Using My Friends as Lesson Plans

So, Nick, Devon, Celeste and Scott, Ariel and Charlie, James, Flavia, Shey, Austin, Massene, Carine and Jeremy, you have all become a part of my lesson plans, and with great success!

I have pictures of you in either pairs or threesomes, and for a lesson on Romance and Relationships, I gave pairs of students a picture, and asked them to make up a story about the people in the picture. They gave you each new names, new jobs, and new relationships to each other. Then I told them your real names, personalities, and relationships, and we were all laughing. So, for your entertainment (and everyone else's), here are your parallel universe lives:

1. A few of the pictures inspired overly-realistic stories. The picture of Shey and Austin at a bar on Mardi Gras, for example. My student wasn't too creative on this one, he simply described the situation- two friends at a bar. She looks like she's been drinking, and she is trying to tell her friend a story, but he is really confused. Sounds about right to me! Shey's stories usually are confusing!

2. A picture of James and Flavia (also at Mardi Gras) yielded two stories. One was that they were really good friends who were secretly attracted to each other but didn't want to risk or ruin the friendship by trying a relationship. So they wait a really long time and are eventually together and are in love and have lots of babies. The other story is a slight variation. This one says that the guy is bold and the girl is shy. He is very interested in her, and she is interested too, but she doesn't know it yet. Of course, they will both figure it out, and will one day be married and have a great love story. But for now they are just friends. Maybe my students know something I don't?

3. Next we have Scott and Celeste, who, according to my students, met at their college's Wet T-Shirt Contest, and have been very happily dating ever since. The picture is from their first date, and they were so happy together!

4. The picture of Devon and Nick at the World Cup down at Pio Place is funny. She is looking right at the camera smiling, and he is looking off into the distance. The story here is that He is a pizza delivery boy, and she is a nurse named Monica Lewinsky. One day, he has an accident on his motorbike, and goes to the hospital, where he must spend much time recovering. Monica nurses him back to health, and one night, he gets up to use the bathroom, and, totally naked, falls in the bathroom. Nurse Monica comes running to his rescue, where he declares his love for her and asks her to marry him. According to Benoit, my student, “they make the love there”. I asked, “in the bathroom?”, and he responded, “yes, and all over the place”. They are together for their whole lives and have three children and are very happy together.

5. The picture of Carine, Massene, and Jeremy created an interesting scenario. My students decided that Massene (named James), and Jeremy (Billy) were a couple who wanted to have a baby and asked Carine (Katherine) to carry it for them. Billy was to be the father because James was unable to have children- I'm telling you Massene, sterility has many causes...!

6. And finally, a picture of Ariel and Charlie gave us two stories. One, sickeningly obvious- “they are a loving couple, and very respectful. She is shy, and so is he but less so. Perhaps they will be married”. And the other, more imaginative: She is a masseuse named Hilary who works at a beauty institute and he is a stressed out IT guy named Steve. He goes to get a massage at the institute every Saturday at 4pm. Why? Because he knows that's when Hillary will be working. It takes him six months of weekly massages to get up the courage to ask her out. This is a picture from their first date, and they are both very happy and will fall in love.

So, my dear friends, thank you for letting me use you as characters in your very own romance novels!