tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post8237263164702953812..comments2023-10-21T11:44:45.588+01:00Comments on ResidentAlien: A Case Of Mistaken IdentityMary Witzlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-38949501516479116802010-04-12T05:00:38.753+01:002010-04-12T05:00:38.753+01:00Chris -- I've got a lot of ideas to share with...Chris -- I've got a lot of ideas to share with you! Now that you're teaching English, a lot of what I write here will no doubt seem more relevant. <br /><br />Where is your blog? I keep trying to find you and missing!<br /><br />Adrienne -- I was pretty impressed, to tell you the truth. It's just that the ones who can do a little lord it over the others who struggle and that irritates me no end.<br /><br />Falak -- The older I get, the more I like what GBS said about almost everything. He was interested in spelling reform in English, wasn't he? I wonder if it will ever happen?Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-62490327613802081422010-04-11T13:58:54.890+01:002010-04-11T13:58:54.890+01:00Some where, some place George Bernard Shaw is havi...Some where, some place George Bernard Shaw is having a good laugh. Belated birthday wishes:)Falakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08321524864693512771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-15057236696383913672010-04-10T22:01:51.697+01:002010-04-10T22:01:51.697+01:00See, I'm impressed enough that they knew the s...See, I'm impressed enough that they knew the s in island is silent...Adriennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05583029102450754497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-54214572334909489222010-04-10T13:04:21.618+01:002010-04-10T13:04:21.618+01:00Hey Girlfriend! Popping over to my friends' b...Hey Girlfriend! Popping over to my friends' blogs to wish a happy spring!<br /><br />I clicked over from Robin's. My computer crashed several months ago, and now I finally have one again and am building up links.<br /><br />Now that I'm teaching writing to ESL students, your posts are even better! I'll have to email you when the semester is over... I'm trying to come up with fun activities for my lesson plans. It's strangely difficult, because to me, writing by itself *is* the fun activity!<br /><br />Hope you're doing well!!<br />:-)Chris Eldinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16732006129353079344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-77751545173680561572010-04-09T20:43:05.708+01:002010-04-09T20:43:05.708+01:00Angela -- Don't forget our awful spelling, irr...Angela -- Don't forget our awful spelling, irregular verbs and confusing auxiliaries. And especially for Turkish and Japanese students, our pronouns, modals, articles and prepositions. I always tell myself that having to learn it is worse than having to teach it.<br /><br />Carol -- I will email you! Somewhere in this house I have the letter one of my students wrote about Leah last year. I'm still kicking myself for not sending it to you or Leah right away -- you'd both treasure it, believe me. He entitled it, "Leah: an Intelligent Young Woman."<br /><br />I miss all of you guys a lot!<br /><br />Meg -- Thank you! In the dim recesses of my memory, I remember reading that in some linguistic textbook, but not so well that I could immediately recover the formula. <br /><br />I still remember a fellow student of Japanese agonizing over the fact that Japanese had keidoshi and keiyoshi; he couldn't figure out why they couldn't all be treated the same. I wonder how he'd have liked to learn how to use 'a' and 'the' from scratch.<br /><br />Patrick -- Thank you! Now that it's the weekend, I'm going to start celebrating for sure.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-75039830110152206462010-04-09T18:34:33.857+01:002010-04-09T18:34:33.857+01:00Btw, it's your birthday?
Happy birthday! Hope ...Btw, it's your birthday?<br />Happy birthday! Hope you have a great one.. =)Pathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05562271120251744291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-81033281212091055142010-04-09T15:31:39.470+01:002010-04-09T15:31:39.470+01:00I always do the ghoti=fish trick to show my Japane...I always do the ghoti=fish trick to show my Japanese-language students how crazy English is when they start whining "But why do they do it like that?"<br /><br />It goes like this:<br /><br />'gh' from 'enough' = f<br />'o' from 'women' = i<br />'ti' from 'station' = sh<br /><br />et voila!<br /><br />I love that moment when native English speakers begin to cast a critical gaze on their own language. It's usually a short step from there to "Wow, I'm glad I don't have to learn this as a second language!"<br /><br />My stock answer to "But why do they do it like that?" is "Because it's not English". Followed closely by "For which you should be thankful."Meg McKinlayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12854266030104017987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-53818300075791465702010-04-09T07:02:59.045+01:002010-04-09T07:02:59.045+01:00Happy birthday, Mary!! I've been thinking abou...Happy birthday, Mary!! I've been thinking about you all week, and I was delighted to see that you were thinking about us, too. Mark also likes to remember that bit of linguistic arrogance when you two thought you might turn "honjitsu" into "Nihon"! I love to know that I can always find you at your blog. Write me! Otanjobi omedetoo gozaimasu!! --CarolAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16938098820635279911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-25184525986515653032010-04-08T21:34:48.035+01:002010-04-08T21:34:48.035+01:00English--I'm amazed anyone can learn it with a...English--I'm amazed anyone can learn it with all our stupid homophones. Oi!Angela Ackermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01808259088625142389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-40693235825087063692010-04-08T18:39:38.433+01:002010-04-08T18:39:38.433+01:00Vijaya -- If you've worked with ESL students, ...Vijaya -- If you've worked with ESL students, you know that English spelling is all over the place and a terrible headache to learn. Those of us who were lucky enough to absorb it as babies don't know how much trouble we were spared.<br /><br />But for the life of me, I can't see how your brother could get 'ghoti' from 'fish'...?<br /><br />Charlie -- The British use articles, prepositions and modals differently from their American cousins. And then there is the vocabulary. I feel mean telling my students that 'at the weekend' is British and 'on weekends' is American; that 'jumper', 'rubber', 'hood' and 'bonnet' have different meanings depending on whether you're in the U.K. or U.S. And that's just for starters...<br /><br />Kim -- Thank you! As it was, we were supposed to have the school inspector in, but he got distracted and, after stressing me out all day in absentia, is coming tomorrow instead.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-18846582680213389672010-04-08T10:23:43.720+01:002010-04-08T10:23:43.720+01:00HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY!!!
Hope you have a great day :...HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY!!!<br />Hope you have a great day :)Kim Ayreshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02656677501116622953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-72874920458688209622010-04-07T22:02:51.826+01:002010-04-07T22:02:51.826+01:00For some reason, I cannot read out loud; intonatio...For some reason, I cannot read out loud; intonation, forget about it. I marvel at the readers on audiobooks, like Tim Curry and Frank McCourt.<br /><br />And I agree with those who have English as a first languageāeither American or the Queen's. (Why do we say, "in the hospital", while everyone else says, "in hospital"?)Charliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722567671925063706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-57646874539934710542010-04-07T19:33:01.764+01:002010-04-07T19:33:01.764+01:00I've helped with ESL and English is probably t...I've helped with ESL and English is probably the most inconsistent language ever. We borrow from every language and culture ... <br /><br />My brother said fish = ghoti <br />when you think of a few oddball words and their spelling.<br /><br />I do love learning where the words come from.Vijayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07876606729146077830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-90588804191282794042010-04-07T18:54:40.226+01:002010-04-07T18:54:40.226+01:00Pat -- They definitely keep me hopping. They forge...Pat -- They definitely keep me hopping. They forget that I've been a student whereas they've never, to my knowledge, been teachers. <br /><br />Patrick -- I know, I know! My ignorance was mind boggling. But I'm smarter now and a lot more knowledgeable.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-43091506821084908282010-04-07T12:16:30.741+01:002010-04-07T12:16:30.741+01:00Wow..Lol..Wow..Lol..Pathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05562271120251744291noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-79297367272898850472010-04-07T12:05:08.053+01:002010-04-07T12:05:08.053+01:00What cheeky little monkeys you teach. Must make i...What cheeky little monkeys you teach. Must make it interesting and keep you on your toes:)Pathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01529798893653033970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-69133964443981088652010-04-07T09:05:48.810+01:002010-04-07T09:05:48.810+01:00Bish -- 'Rain', 'rein' and 're...Bish -- 'Rain', 'rein' and 'reign' are easy to understand from context. What I find harder is explaining why you don't need 'did' in "Who married Madonna?" but you do in "Who did Madonna marry?" I can do it, but it just makes me hate helping verbs all the more. <br /><br />MGH -- Arguably, I'm still learning Japanese, and I'm doing it the hard way! But so does everybody who isn't a linguistic genius. The cool thing about the hard way is that most of the time it's also the fun way. Linguistic geniuses don't know what they're missing.<br /><br />Charles -- Now you've piqued my interest and I will have to find out. I'll be over to your blog shortly and it had better be there! I share (almost) all my dumb mistakes (but not all, of course, or I'd bring down google).<br /><br />Robin -- These mistakes are all the funnier when the person who made them argues with the expert that they are right and the expert must be wrong. I've been there, though. I speak as a person who once insisted that 'liaise' was spelled with only one I and that 'erotic' meant the same thing as 'erratic'... (I'll write you an email tonight, btw!)<br /><br />Veach -- That cracked me up. And now you've gone and put the theme song from The Partridge Family in my head. How COULD you?<br /><br />Robert -- Believe me, I have -- many times! English spelling is a total nightmare. Japanese and Turkish are far easier once you've learned the rules: what you see is what you get. But learning English spelling isn't as awful as learning things like modals, articles and prepositions. And teaching them is no picnic either.<br /><br />Carolie -- Now you have to write about that! And believe me: I have crossed that line a hundred times over in so many stupid ways that I've lost track -- we just didn't cross the line on that one particular occasion. I'm so glad we didn't, too: I think it would have scarred us for the rest of our time in Japan if we had. I'm not sure we could have dealt with the confusion and then the scorn.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-9957572010770193492010-04-07T04:02:20.756+01:002010-04-07T04:02:20.756+01:00You came close. I...well...crossed the line you ma...You came close. I...well...crossed the line you managed to avoid.<br /><br />Yes, my Japanese friends were kind. Yes, they laughed at me. Yes, I was mortified. (But I will never, ever forget either set of kanji!)Caroliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11637418089860927715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-40526611423325310122010-04-07T03:45:20.771+01:002010-04-07T03:45:20.771+01:00I am glad I was born in an English speaking countr...I am glad I was born in an English speaking country. Had I not, and I had to learn English, I surely would have failed. English, really does not make any sense. Examples are the pronunciations of "rough", "tough" and "dough". Explain THAT one!Robert the Skeptichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10863488312604865183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-75697523491581144562010-04-07T01:04:35.595+01:002010-04-07T01:04:35.595+01:00My Case of Mistaken Identity.My Case of <a href="http://veach-glines.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-may-be-mistakenarent-quail-wings.html" rel="nofollow">Mistaken Identity</a>.veach glineshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09858630502888259101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-55075201357124843232010-04-07T00:57:58.414+01:002010-04-07T00:57:58.414+01:00That's hilarious! The way they insist their u...That's hilarious! The way they insist their understanding of the word is correct, reminds me of my boys when they were little. They were always so sure they were right. Especially Kevin. Once he told Alex not to kick me in the "Bagina". I told him it was "Vagina". He thought about it and said, "No. I'm pretty sure it's 'bagina'." Uh, I would know, wouldn't I?Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12396540555696283171noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-26347297398560187752010-04-07T00:24:35.929+01:002010-04-07T00:24:35.929+01:00After the latest dumb mistake I made today I'm...After the latest dumb mistake I made today I'm going to be vewwy vewwy quiet.Charles Gramlichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02052592247572253641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-33955415856116746222010-04-06T21:48:44.689+01:002010-04-06T21:48:44.689+01:00It's one thing to learn another language based...It's one thing to learn another language based on the Roman alphabet, but Japanese? Yikes. I don't know how you did it.MG Higginshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03584010470283038023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-76665715073984892942010-04-06T21:19:36.084+01:002010-04-06T21:19:36.084+01:00Japanese is hard enough...but English! Rain, rein,...Japanese is hard enough...but English! Rain, rein, reign? To give only one example. That your students have tne courage to read out loud is a miracle.<br /><br />And then there's read (reed) or read (red.) HA!Bish Denhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13359927719391990534noreply@blogger.com