Don't go there?

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 10:23 pm

Be honest with me now, guys, what kind of answers would you offer to the

exercise? (No irony or sass allowed, because the context in which we are now attempting the exercise is a serious one! Contexts within or on top of contexts!)? Can you come up with much that you don't feel slightly embarrased to show (despite or because of your native level of English? That's a point, that I've made before but will here repeat clearly: doing stupid exercises is made a lot easier when you lack the English to tackle them "seriously")?

Don't you ultimately feel like putting your pen down and saying, 'It's only a lightbulb, for *****'s sake, not a nuclear missile launch button!'.

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 11:16 pm

LarryLatham wrote: I was surprised at how many young people told me very personal elements of their lives.

Larry Latham

Just yesterday I had a new student on the phone - for English by phone -classes who, within the first five minutes, told me how he didn't get on with his Dad since his parents were divorced. His Dad had been in the army all his life and dragged the kids all over the globe. He had been extremely strict and mostly cold to the kids and wife. Suddenly, on his retirement he had become an "artist" - a very bad one, according to my student - and gone to live in a Bohemian community - much to the surprise and angst of all. The Dad egotistically abandoned the family once more.

Now my student needing no prompting from me to be able to relate the above story, he just let it out. He was ironic and humourous about the whole thing and I thanked him for sharing the tale.

My student is Spanish.

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Sat Jan 15, 2005 11:57 pm

If a student had an interesting story like that to tell, and had the language to tell it, I'm sure anyone would be "happy" to hear it (in a 1-2-1 setting, at least). Obviously, letting people talk if they want to is a very different matter from getting them to talk (about whatever) when they might not want to or not have any idea how to start, or, more importantly, not have any idea that they don't need to start talking about "whatever" at all.

Edit: Discussion continued/concluded here:
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... 5510#15510