Sunday, December 23, 2007

It's the silly season

At dinner on Thursday evening after work, in an Indian restaurant next to the university, we talked about work, as usual. I had been testing students again, and was feeling rather discouraged. We all were. It's that end of semester.

I told my colleagues about my plan to have my students writing lines next year. One of them came up with a more creative idea.

"Electrified chairs!" he said. "We would have little buttons on our podium, and whenever we heard one of the offending mistakes we would hit the button. They'd learn REALLY FAST, I reckon. It wouldn't need to be a big zap."

One of the guys started acting out how this might work.

"I went to shopping," he said, woodenly, and leaped out of his seat. "AARRGH!"

A couple of others joined in.

"What do you like music?" one asked. "ERK!"

"How many families do you have? OOOOH!"

A group of students wandered into the restaurant, and stared in amazement as respectable, middle-aged teachers erupted from chairs screaming and clutching their bottoms. After watching for a few seconds they walked out again, and I don't think it was only because there was only one small table free.

I think they were worried that the curry might be too hot for them.

6 comments:

Unbalanced Reaction said...

Great final line! I got a great mental image of all of you jumping up and clutching your bums!

kenju said...

Too funny! and guaranteed to lessen your stress levels!

lina said...

funny!

Keera Ann Fox said...

LOL! Nothing like good mental hygiene.

But now I have a question: What exactly are they trying to ask with, "What do you like music?"

Badaunt said...

Keera: The question they are searching for (and why they can't find it after 12 weeks of me pounding it into their heads I will never know) is:

"What kind of music do you like?"

I think they must learn it wrongly at school. It is incredibly hard to dislodge the wrong question form from their heads, as anybody who teaches English in Japan quickly learns (and is driven nuts by).

OzBurger said...

BadAunt, I'd love to see that re-enacted on YouTube!