Platero

Oh how we love to banter with our teacher Enrique. I didn't expect quite so much verbal sparring, if any at all, but actually it is what makes the classes so much fun.

Gail hasn't been to class for the last two days. I hope she is ok; equally, (and I feel bad for saying this) the classes have been better for myself and the two teenage boys, Jaden and Logan, because the level of the class is too advanced for her, and she slows it down a little.

We have spent some time each of the last three days working through a dictation of a text, called "Platero". Name of the game: write out the text as Enrique dictates it, work through any unknown vocab, all the while gathering clues from the text as to what Platero is.

Clues we had thus far:
- Platero is soft and furry
- Platero is on a lead, and trots
- Platero eats when you feed him and likes mandarins and figs

Clues we got today
- Platero is soft yet strong

As today was the final day we were constantly guessing what Platero could be.

We had thrown out many an animal; rabbit, hamster, dog, cat...
Today we threw out cow. Enrique scoffed. "You can't put a cow on a lead. And you can't ride a cow."

You can't ride a cow? "I disagree, Enrique", I said. He scoffed again.
"I am sure that you can ride a cow. And I'm sure that somewhere on the internet, there is a picture of someone riding a cow." I retorted.
The challenge was fully accepted by the boys. And not only did they find pictures of cows with people on their backs, Jaden also found this absolute gold:

Could not have asked for more. We all laughed so hard!

As it turns out, Platero is actually a donkey. Looking around the classroom I spotted two wooden donkeys on the windowsill. In fact, I had been looking at them all week, and then suddenly the penny dropped.

But oh how we laughed at that cow!