Dear Diary:

I was attending Hunter College in 1973 pursuing a teaching certificate so that I could teach French. Once I completed my coursework, I was assigned to be a student teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem.

As part of the student-teaching experience, I observed other French teachers in the school. The goal was to be exposed to diverse teaching styles and French instruction at different levels.

One morning, I was observing a French 3 class. As the teacher instructed the class, he spoke entirely in French at a relatively brisk conversational pace. Most of the students seemed engaged in the lesson.

At one point, however, the teacher noticed a girl who did not seem to be following along. He stopped the class.

“Are you having trouble staying with me?” he asked.

Without missing a beat, she looked up and said: “Look man, you’re express and I’m only local.”