A queue of 14-year-olds has formed outside my classroom. There is no teacher inside because I have forgotten I’m meant to be teaching Year 10 first period. Late and panicking, I hurry to greet my students but can’t remember their names and don’t recognise their changed faces behind their masks. With no lesson prepared I stand rooted to the front of the class — as the government has instructed all teachers to do — and start singing (badly) the songs from the musical Hamilton. At this point, the principal walks into my classroom and asks what the hell I think I’m doing.
一隊14歲的孩子排在我的教室外面。里面沒老師,因為我忘了我是來給10年級的學生上第一節課的。我遲到了,還慌慌張張的,我急急忙忙和學生們打招呼,但想不起他們的名字,認不出口罩后面誰是誰。沒備課的我紋絲不動地站在教室前方——就像政府指示所有老師要做的那樣——開始(難聽地)唱起音樂劇《漢密爾頓》(Hamilton)中的歌曲。就在這時,校長走進了教室,問我到底在干什么。