Sad Educational Truth Proven Yet Again
Jun. 28th, 2004 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanI'm chilling in the hallway, trying to grade masses of speaking tests, when I hear my name being called softly and insistently from one of the classroom windows.
I turn around at length to be confronted by the heads and torsos of two third year boys.
"Do you like sex?" they ask me in perfect English.
The phrase 'Do you like ____________?' is something which the combined efforts of about six English teachers across the span of 3+ years have been unable to teach these kids.
But add the presence of the right motivational factor - apparently their desire to ask me if I like sex while I'm busy grading speaking tests - and they've got the phrase down cold.
"I like spaghetti," I tell them.
"Sex?"
"No, I like spaghettie. Spa. ghet. ti."
This sends them scampering off to their English-Japanese dictionaries (also another new horizon for these students), in the hopes that whatever dirty thing 'spaghetti' might be, it will be, through lack of editorial foresight, listed therein.
Of course, not being the most sterling of students, they aren't able to correctly spell - and thus find - the word, which ironically leads them to believe it must be dirty.
So far they have tried to search: spaghetti, asparagus, spinster, and spackle.
And the educational system triumphs again. Or not, depending on one's outlook.
That will be all.
I turn around at length to be confronted by the heads and torsos of two third year boys.
"Do you like sex?" they ask me in perfect English.
The phrase 'Do you like ____________?' is something which the combined efforts of about six English teachers across the span of 3+ years have been unable to teach these kids.
But add the presence of the right motivational factor - apparently their desire to ask me if I like sex while I'm busy grading speaking tests - and they've got the phrase down cold.
"I like spaghetti," I tell them.
"Sex?"
"No, I like spaghettie. Spa. ghet. ti."
This sends them scampering off to their English-Japanese dictionaries (also another new horizon for these students), in the hopes that whatever dirty thing 'spaghetti' might be, it will be, through lack of editorial foresight, listed therein.
Of course, not being the most sterling of students, they aren't able to correctly spell - and thus find - the word, which ironically leads them to believe it must be dirty.
So far they have tried to search: spaghetti, asparagus, spinster, and spackle.
And the educational system triumphs again. Or not, depending on one's outlook.
That will be all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
would you like have some spackle? or is asparagus more your thing?
on 2004-06-28 07:04 am (UTC)Re: would you like have some spackle? or is asparagus more your thing?
on 2004-07-01 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
on 2004-07-03 07:49 am (UTC)no subject
on 2004-07-04 02:26 am (UTC)no subject
on 2004-07-06 04:10 am (UTC)Forgive me. I saw that you like Kevin McMahon/Prick and I figured that you might be interested in hearing his latest work. I have nothing to gain by this, so yeah. If I knew you were 13 I wouldn't have left a message.
no subject
on 2004-07-06 05:11 am (UTC)Re: Wow, you're soooooo cool.
on 2004-07-06 07:01 am (UTC)As you demonstrate so aptly. Go away, little anonymouse.