Can’t Everyone Walk Through Walls?
Yesterday my new students this semester were working on a student information sheet that asked them questions so I could get to know them better. One of the questions was: If you could have two superpowers, what would they be and why? The students were excited to write down their answers and were having great discussions about the value of different superpowers.
One of my new students, whose English speaking skills weren’t exactly great, asked me to explain what the question meant. I said, “You need to think of two superpowers…or special powers or cool things you wish you could do.” He nodded.
I said, “What about flying?” He paused for a moment, then shook his head no.
“What about walking through walls?” He thought about it, then shook his head no.
So, I tried another, “What if you could close your eyes and wake up anywhere in the world that you wanted?” He looked very confused. He looked at all the other kids writing their superpowers and seemed to get very frustrated. He shook his head no.
It then dawned on me that he thought that I was asking him what superpowers he actually had. He must have felt very strange looking at everyone else making their list of superpowers…wondering why he didn’t have any. Wondering if Americans are crazy mutants.
I said, “No…What superpowers do you wish you could have? If you could what superpowers would you want?” He let out a sigh of relief, smiled and nodded excitedly. He then proceeded to put down flying and reading minds as his superpowers.
What an interesting and hilarious incident.