As a so-called native speaker, I have a big advantage over my students...or so I think ;-) I can think very quickly & have a wit (humour) to go with it. I love playing with words, making fun with (not of, I hope! :-)) the students, and generally making people laugh. Yes, a teacher is some form of entertainer, I believe.
But sometimes, I am really surprised by the lightning wit of some of my students...When people begin to play with the language humorously & are even a little satirical, it's great! It shows a real feel for the language.
Here are 2 recent incidents:
One girl was talking about the Czech Education system, as reflected by SGO...she said, "Our school is prestigious, but I don't believe it. How can I when in one of our classrooms, we are trying to look at a film on the screen, and we have no blinds on our 'prestigious' windows, and we have to cover them with cardboard!?" (This comment inspired me to begin to create a song "We are Prestigious" - to the theme of "We are the Champions" ("no time for Hejcin, 'cos we are prestigious..." :-)) A very sarcastic touch. However, I did remind the student that I'm sure that SGO provides only prestigious cardboard!!
In another lesson, we were discussing the theme of culture. One girl said she'd been to France & had seen an exhibition about the 2nd World War. I asked her what they'd had on display, as the French did not have a reputation of being brave fighters during the war...one girl quickly jumped in with "Perhaps they were displaying their collection of white flags?" To which I laughed & gave a high five...I wish I'd said that!! :-)
Laughter is good...and necessary :-)
