They make me happy

One of my students surprised me yesterday, several times. His English isn't that great. Like most of my students his grammar is pretty awful, and he has trouble putting a sentence together. However, he knows a few juicy phrases. I don't know where he gets them from, but he has learned them by heart and takes every opportunity to use them. It takes me aback every time, because the phrases are so perfect, and yet so ... wrong.

He told me that he was taking French as well as English, and I asked him how he was getting on with the pronunciation. He looked pleased, and replied,

"I'm afraid that it's totally beyond my powers of comprehension."

The whole class gasped with admiration.

He came out with several of these during the class, but I forgot to take notes. I'm starting to be wary when he gets that pleased look. It always means he's about to say something staggeringly literate. Nobody will understand him except me, and I won't know how to respond.

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Another student wrote about taking driving lessons over the summer. She wrote,

My counselor, Mr Hashimoto, was very interesting person and I could enjoy driving. First, I put my foot down hard. Mr Hashimoto's face was blue and he said, "You are tremendously scary person." But finally, I could get driver's license and I drive very well now.