"Do all Internets have the Britannica?"
"I'll tell you a secret - it's no secret ..."
"That's a topic for a PhD dissertation."
- Explaining the difference between -ra and -sa endings.
"I have to recuperate."
- A student pronounced the "h" in haber.
"Different ones, but all the same - basically."
"Rápido, I'm falling asleep."
- A student took too long to complete a sentence.
"I'm scared - they're coming."
- In reference to the Martians
"If you don't get it, no harm done."
"The imperfect subjunctive is the imperfect subjunctive - page 3."
"I would start crying."
- If she wasn't invited to a party.
"I'm not familiar with that word."
- A student mispronounced a word
"This is acceptable, but I don't allow it."
"If you stun me, if you take away my breath, punto."
"If you stun me, if you put me in a state of awe, punto."
"Not because it's Spanish, but maybe because it is Spanish."
"Some of them are really nasty. I don't like this guy."
- Regarding an activity in class
"You're missing the boat."
- An incorrect response by a student
"Only one person called me last night. I was crying. I was lonely."
"I could be nasty and tell him to S-H-U-T U-P."
"I wouldn't come, unless the food and the music are very good."
- Regarding yet another party
"See in Spanish, the a is like this and the o is like this."
- Of course they look different in English
"Although I don't trust anyone, right?"
"This is a cognate, if you know English."
"I'm tired of counting."
"Do you understand what I'm saying, or am I speaking extraterrestrial?"
"I disapprove of all these announcements, by the way. I think they pollute the air."
- Referring to the morning announcements
"I don't think there's any thinking allowed."
"This is a difficult one - it's not that difficult."
"This you should pick up, no, you shouldn't, it's difficult."
"Muy estupida! You're going to take many years off your life, hence."
- Lecturing a girl on the dangers of sunburns
"These are the last days for your Spanish out of the world."
"I want you, when you go out in the world, for you to speak perfect Spanish and people ask you: Are you Latin?
- Advice to the seniors in her class
"You're going to leave this school. I want you to have some Spanish in your equipment."
"You can have the knight errant bit."
"Callate."
- Talking to a noisy thermostat
"I've put you through the ringer."
"You were here for that word, but you were absent."
- A student was absent the day the vocabulary words were given out
"No, you're not that good."
- A student wanted to come in "cold" for the final exam
"Use the word feroces if I ask you and I like it."
"It's not really that bad - it's not elegant."
- A student tried to swear in class
"Do you understand this is no es tarea?"
"That's nasty."
- Thinking of old women wearing clothes as if they were young girls
"We might not have time for this question, only the second question."
"I don't feel like talking to her."
- A student arrived late to class
"Tell me in English, your native tongue."
"I curse. That's not nice, but it's not bad."
"I am an old lady. I cannot be confused like this."
"You're really thinking ... I think."
"Notice how my head is going."
- As she shakes her head in dismay.
"Be careful here."
- A student had gum
"We are ruled by the spoken language."
"Oh my God."
- Realizing there is still an entire page left after announcing the end of the story
"With my finger, like this, I'm doing it on purpose."
- Shaking her finger with disapproval at the class
"I'm getting angry over there."
"Your abuelo's a person, isn't it?"
"Remember, he's a knight with a k."
- To ensure the students didn't think he was a "night"
"You have to look at me. I like to be looked at."
"I don't know why. I do know why."
"You'll get it. Some of you will never get it."
- Words of encouragement from an understanding teacher
"Who can tell me in your native tongue tell me what the second part is?"
"The Holy Sprit inspired me."
- Pressing her hands together as if in prayer, acting out a scene from a story
"Only desire can make a student learn a language, desire and necessity."
"Those idiots."
- Critisizing the tech. support for her faulty computer as she inserts the floppy disk in upside down
"I got so excited with the donut, I forgot what we were doing."
- Referring to a donut she had tucked away in her desk drawer.
"I cultivate being nasty."
"I get palpitations, a stomach ache, and a heart attack when I hear the h, and there is a violent reaction."
"Your life will be in danger if you don't use these accents."
- Discussing the accents required on interrogative words
"No this is in French, no wait, this is in Spanish."
- Like all of us, Paya sometimes gets confused with the language of the dictionary she is holding
"Laurencito, tell Marquito to bend over."
- A request for the student to use a very appropriate vocabulary word
"These are parts of the test you do with your eyes closed. If you don't know this, it's sad."
"Okay, whatever."
- As Paya proceeds to cut off a student in the middle of reading
"I'm not a friend of the squirrels ... Despite the fact that I despise them, I would not take their lives on the road."
"Be very careful, because if you're wrong, I'll embarass you - I'm very nasty."
- Words of encouragement before the students begin their homework
"Beans are not part of my being."
"It took me two decades to get this implification."
"I don't know why."
- Talking about the scary warning of the geese shepherds
"Bong ... Bong ... Bong ..."
- This seems normal, if it weren't for the fact that she was swinging her arm like a pendulum
"Oh God, this is scary."
- Reading a ghost story from the workbook
"I hope you students understand when I am cursing, it's not bad, but you cannot do it in my presence, but I can do it in yours."
- On the double standard of cursing in the classroom
"I'm going to be observed one day and you're going to be talking during the announcements, and I'm going to get fired."
"You are exactly in the subjunctive, you couldn't be anywhere else ... most likely."
"Percha, it's a hanger, you can live happily ever after without knowing that, kind of."
- Discussing the importance of vocabulary
"It's very polite - it's almost gooey."
- Describing a very polite Spanish construction
"What is the media center?"
- Paya is uncertain where the AP Spanish test will be held this year
"See my finger, es la muerte."
- Shaking her index finger at the class to get them to study vocab.