Saturday, November 03, 2007

The Importance of ending Consonants

I love my job.
Not only because I enjoy educating/tormenting the youthoftoday/leadersoftomorrow
--but--
because often I get such good material from the most innocent encounters.
Take thursday, for instance:
As I walked by a group of students and a teacher working in a small group outside, the teacher flagged me down.
"Ms. Day! Can you help me? Bebopaloo Lou is having trouble saying this word. She is saying something different...very different...."
I'm thinking, "Oh for crying out loud..."
But, of course, respond, "Certainly. What seems to be the problem?"
This was a group of students for whom English is a second language. So they work in small groups practicing their speaking skills. One of the activities they do is to use photographs of everyday items and experiences and have conversations using the "new" word.

Here is the photograph they were working with.
...Stay with me....don't jump ahead......
So I'm thinking about the dialogue practice that the student and I could have:

Me: I like honey-roasted peanuts. What kind of peanuts do you like?
Bebopaloo: I would rather have salted peanuts, or perhaps chocolate-covered peanuts.
Me: Have you ever been to a restaurant where they throw the peanut shells on the floor?
Bebopaloo: No, I haven't. But I think it would be fun to step on peanut shells.

...again, please stay with me......I swear I didn't see it coming....

"Okay Bebopaloo Lou. Do you know what these are?"
"Yes, Ms. Day. Penus."

As the teacher turned her head, and I choked back a laugh....the above dialogue took on a whole different......flavor......(go ahead....read the dialogue again....I'll wait)

Yes, yes, I ::ahem:: adjusted her speech and got her pronouncing the "ts" at the end of the word. No, no, she never knew that I was laughing inside....

5 comments:

lime said...

yes, enunciation is critical here.

reminds me of seeing the movie E.T. whe i was a kid. my brother and i nearly split a gut laughign when one kid called another 'penis breath.' my mother tried to convince us the kid was saying 'peanut breath.' uh, yeah mom, right. lol

Mustang said...

Ah..ESL..what a concept!

Penus butter
Reeces Penus Butter Cups
Penus oil
Penus Brittle

Well..anyway..you get the drift!

M

Katie :) said...

APJ, I know your life is surrounded with the Penus as of late, but I can honestly say I didn't think it would follow you to work or school!

airplanejayne said...

lime - really? It's not peanut breath? Wait a minute....next thing I know, you'll be telling me that Old Yeller died....
:)

mustang - brittle penus sucks. I don't like it.

katie - one penus doesn't not surrounded make.
--hey, that kinda sounds like Yoda,huh?
::hmmm...follow to school,me, penus did::

I'll leave you with one more:
Take me out to the ballgame...take me out to the show....but me some penus and crack, err...jack...

Katie :) said...

Penus butter and jelly sammich
Chicken and greenbeans with penus sauce
mixed nuts.....

as appetizing as these all are, there is something that is totally lost when the "ts" is missing. LOL