Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Things My Students Cannot Do

Come across a new word without immediately needing to translate it into Russian, no matter how long or counter productive the effort; pronounce the word opposite; stay on one topic for more than five minutes at a stretch; do an activity without lapsing into Russian; use articles correctly - or prepositions; find vocabulary in a text and work with a partner at the same time; remember the difference between choice and variant, economic and economical ("Buying supermarkets' own brands is economical," I explained to an adult business class. "Yes and very bad for your health," one replied.); turn their mobile phones off; hear the word test without grinding their teeth and running for the door.

UPDATE: A reply from a mate in the Czech Republic. Things his students cannot do:

1. Homework
2. Speak English.
3. Walk and chew gum at the same time.

3 comments:

MaryKwizMiz said...

prepositions and mobile phones - I've given up..

Garry Nixon said...

Have you thought of China? They're sweetheart students.

Michael said...

The Japanese too.