Synonyms and Antonyms

18 February 2015

            I first taught these two terms to my students after teaching about homonyms, homographs, and homophones last semester. “Nym” means name. “Syn” means same. So synonyms are words that mean the same things. “Ant” is for opposites or words that are against each other. While small and tiny are synonyms. Short and tall are antonyms.

         This week, Unit 7’s vocabulary had diversity in the list. In all three of my classes, a student raised his or her hand to give the definition of “different” for diversity. We then talked about differences that we could see in our classroom that makes it diverse (color, language, age, nationality, etc.).  When I asked them if bad was a synonym or antonym for different many just froze.

What do you think? Do your actions reflect that?

        

       Even though I’ve almost lived in Selekleka for 5 months (on the 20^th), I still am reminded that I am different. Today a kid laughed as she placed her small hand in mine at the TPLF celebrations, and said I am sooo white. Teacher friends laugh at me when I pronounce something accidentally in Amharic or with a very foreign stress.  After twirling kids, one of the kids mentioned that I am the only forengi (foreigner) that will do this. I’m different. But that’s not bad.

            I have people call out to me everywhere I go. No matter the time of day, kids flock towards me. People know where I am and who I’m with, so I’m always safe and easy to track down if one needs me and the phone network is not working. Different is okay.

            So, what about hard? Is that synonymous or antonymous with bad or different?

            Over break 4 more people from my Peace Corp group went back to the States on their own choice (early terminating (ET) their PC service). I’ve heard and had many frustrating conversations about school administration, land families, liaisons, sites, curriculum, etc. The water is still out. Phone network doesn’t work. When we do check Facebook, we often realize we are missing lots of events that are happening to people we truly care about. Only a handful of people really understand what we are going through. This isn’t to complain or vent, just to show you that this life is hard. Our jobs are hard. Our lives outside of the classroom are sometimes harder than teaching 70 students.

            But, in my opinion, it’s not bad.

            It’s not bad to have morals reexamined by administration. It’s not bad to fumble in language. It’s not bad to miss friends. It’s not bad to be disconnected. It is how the individual deals with the hard that determines the good or bad of it all. Not buying bottled water or saving it ahead of time, giving up on the language, creating more barriers--that is bad. Rising above, talking about moral compasses, planning new action plan--that is good.

 My mom always asked us when we came complaining and upset about what someone had said to us:  “Why are you giving him/her the power to upset you? You decide what his/her actions do to you--not him/her.”  The same is true about the hard things that rise in our lives. The event happened, that cannot be changed. What we do have the power over, is how we are going to react. That reaction can either be good or bad. For, as my students will tell you without pausing, those are antonyms.

      I know many people put the happy in the blogs. It’s easier to write about that. Sometimes we just have to focus on the happy to forget about the hard. But please remember that behind every PC blog (mine and others) are hard times that can turn bad. Living lives that are different, can be extremely hard. Peace Corps’ motto: the “hardest job you’ll ever love” is emphasized in all the differences.