On the subject of 'New York & Washington', we were informed that 'the Statue
of Library is on the island of Library'...
On the subject of 'The Czech Republic', we were told that “The
Czech Republic consists of Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia…” (surely a old style nationalist at heart?)
The same student then developed the theme...“The Czech Republic is surrounded by 4 countries, in the West is Germany, in the north is Poland, in the east (correct this time!) is Slovakia, and in
the south is Australia…” (yeah, right...a loooong way south!)
The day before Yoda English Day, we heard this classic Yoda-style sentence... “Not
enough strong…”
Back to New York...“In
New York was a touristic attack…” Probably more dangerous that terrorists?!
And further geography mayhem! “San
Francisco is in the centre of the USA…”
It's always good when students give clever & intentionally funny answers! For example: “Why
don’t you like shopping alone?” “Well, when I shop alone, I
have to pay.”
Even Festivals get mixed up: “Americans
celebrate Thanksgiving Day with a pumpkin…”
And staying with the Star Wars theme: “My
dog talks like Chewbacca…”
Some students even create new words!! “My
village is surrounded by foresties…”
In answer to Mrs Cesalova's leading question of 'What do you do when you get the weather forecast wrong and it rains?' (she wanted to hear, 'I take an umbrella') the student replied, “I
let the rain fall on my head…” re weather forecast!
We also learnt that “In
spring, the snow smells...? Smelts?”
One student had a real problem distinguishing the difference between 'beer' and 'bear' (the word he really wanted!) and so we learnt that in Australia there are “Koala
Beers...” (made from freshly squeezed koalas?) and that “In
Canada there are winter bears...” (a simple enough mistake if you can't remember Polar Bear...but hey, are there really Polar Bears in Canada? :-O )
Some students couldn't remember the right word when they needed it...“In
Prague there is a big time (astronomical clock)...”
And the same student had another geography blip: In answer to the question, “What
parks are there in Prague?”, she replied “Hmmm...Hyde Park's in London, isn't
it?”
Yes...choosing the correct word can be a problem: “In the US, football is played with a damaged (oval?) ball...”
Some students are clever enough to be very diplomatic...in a discussion about education & whether students should pay tuition fees for University, the student suggested that it might be a problem as only rich people could afford it. I said: “So, rich people are stupid?”, to which they quickly replied: “No, poor people are clever!”
A new challenger to Yoda English appeared this year...a golden oldie from the past! Cookie
Monster English - “Me sometimes eat...me have sister...”
After a while, I came to the conclusion that some students were 'Grammar-Free
Zones'!
And to end with, one of the most amusing came in an exam with Mrs Cesalova, who (as ever) was fishing for a particular word connected with the topic of Communications & Mass Media...I think she wanted something like 'broadsheets'...the student couldn't pick up on her train of thought, but said “It's made of paper - a Sheet of paper...and I said 'sheet'!” :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment