They Just Don't Understand

When I started teaching at Herder I learned that English instruction is done almost entirely in English, for all grade levels. “There’s no need to speak any German in the classroom,” teachers I worked with told me. Other American teachers even told me that they had been instructed to pretend as though they couldn’t speak German.

This is all very good, especially with the upper grades, but a problem I’m discovering with my sixth and seventh graders is that frequently they have no idea what I am talking about, even though their regular teachers speak to them only in English. What’s the deal? What I’ve discovered is, that there is a special English-teaching vocabulary that teachers use, so they only use the same basic phrases over and over again. This vocabulary includes a lot of British-isms, and as a result, a lot of words and phrases that I don’t naturally say. “Just talk how you normally talk,” teachers tell me, but when I do that, the kids are all really confused and it's difficult to feel like I'm teaching very effectively.

So, I’ve started to pay close attention to how teachers say things, and then to amend my speech slightly, so the kids know what I’m talking about. It’s strange, it’s like learning a kind of sub-language.

Here are some examples:

Naturally, I would say “The guy in the story doesn’t have a head.”
Ideally, I should say: “Sir Henry hasn’t got a head”
(It doesn’t seem like using “doesn’t have” as opposed to “hasn’t got,” should cause that much confusion, but it really flummoxes them. And, well, I should know better than to use the word, “guy.”)

Me: “Everybody get out your notebooks.”
Ideal: “Take out your exercise books, everyone.”
(“What’s a “notebook”? Where do we “get” it?”)

Me: “Everyone read page 45.”
Ideal: “Let’s have a look at page 45.”
(“Let’s have a look at…” is probably the most valuable teaching phrase I’ve learned. Ideally, all sentences use some variation of this. “Who can tell me…” and “Who can read out…” are other good ones. Never: “Please read out loud.” Never: “Who knows the answer to…”)


In other news: it’s fall here! If only the trees could always match the school.