ARE YOU A "PELOTA"?

In most of my classes there is always one student that does all the homework, studies everything very carefully and works very hard to improve their English. Of course, this means that when the other students notice this, they always say to the good student: “You are a pelota!!!”

In most cases, the students don't know how to say “pelota” in English. So the next thing that I hear is: “Teacher, how do you say “pelota” in English?” The most logical translation of “pelota” is “ball” but in this case that does not work. “Ball” is only used if you are talking about a “pelota” that you use in the park to play football.

The correct translation of “pelota” in the classroom is: “teacher's pet” (notice the saxon genitive = the pet that belongs to the teacher!).

Anyway I hope that helps! Are you the teacher's pet?