On Sunday at Victor’s English center I was supposed to guide a discussion during the watching of the movie “Twilight.” We planned to watch in English and use English subtitles. My plan was to stop the movie every so often and ask questions about the plot or ask for predictions about what might happen next. Sadly, the power was out and a handful of Nicaraguan youth will have to wait another seven days before meeting Edward and Bella and the love story that is "Crepuscula" (Twilight).

When I arrived at the center on Sunday the students were studying a reading about getting along with your neighbors. They were learning about friendly versus extreme ways to respond, facing problems instead of avoiding problems, getting to know your neighbors, and vocabulary words such as “deliberately” and “annoy me.” After some pronunciation practice and controlled Q & A, Victor and I introduced a role-play activity:  In groups of three, you have five minutes to create a role play showing how you would handle one of the following scenarios:

1) Your neighbor’s dog barks all night long.
2) Your neighbor has loud parties every night.
3) Your neighbor steals clothes from your patio.

Eglis, Fatima, and Gloria selected scenario one. Fatima played the role of the dog owner, Gloria played the friendly neighbor, and Eglis was the extreme neighbor. And ACTION:

(There is a knock on Fatima’s door. She opens to find her neighbor, Gloria.)

Gloria: Good Morning Fatima. How are you?
Fatima: I am fine, and you?
Gloria: I am so tired. Your dog not let me sleep.
Fatima: Oh no.
Gloria: Every night he is barking so much. He never let me sleep.
Fatima: Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I work at night.
Gloria: Yes, but I am so tired.
Fatima: Okay, I will do something.
Gloria: Thank you for hearing me. Thank you for receiving me.
Fatima: Yes, no problem. I am sorry. Bye.
(Fatima walks Gloria to the door. Eglis enters in a huff.)
Eglis: I HATE YOUR DOG! I can’t sleep. I HATE YOUR DOG! He is barking always.
Fatima: Take it easy. Sit down.
Eglis (still shouting): What are you going to do?
(Fatima speechless)
Eglis: I HATE YOUR DOG. I KILL YOUR DOG.
(Eglis storms out.)

And CUT! This conversation took place in English and ever since, whenever anything goes even remotely wrong in any aspect of my day, I must suppress the urge to shout, “I HATE YOUR DOG. I KILL YOUR DOG!"