A word I can't remember

I like to tell pretty much anyone who will listen how hard it is to teach in a language you don't quite speak. And people are sympathetic and then I feel a little better. I'm almost never looking for help or advice when I bitch about my problems, but lots of people don't realize that. And soooo many people here have offered the advice that if something gets complicated I should just switch to speaking in English.

In what world would that be OK? You can't just change the language on people, even if the people in question are the little fuckers also known as my students, especially during the complicated parts. I may be incompetent, but I'm not negligent. Switching to English would be negligent. And it would take the Spanish practice out of the job, which is the only reason I even took the job.

Anyway, speaking of my students, on Thursdays I teach seminars. Three different ones, with 20ish students in each, and they present homework problems on the board. (Nothing about the structure of this course was my idea.) The first one is always a disaster (those students are particularly unruly and I'm tired and something usually goes wrong that I'm not prepared for, etc.) and the second and third ones are usually relatively much better. Well today the stars aligned or something and the second seminar was actually kind of enjoyable; I think it actually went well. The students were quiet and they paid attention and someone made a little joke about colas gordas while solving a problem and it was funny without leading to chaos. They were actually even volunteering to present stuff. I mean, basically they just acted about how college students in the US act all the time without having to be yelled at, but still it felt like Christmas or something. Bon Nadal, you little fuckers.