Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Interesting Things My Students Have Said This Week

Yes, I do have a few of these guys.
          But they're even worse in foreign language classes because they don't know how to say what they want to say. So they wait a full minute and a half trying to think of the right word for the middle of a sentence, and then, after all that time, finally settle on saying it was "good."

Here are a few of the highlights of the verbal commentary in my English classes:
  • After perhaps over-explaining the assignment to some blank-eyed ten year old boys, one of them stops me with "It eez cool, Madame. we got zis." I think they heard it on TV.
  • "How do you say fuck, but polite?" I told them this was impossible.
  • First, the girl asked me how to say "how do you say." And then once she knew, she started over in English: "How do you say 'douche'?" It took me a second of stunned silence to remember that in French, douche is "shower."
  • "Fillmore, Taft, Grant, Garfield, Coolidge, Washington." This was their answer after I asked them to list six American presidents. Seriously? Seriously? Fillmore?! Are you kidding? Did you, as American citizens, even know that Garfield was anything more than a fat cat cartoon? The facts are in: French kids know more about American history than we do, and we are pathetic. 
  • "What is the difference between 'shut up,' 'shut the fuck up,' and 'be quiet?'" 
          Me: "Shut up is like tais-toi, be quiet is like soyez silent, and the other
          one... is the bad one."
          Neighboring kid, in French: "I told you that's what it was."
          Original kid, in English: "Shut the fuck up, Antoine."

6 comments:

  1. Wow, they are sassy! My student asked me what "dhiiierty dancing" meant. I thought that was bad!

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  2. These are the kids of things I would get teaching middle schoolers in inner city D.C., not what you'd expect from little French ten year olds! Holy cow. I have to say though, it kind of reminds me of myself in French class which is pathetic! My classmates and I are always asking, "how do you say blah blah blah...?"

    p.s. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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  3. Melissa! I did not realize you had a blog! Awesome.

    The stfu thing is hilarious.

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  4. I have had the "how do you say f*ck?" question too! haha.

    I say "bollocks" a lot and I had to explain to one class (who, of course, asked me what it meant) that it was kind of a bad word but not a REALLY bad word. Guess what they're all saying now? I'm just waiting for the parent complaint letters to start rolling in .....

    I literally laughed out loud at the STFU comment. Teaching kids is an adventure that sometimes has it's humorous moments non?

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  5. LOLOL at that kid telling him to STFU. That's priceless.

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  6. Melissa,
    I am so glad that I found your blog.
    Il y a trois ans, j'étais prof de français au Texas (pendant cinq ans). Il y a dix ans j'ai étudié le français à Lyon pendant sept semaines avec l'Université de Texas. Ma rêve étais d'enseigner l'anglais en France comme vous...
    Maintenant, je reste chez-moi avec notre fille. Je suis très heureuse d'etre "Stay at Home Mom." Votre blog m'intéresse beaucoup.
    Vos élèves parlent bien l'anglais- trop bien!

    Mandy
    www.a-la-parisienne.blogspot.com

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