"Pop quiz, what is the capital of Spain?" Nik asked the assembled class.
"Tequila," one student called out.
"No, dummy, that is Mexico. Corona is the capital of Spain," a second student interjected.
"It is Madrid, and we're talking cities, not booze," Nik corrected. "How about Japan?"
"Sake!" the first student shouted out.
The class started to laugh at the bad joke.
"And if I said Quebec you'd say wine?" Nik asked the student.
"Nah, everyone knows it is poutine."
The student high-fived one of his buddies sitting next to him.
"At least we know our foods of the world. If I gave you a test on that tomorrow, think you'd get to pass it?"
"One hundred percent. Get me some gumbo down in Louisiana, beef from Texas, and that delicious salmon from British Columbia," student one beamed, rubbing his belly. "I love me my food."
"You love eating food, Trey, that stomach won't stop munching down long enough to breathe," a third student interjected.
"Here is an easy question, Trey, where do you think tacos come from?"
"Singapore!" a different student shouted out.
"It is obviously Mexico, Mr. Knight, duh. Who doesn't like a good taco? Add in some guac and a pop, maybe some burritos, and now we are talking," Trey answered.
"Thanks to Mr. Trey here, he saved all of you another boring geography assignment. There is a huge world out there to explore, a lot more than this city makes you think is out there. I'm going to take a chance, without having looked at your last papers, and make you the same deal. I don't care what theme you choose, as long as it is consistent."
Nik grabbed a set of blank maps from his desk, handing them out as he walked and talked through the rows.
"Put any theme you want and label each blank country on the map with something popular from that theme. I can already guess Mr. Trey is going to choose food. Pick sports, clothing, movies, whatever. The rest of the instructions are on the back of the page. Easy points for you all, am I right?"
He got a few nods from the students, and a couple who just stared off into the void. Nik learned very quickly he did not have motivated, top tier students. No insult, just a simple fact. Having them learn basic geography through rote learning was a fool's errand. They'd get even more bored and he'd lose them in an instant. Here, he put the ball in their court. Nik did not care if Trey only knew world geography because he associated them with food. What mattered is he knew them, not how.
"I'll give you all a few days to get it done, and I should have your papers marked by then. There is a minute left in the class so relax until the bell dismisses you," Nik finished. "Any questions?"
No one put up their hand, instead they all immediately turned around to chat for the final couple minutes. Nik sat down at his desk, looking over the students. He wondered what kind of maps of the world he'd receive on the due date, or even how many he'd get. Half of the class had grades in the dumps, beelining for another spot on the school roster next year.
"Mr. Knight?"
"Yes, Trey, what do you need?"
"You ever have punani before?" he asked, snickering.
"What do you think, Trey?" Nik asked back.
"I don't know, Mr. Knight, it is pretty exotic and expensive. Ever been to the Caribbean?"
"Never had the opportunity, Trey, but I've had different flavors of punani before," he replied, nonchalantly.
"Nigga, I told you he is a freak," one of Trey's friends whispered.
"He doesn't know what it means, he is pretending," another whispered.
"Do you like them sweet or sour?" Trey asked.
"If it is sour then I'd be telling the woman to get her shots," Nik replied, causing Trey's group to laugh. "Takes a lot of cleaning and prep for it to taste divine."
"See, nigga, I told you he is a freak," Trey's friend said.
The bell rang before Trey could ask another follow-up question. The students shuffled out the classroom quickly, noisily, on their way to the next class or to play hooky in the toilet stalls. Nik shook his head at the random conversation Trey brought up. Either he tried to set up the teacher to look foolish, or he legit thought Nik knew what it meant. Either way, one more landmine sidestepped.
His next class sauntered into the room, finding their desks one by one. Some came quicker than others. Suzy walked with the middle of the pack, Sammy at her side, as they found their seats. Nik grabbed a handful of papers from the table, passing them out to the students one by one.
"I marked your last papers, class. Some did well, others need to work on their spelling and grammar. I know with spell checkers and auto-correct on our computers and phones makes it easy for us, but sometimes you'll be needing a basic, boring, pen and paper," he started. "End of the week I'll be assigning another small paper. I'll have a list of historical figures attached to the assignment. You'll get to pick whoever you want from the list."
"Is it going to be another list of dead, white men?" one student called out.
"Shigeru does have white skin but I don't think he'd pass for a white guy," Mr. Knight replied to the student.
"Shige who?" the student asked.
One of the student's friends tapped his shoulder. Taking two fingers, he pulled back the skin near his eyes to slant them.
"I hear you talking about your games. I'm sure you know Super Mario. Now is the time to learn a little about the man who made the series."
