On Thursday, before leaving work, I wrote in bold, capital letters on the top of my white-board, "I will not explainyou that. -Love, Leanne."
You might think I have made a typo. Maybe you're thinking the lack of space between explain and you is a key-stroke error. Or perhaps you think I forgot the little "to" and scrambled my words. Instead what I really wrote on my board was, "I will not explain that to you." Both are wrong suppositions.
I wrote in bold, capital letters on the top of my white-board, "I will not explainyou that. -Love, Leanne."
The reason: Lovingly mocking my kiddos repetitive English mistake (hence the "Love, Leanne".) Every day I'm bombarded with ,"Will you explainme how such-and-such works?" "Will you explainme why I got that wrong?" "Will you explainme why I'm failing English?" ....my new response - I just point to the top of my board. Friday, some looked at me confused, then the light bulb clicks, "Ohhhhhh, will you explain TO me ..." There we go buddy. I'd love nothing more than to help out. Their blunder makes sense though. In Spanish you just stick the indirect pronoun onto the verb. "ExplicaME" (explain to me) is how they ask to have something explained. But it doesn't work like that in English and it's painful that they are too lazy to create a grammatically correct sentence. So now, I'm enforcing it. I will not explainyou anything.
There are several more examples of lazy translating errors that my kids make. Instead of functioning in English, most of them are still at a stage where they think the sentence in Spanish and then translate it as they go. This works for some instances, but for the exceptions, they don't bother speaking correctly and it drives me bonkers. Maybe you think that's unreasonable, "Come on Leanne, English is their second language." I'll give you that, but they've been in a bi-lingual school learning and having half of their classes taught in English since 2nd grade. They are now 9th, 10th, and 12th graders and should have a strong grasp of the language. And it's not that they don't, it's that the majority are just too lazy to correct common mistakes. They are content with being understood as opposed to mastery of the language. My first year, I was content with that too and maybe even impressed, but now I'm not. I hold them to much higher standards of English. I correct them. I poke fun at them. I point to the board.
After explainme, the top 3 contenders that evoke a cringe and then a reaction:
1: Starting sentences with "It's that..." : A kid walks in late and I look at him. He exclaims, "It's that I had to go to the bathroom." A girl comes up to my desk 5 minutes before the bell rings, "It's that I have to go to lunch early today." A boy stands up and walks toward the door, I ask him what he's doing, "It's that I have to sharpen my pencil." It's not that these sentences are terribly wrong, but you wouldn't catch a native English speaker saying that. I explain that to them over and over again. It doesn't sink in. Why? Because that's okay in Spanish and quite common. "Es que" + rest of the sentence = okay. Since I've started calling my students out and not letting them start with "It's that" I've noticed how much in Spanish I hear that phrase. So much so, that I've actually picked up the habit when I'm speaking Spanish. At the supermarket I'm looking for weights, I walk up to an employee, "ES QUE estoy buscando pesos." My Spanish is a touch more Colombian! But, it's that I need to explainyou two more errors.
2. Presenting a test: 9 times out of 10 when a student is absent on a test day, they will come up to me the next day, "It's that I was absent for the test. When can I present it?" Two strikes against you kiddo. But now we're focusing on the verb "present". In Spanish you "presentar" a test. In English you don't. It's that, you TAKE a test. I will not explainyou and you cannot present the test.
3. Losing and winning tests: Kiddo turns in his test, "I think I'm going to lose the test." Oh really? You just handed it to me, you can't lose it when it's in my hands. I think you mean you're going to fail the test. If it were English, that might be so. In Spanish you lose and win tests. In English you pass or fail. The kids know this, but don't take the time to change it. Let me explainyou something, it's that as long as you talk like that you'll lose every test you present.
So there you have the top 4 errors I hear and correct over 50 times a week. I'm not exaggerating. You know, these are small details and I'm not giving my kids credit for how much they do know, BUT these matter. These little things are the distinguishing factors between fluency and mere communicative language skills. I'd be doing a disservice to them if I didn't call them out.
Now I'm in full out war against these top 4. Once they've been mastered, I'll move on to the next 4.
Let me explainyou, it's that if we work in baby steps they may not even realize that their habits change! Goal.
You might think I have made a typo. Maybe you're thinking the lack of space between explain and you is a key-stroke error. Or perhaps you think I forgot the little "to" and scrambled my words. Instead what I really wrote on my board was, "I will not explain that to you." Both are wrong suppositions.
I wrote in bold, capital letters on the top of my white-board, "I will not explainyou that. -Love, Leanne."
The reason: Lovingly mocking my kiddos repetitive English mistake (hence the "Love, Leanne".) Every day I'm bombarded with ,"Will you explainme how such-and-such works?" "Will you explainme why I got that wrong?" "Will you explainme why I'm failing English?" ....my new response - I just point to the top of my board. Friday, some looked at me confused, then the light bulb clicks, "Ohhhhhh, will you explain TO me ..." There we go buddy. I'd love nothing more than to help out. Their blunder makes sense though. In Spanish you just stick the indirect pronoun onto the verb. "ExplicaME" (explain to me) is how they ask to have something explained. But it doesn't work like that in English and it's painful that they are too lazy to create a grammatically correct sentence. So now, I'm enforcing it. I will not explainyou anything.
There are several more examples of lazy translating errors that my kids make. Instead of functioning in English, most of them are still at a stage where they think the sentence in Spanish and then translate it as they go. This works for some instances, but for the exceptions, they don't bother speaking correctly and it drives me bonkers. Maybe you think that's unreasonable, "Come on Leanne, English is their second language." I'll give you that, but they've been in a bi-lingual school learning and having half of their classes taught in English since 2nd grade. They are now 9th, 10th, and 12th graders and should have a strong grasp of the language. And it's not that they don't, it's that the majority are just too lazy to correct common mistakes. They are content with being understood as opposed to mastery of the language. My first year, I was content with that too and maybe even impressed, but now I'm not. I hold them to much higher standards of English. I correct them. I poke fun at them. I point to the board.
After explainme, the top 3 contenders that evoke a cringe and then a reaction:
1: Starting sentences with "It's that..." : A kid walks in late and I look at him. He exclaims, "It's that I had to go to the bathroom." A girl comes up to my desk 5 minutes before the bell rings, "It's that I have to go to lunch early today." A boy stands up and walks toward the door, I ask him what he's doing, "It's that I have to sharpen my pencil." It's not that these sentences are terribly wrong, but you wouldn't catch a native English speaker saying that. I explain that to them over and over again. It doesn't sink in. Why? Because that's okay in Spanish and quite common. "Es que" + rest of the sentence = okay. Since I've started calling my students out and not letting them start with "It's that" I've noticed how much in Spanish I hear that phrase. So much so, that I've actually picked up the habit when I'm speaking Spanish. At the supermarket I'm looking for weights, I walk up to an employee, "ES QUE estoy buscando pesos." My Spanish is a touch more Colombian! But, it's that I need to explainyou two more errors.
2. Presenting a test: 9 times out of 10 when a student is absent on a test day, they will come up to me the next day, "It's that I was absent for the test. When can I present it?" Two strikes against you kiddo. But now we're focusing on the verb "present". In Spanish you "presentar" a test. In English you don't. It's that, you TAKE a test. I will not explainyou and you cannot present the test.
3. Losing and winning tests: Kiddo turns in his test, "I think I'm going to lose the test." Oh really? You just handed it to me, you can't lose it when it's in my hands. I think you mean you're going to fail the test. If it were English, that might be so. In Spanish you lose and win tests. In English you pass or fail. The kids know this, but don't take the time to change it. Let me explainyou something, it's that as long as you talk like that you'll lose every test you present.
So there you have the top 4 errors I hear and correct over 50 times a week. I'm not exaggerating. You know, these are small details and I'm not giving my kids credit for how much they do know, BUT these matter. These little things are the distinguishing factors between fluency and mere communicative language skills. I'd be doing a disservice to them if I didn't call them out.
Now I'm in full out war against these top 4. Once they've been mastered, I'll move on to the next 4.
Let me explainyou, it's that if we work in baby steps they may not even realize that their habits change! Goal.
