Oops

Anyone learning an foreign language is fated to make many, many mistakes. Some are funnier or more unfortunate than others.

These were some of the better ones from my precious 7-8 year olds last year:

* “I love you bananas!!” Exclaimed a boy trying to join in the warm-up class discussion about fruit. He knew the stock phrase, “I love you,” but he didn’t know which parts are adaptable and which aren't.

* “That’s sh**! That’s sh**!” Shouted one little boy in the height of frustration while playing a ‘communicative’ game. His mistake: he couldn't pronounce the ‘ch’ sound, and he also didn’t know the present continuous: “That’s cheating!”

* “Miss, show me your tits,” One little girl sweetly said as she looked at a picture of Jared and me. Slightly shocked, I asked her to repeat, and she said the exact same thing. My best guess is that she was looking at my teeth in the photo, and asking to see them in person. She didn’t know the irregular pluralization of ‘tooth,’ and she didn’t get close enough on the pronunciation either!

Such mistakes make me smile (I try not to laugh at the time), and they do make for good stories. However, my students also have their own stories to tell their parents:

* Today my language teacher pointed out that I've been shouting 'slap him' to my Summer School class of 4-5 year olds, when I thought I was staying "Stop!"