they pulled it off with the straight face of their teacher.

SPEAKER_03

I don't remember which of my students it was. One of them just said, Oh yeah, and then we dance, and everyone went along with it. They did not know he was gonna do this. Really, it was not a planned thing, I think. They did try to prank another teacher the year before with the same thing, so they weren't like super surprised by it. Um, but it wasn't a planned thing. But that's what's weird about it, is the whole class went along with it. Cool. And nobody would like nobody hesitated, nobody like was awkward about it. It was just like, this is what we're doing. And I even like that, just I don't know. That was such a good, wholesome prank for me.

SPEAKER_01

That's amazing. That's one of my favorite stories, also, yeah, from your school time.

SPEAKER_03

So if any of my students ever listen to this podcast, I'm yeah, I'm just really proud that I gotta be a teacher of such a good prank.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, she's getting soft on us. No, no.

SPEAKER_03

I also left the career, so not that bright.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I had such an adorable, very flamboyant student um in my last class. He just said the funniest things, and very very much sass coming off of this nine-year-old. And he drew a portrait of me. I don't know if I told you this story. I don't think so. He drew a portrait of me. And for those of you who don't know me, my makeup skills are mascara. That's it. And usually I don't, like when I go to school, I put on SPF, and that's it. But he drew a portrait of me, such heavy makeup, on this person, and then he showed it to me, and I was like, it's beautiful. She is wearing a lot of makeup, and and I don't. And he's like, No, but you could.

SPEAKER_03

Damn.

SPEAKER_01

And it was just so honest and hilarious. He like looked me up and down, I was like, you could use a little makeup. He's also, I'm gonna move on right to the next story of this student. I have two stories of this student which are hilarious. He also he had a um a sibling, and his sibling went to watch a movie with his dad, and he went to watch Wicked with his mom, and he came to tell me about it after the weekend, and then he comes up to me and he's like, I went to go watch Wicked on the weekend, blah blah blah. And I was like, Oh, how did you like it? I've heard it's really good, but I haven't seen it yet. The new Wicked with Ariana Grande, and he's like, It was fine, but Ariana Grande and blonde hair just doesn't work for me. He said the most amazing things, like it was pure comedy gold having this kid in my class. Yeah, little sass queen. It's great.

SPEAKER_03

I love those kind of kids.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my god. I wish he would be in my class now just for the laughs.

SPEAKER_03

No, I thought of a very wholesome story, actually. It's not a funny story, but it is just something that I think about occasionally and it just makes me feel really good that I wanted to share. Um, I have a skin condition called rosacea, which makes my face red occasionally. Um, mine is predominantly on my cheeks. Uh, but one day I was walking around my classroom, that this was here in Switzerland, and one of my students looked up at me and was like, Where do you get your blush? And I was like, Ugh, oh, it it's not blush, it's it's a skin condition. And she's like, Oh really? It looks so pretty.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my god, that's so shit. And this was like from a 14-year-old girl. So I was even getting more impressed.

SPEAKER_01

They tell you that your blush is beautiful, and mine's like, you should wear it. Why did you leave the profession, girl?

SPEAKER_03

I was just like, oh my god, that's so sweet of you. So whenever I feel insecure about it, I think of this girl. So cute. Yeah, and it was really like she was just very genuine about it. And I was like, that is a very sweet thing to say about something that I am insecure about. Um, so yeah, sorry, not funny, but sometimes kids are also just adorable.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I can move on to a funny story though, because there are definitely plenty of those. Um, I will stay with one that happened in Switzerland, and sometimes students ask, like, how do you know I'm using Google Translate or AI or something? This one was so obvious. And I had to pull the student aside because sometimes I caught I would call them out in like in the class. And sometimes I was like, no. Um, and this little girl, little girl, this teenager wrote a paper in English about hamsters, because they all had to write a paper on different animals, and we were gonna hang them up, and she wrote down what they eat, and it was hay, flowers, and the German word salmon, which are seeds, but she put this into a translating tool, and it came out as semen.

SPEAKER_02

So these hamsters eat semen, and I I read it and I was like, oh, oh, oh, oh god, no, it was so bad. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03

And being an English teacher, I've had so many like funny stories, but uh, or like funny writing mishaps. Yeah. But I had to pull her aside, and she was like, Oh, I I just started like I translated words and not full sentences, and I was like, that's probably why it didn't have the context. And I was like, but I do feel like I should tell you what this word means.

SPEAKER_01

And what did she say? Well she just got red real red. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03

And I was like, so it's kind of funny for me to read, and she was like, but hamsters don't eat that!

SPEAKER_01

No, honey. No, they don't.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, but she was so she was so surprised. It was.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, this poor girl.

SPEAKER_03

It was hilarious to read, though. Like you're reading, hamsters are this and this big, they live this and this long, and sometimes they eat semen.

SPEAKER_01

She's gonna remember the story for a while.

SPEAKER_02

I hope so. I hope she always remembers the word for seed in in English and it never leaves her.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I have, I mean, somewhat, it's kind of an on the line of semen, put in a different That is such a weird sentence.

SPEAKER_02

I have something that's kind of along the line of semen.

SPEAKER_01

Well, because I was so I always start and end my lessons in a circle, in like this like little sit sitting circle. It's pretty common in primary schools, and sometimes it'll get a little bit out of hand because it's kids that I teach, and then one wants to say what they did last weekend and stuff like that. And so it was one of those days, one of the girls holds up her hand and she's like, My mommy's pregnant, something like that. And then the kids wanted to know how babies are made and what it feels like to be pregnant, and I was like, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Um there was the like special needs teacher kind of in the classroom, and she's had kids, yeah, she's in her 60s, and so one of the kids asked me, Well, what does it feel like to be pregnant? And I was like, I don't know, you'd have to ask this teacher because she's she's had babies before. And she's like, Why don't you know that? And I was like, Well, because I've never had a baby before. She's like, Well, why not? She was really intense about it. I was like, Well, because I'm just not ready to have a baby yet. I'm just not there yet. And she paused and then she goes, Why do you have a boyfriend? Like, for her, there was no point in having a man around if you're not gonna have a child with him. She was so confused as to why I would have a boyfriend if I'm not planning on having babies. The bell rang, and I was so happy I was literally saved by the bell.

SPEAKER_02

Never talking about this again. Don't remember after break. Don't remember after break. She hasn't brought it up since.

SPEAKER_03

So I like these moments because they show like how different things are relevant in little kids' brains. Oh my god. Like, why would you date someone if you're not having a baby?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, for her, all she's seen are couples with babies, I guess.

SPEAKER_03

So it makes no sense.

SPEAKER_01

Like, what's the point?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. That just reminded me that I taught sex ed for a few months, and I have a lot of stories there, but I have those written down somewhere else. So we're gonna have to do another episode on this topic. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

I think we can do a part two.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I do have one.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, I just remembered. Um, I had an anonymous like website uh a website that let the students ask questions anonymously. So at the end of every lesson, they could ask questions on topic or just other questions that they didn't know how to ask or who to ask. And one question, uh, I don't remember what the question was, but it led to one of my students asking, What do you do if you're having sex with someone and they die? And I was like, Okay, good learning moment. What do you do? And they were like, uh, well, stop. And I was like, Yes, good. Okay, we got this generation's already better than this one. We got the basics, good job. Um I was like, but what do you do in a situation like this? And they were humming and highing and like couldn't figure it out. And I was like, come on, guys, what do you do in an emergency situation? This person, their heart's no longer beating. What do you do? And obviously, I was looking for like CPR, call the cops, you know, try to save them. And this one little boy. Like it had been a few minutes, I was waiting for them to think about the answer, and he goes, Yeah, he raises his hand, he is certain of his answer. And I was like, Okay, what's the answer? And he goes, You put their clothes back on.

SPEAKER_00

You be respectful.

SPEAKER_03

And I just started like, I was like, um, you might lose valuable time trying to like I was like, emergency services, have seen naked people before, that's okay. Call the police.

SPEAKER_02

I know the emergency.

SPEAKER_03

Get them dressed so that they look nice for the fight but then I was like, can we play through this situation real quick? It's like, let's you're in bed with someone, they die, you call the emergency.

SPEAKER_00

What question is this?

SPEAKER_03

Kids ask weird questions. I was like, the emergency services come, you explain it to them, but then the person's dressed. Like, I, as an ambulance driver, would be like, why do they have why are they wait, what?

SPEAKER_02

Did you dress them in the meantime? I want them to look nice. Gosh.

SPEAKER_03

Um, that was one of the many funny stories I have from Teaching Sex Ed. I don't know how they came up with this question either. Already the question sometimes. The question is wild. Yeah. Because I think as like a kid, you can't really put anything into perspective. I do have another one. Can I just jump on it? Go for it. Um, so I was answering a bunch of questions and I was like, I'm just gonna go through a few. Yeah. And it was like, um, how do twins work? How can women know they're pregnant? And some of them I was like, this we'll look at in three days. And then one of the questions, it's a very sweet question, was how do you know if you're ready to kiss or move on, like do the deed with someone? And I looked at the question and I was like, Oh, that's easy, 21. And then I kept going. And I had this like this room of 20 students, and I could just see the shock in their eyes. And they're like, 21.

SPEAKER_02

And you know, like I'm so far away. I was a person with authority, and I kept going. I read the next question, and I turned around and I was like, obviously, I'm kidding. And there was just like a they didn't know if they should laugh or not, and I thought it was hilarious.

SPEAKER_01

What was your answer then?

SPEAKER_03

Um, that it depends on them, it depends on their partner, as long as they're both consenting and they feel like it's the right situation and they're being safe about it, and they feel safe and it's in a way that they want it to happen, then the first kiss can happen, and if they want to move on, then it really depends on a lot of other factors. But as long as both people are happy to do it, it's okay. If you feel pressure, then it might be too early or not with the right person.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. That's a good answer.

SPEAKER_03

But I also said it depends on like their family.

SPEAKER_01

I have a non-sex ed story unless you have more sex editors.

SPEAKER_02

I definitely do, but let's move away from sex ed for now.

SPEAKER_01

Um, I used to teach English and I would do these like vocab tests, and at the end of the vocab tests, I would already always have a riddle, an English riddle. And one of the riddles was what goes up that never comes down. And the kids wrote the funniest things, and one girl one girl wrote something, I can't remember what she wrote, but it made kind of it kind of made sense, but it wasn't the correct answer. And then she comes up to me and she's like, Oh my god, Mrs. Mackenzie, I wrote the wrong thing. I know what the answer was. And nobody had gotten the right answer by then. I think the answer was clouds or something like that. Um and so she takes a piece of paper and goes to her seat, and she writes something down, and then she's so proud. She walks with so much pride and this exam back to me, sets it on my table, and underneath what goes up but never comes down, she wrote Dead People. And it was I it was hilarious. And then we discussed it afterwards with the whole class, and then Sorland Kid was like, some people don't go up. Oh no, no, no. We're not touching on this. I'm gonna have so many pissed off parents if this is what I'm talking about with you guys. Those riddles were the best part of my day because they would just write the darnest things.

SPEAKER_03

My next story actually has to do with dead people.

SPEAKER_01

Such great segues we're making today.

SPEAKER_03

No, actually not, but it has to do with life insurance. Oh, I love this story. Uh, so I was on a class trip with my students um with the entire year and two other teachers, and we were gonna go whitewater rafting the next day. And in Mexico, every time you do something mildly dangerous, you have to sign a form, and then it's like in case of an accident, who do you want this money to go to? Um, and everyone had to fill out this form for whitewater rafting, even though it was a very like calm river this time of year, and everybody had life jackets, so like we were being safe about it. It's just like an extra precau precaution that Mexico does, and so we had to fill it out, and all the students had to fill it out. And so I was collecting from my class the papers and reading, like you know, it's it's sweet to see who they would leave this money to, and most of them were like mom, dad. Um, some sometimes it was like mom 60%, dad 40%. You have a favorite. Um, sometimes it was just mom a hundred percent, and I'm like, I don't actually know a lot of your family background, um, and this one. Student came up and he looked very happy with himself.

SPEAKER_02

And I looked at the insurance part and it said mom 45%, dad 45%, Miss Mackenzie 10%. And I was like, why? And he's like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, two takeaways. One, he likes you so much that he wanted you to have part of his life insurance. Yeah. Two, he knew how to calculate those percentages.

SPEAKER_03

He did. His math was good. I was, because I was his math teacher. It was like, good job. Um. Yeah, but it was so funny because the rest of the trip, I I kept uh pretending that I was trying to knock him out. Like the next day at Whitewater Rating, I went up to everybody and I was like, what boat are you on? What boat are you on? And then I was like, what boat are you on? And then I looked at his friend and I was like, I'll give you two percent.

SPEAKER_02

Two percent of his 100 bucks in his piggy bank.

SPEAKER_03

And then I was in my boat with the others, and I saw him and I was like, get up.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, honestly, it was a private school, so they were trust fund kids.

SPEAKER_03

No, but it was like a pre um, it was the amount from the camp we were staying at. It wasn't like his life insurance. It was like, in case of an accident, we'll pay out this much to the family.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Um it really like I was gonna say, if he's a trust trust fund baby, that could have been worth it.

SPEAKER_03

It would have never been worth it.

SPEAKER_01

Um obviously not. Don't do murder.

SPEAKER_03

Don't do murder. Um, no, but he was so sweet about it. It was he he just like such a cheeky thing, such a weird thing to do. Um, but then I loved also that of all the students that were there, of course, one of mine was the little idiot, and I was like, I like you.

SPEAKER_01

Adorable. I just have a very wholesome story. It's just very wholesome, it's not particularly funny, but two of my students dressed up really nice because one of the students was leaving for another school, and so they thought they would dress pretty for like his last day of school, which is really cute. Um, and so they came, like one was in this like gold bedazzled suit, and the other one was wearing a pretty dress and had like her hair and curls better than I have ever done it, like so nice. And so I commented, I was like, You guys look so pretty, this is so cute, and they're like, Yeah, we got married on break real quick. I was like, You did? They're like, Well, yeah, we're both dressed really nicely. We thought we might as well get married. It was so cute, and then they wanted me to take a picture of one girl proposing to the other one, so now I have like this proposal picture of the two of them.

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god, I hope they really do get invited in a few years. That would be amazing. They better invite you to the wedding. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Ugh, if I got invited to one of my former students' wedding, I think I would cry.

SPEAKER_03

I would be very excited.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Even like their graduation or something. Yeah. Okay, last story. Um, this story happened at that same camp from the last story. It was the last night of camp, and it was a big deal because we gotta stay in a hotel. And it was a hotel right on the water. It's kind of a long-winded story. At one point, some students came up to us and said they found some like weird dots on their bed. And then the guy who came with us to lead the camp took all those students to have like a bonfire. And me and the other two teachers were like, let's check the beds because brown spots are weird. And we get into the room, and one of the teachers was like, That is a sign of bed bugs. Great. So we, for the next hour and a half, check all the beds for all the students, which is like 50 plus students. And we didn't find traces of bed bugs everywhere, but we found them in enough beds that I was like, this is ridiculous. And then we had a real big misunderstanding with the guy who helped us lead the camp, and he was like, It's fine, we're not gonna tell the students. And I was like, We are absolutely telling the students, and so he really downplayed it. And then I got up and I was like, Look, not gonna downplay this for you guys. We did find traces of bed bugs. It you will be absolutely fine, they're not gonna get to you. What we recommend is taking out your sleeping bags and sleeping on top of all the bedding. Don't take anything off, just sleep on top of the bedding so that you have an extra layer between you and the bugs. Because bed bugs are in the mattress. And then he downplayed it again, and I was super uncomfortable with the situation, so I was like, I'm gonna go make sure that all the students understand that we have a second option if they're uncomfortable. So I'm going door to door at like 11:30 at night, which is definitely what I want to do in my life. And I'm knocking on the doors, I'm checking on all the students, I'm making sure, are you okay? Did you understand the situation? Blah blah blah. And I get into one room and it's a room full of boys, of course. And I get in and the bedding is on the floor. They are in bed without their sleeping bags, in their underwear, just on the mattress.

SPEAKER_00

Like the pole, like it could not be more opposite from what you recommended they do.

SPEAKER_03

And I was like, What did you guys understand? And they're like, to sleep with our sleeping bags in the bed, and the bed bugs are in the sheets, and I was like, guys, bed bugs lived in mattresses. Now you've just increased your contact, and those boys jumped off the bed so quickly.

SPEAKER_02

It was like it was like a comic book. They were like, And I was like, Oh my god, I know you don't listen to me, but this is like this is the biggest level like biggest misunderstanding of they thought they understood the task, and then I got there and I was like, Wow, you really did not understand the task.

SPEAKER_01

Teenage boys are the darndest things. Oh, they're cool. I'm so curious for when Mia's kids, Mia's two boys currently, yeah, when they're teenagers.

SPEAKER_03

I think I think teenage boys can like they can be the funniest creatures.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, being an aunt to teenage boys, jackpot.

SPEAKER_03

Also, some of this, like, sometimes teenage boys are so adorable. They're so sweet. Uh, this was just it was so funny, it was so wholesome.

SPEAKER_01

I was just like the exact opposite of what do you want?

SPEAKER_03

It was it was exactly what they should not have done. And like we got there, and I was like, thank god I felt uncomfortable. Thank God I went room to room and checked because oh my god, you idiots.

SPEAKER_01

Kids are cute, they do little artist things. Yeah. I think we could come up with a lot more stories, even especially if we asked Naomi, who we both lived with, yeah, while we were teaching. Um, for now though.

SPEAKER_03

I I even still have some on my list, so we can definitely make a part two of people like this episode.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. If we get enough listens, you know.

SPEAKER_03

If now. Like and subscribe.

SPEAKER_01

Like and subscribe. Um, thank you guys for listening. Yeah, 20 episodes fun 20 episodes.

SPEAKER_02

To 20 more. To 20 more. And then 20 more.

unknown

And then 20 more.

SPEAKER_01

In 20 episodes, it will be almost a year.

SPEAKER_02

Whoa.

SPEAKER_01

It's exciting.

SPEAKER_03

Crazy.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Sign off. Should we let people get back to their boring lives?

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Have a nice day, and don't be a dick.

SPEAKER_03

Don't be a dick. Bye.