Tuesday 31st January 2006

My course is finally over !!

It was exhausting, and very very hard, and I won’t find out until Friday if I passed of not, but thank god its over!!!

The teaching part was ok, I learned all about phrasal verbs, functional language, the weak schwa, and many many more fascinating parts of the English language too exciting to talk about!
It was basically all ok in the end, although I did have a really bizarre lesson which, of course I am about to describe to you in full detail!

I was teaching phrasal verbs, and a Korean student called JJ called me over to ask me a question.  (I should point out that these lessons are assessed as part of my final grade on the course!).
Anyway, he tells me he heard a song at the weekend, and he didn’t understand the meaning of the lyrics.
Now, I realise warning bells should have already gone off at this point, and if it had been any of the other students, I would have been more wary, because some of them are pretty damn cheeky occasionally, but not JJ.
He is literally the most innocent, sweet guy you’ve ever met in your life, he literally blushes when he has to answer a question in class, its adorable!

So, stupidly, I ask him, “What were the lyrics?” and he says “They said “I want to eat you out all day all night…””

And then he just looks at me expectantly to tell him what it means!!!!!!
I was soo flustered, and in the middle of my lesson, being assessed (although no one else heard him say this), so i deliberately chose to miss-hear him. I told him that “eat you up” means you really like someone, and then got on with my class!

The rest of the lesson didnt go so well, as i was totally thrown off, and i couldn’t enjoy the irony of the situation either (“eat you out” is actually a multiword verb, and would have made an excellent example if it hadn’t been completely rude and inappropriate!)

By the end of the lesson, I realised I would have to talk to JJ again, as I had given him the impression that it’s something you might say if you like someone, and I didn’t think he’d do so well going around telling people that!
So I pulled him aside and explained that it was actually very rude, and sexual, and that it was very important that he NEVER say it to anyone, even if he did like them!

So, there we are, another typical day in the life of Maya, the teacher.
Will the wonders never cease?

I am now on vacation again for a few weeks, and I’m waiting to hear about a job in the Middle East, so I still don’t really know what my plans are, but I’ll let you all know when I do!!

take care, hope you’re all well and appreciating the irony of phrasal verbs gone wrong!
lots of love

don’t-be-too-jealous-it’s-been-raining-for-three-weeks-and-my-tan-is-fading-Maya
xxxxx