Teacher Discussion Forums

Do you have any words that you always forget or always spell them wrong no matter how hard you try?

I always forget the word 'mullet' , that weird haircut of the 80's
and I can never remember simultaneously the two kinds of Italian cheese:
motsarela and....and....and....the other one, which is hard and yellow... oh yes, parmesan cheese.

As for spelling, I have to think a little bit before I write the word 'business'

Weird?

For business, I remember busi-ness.
But I have problems with definitely. I don't know if what I just typed is right. Also garauntee. Is that right?

I frequently spell awkward as akward, because the letters 'wkw' in the word seem awkward to me. There's more, but I can't remember at the momment.

"Mozzarella" is really an Italian spelling. You don't have to know how to spell it to cook with it and eat it!

"Guarantee" is a weird spelling too.

I used to have trouble with "tomorrow" and "embarrassed" trying to remember which one had a double letter where. I remember spelling "embarrassed" wrong on the board once, and then using my error to explain the meaning of the word. It's an ESL teacher's dream mistake . Like getting a cold the day you are teaching, "I'm sick." or falling and getting a black eye when you are teaching "purple." I've done both, but I've been teaching a long time. Heh heh

Lorikeet: or falling and getting a black eye when you are teaching "purple." I've done both, but I've been teaching a long time. Heh heh

My response: ha ha, yeah, I'm not that dedicated!
But similarly, we talked in class about how the spelling of awkward is awkward. I suppose you could have done embarrassing and purple on the same day.

Stuff that I forget all the time even though it's basic grammar, verb forms
drunk
drank
drunken

Most of the useages feel awkward to Americans, and so commonly we use whatever we feel like saying at the momment. That doesn't fly with EFL, so at times I feel silly looking up in to space..."yeah, drunk...that's right- there's no dranken, I know that" duh

It's

drunk
drank
drunk (not drunken)

Yes, exactly! See what I mean. I wasn't implying those were correct answers. Cheers. [edit] in case you were wondering, I've never said 'drunken' in my entire life that I can remember. For the adjective I say drunk, even if it's wrong.

drink, drank, drunk?

I think any teacher, having the opportunuity to teach long enough, will make these kinds of mistakes. I do so frequently, and then I explain to my students that even native speakers sometimes make mistakes. It's human. What my students really have fun with is when I accidentaly slip into Cantonese. I have to be very careful about that, especially with younger students. Frequently, it's a lot easier and faster to just give the proper translation, instead of figuring out how to explain something in a form of English that the student will understand.[/quote]