The Secret Rules of 'Teacher Language'

Yesterday was the first teaching lesson where I was 'monitored', or more accurately 'judged'.  Fortunately for me (and the rest of my teaching group) it was the more approachable of the two 'monitors', and we were teaching the intermediate class...though it easily got tricky.  The unique teacher-class relationship with the intermediate students revolves around the fact that the students speak well enough to fool you into abandoning all 'teacher language' and diving into regular language.  It's a very delicate situation.  I often fell into this trap with "pairing you guys off" and telling them to "go ahead and handle that".  They had me with their silly tom-foolery by rolling their eyes when I gave my thorough instructions too slow, but then I lost them when I resorted to 'Lindsay-lingo'.  It was a fine line, but I walked it like a pro and had my lesson deemed "successful overall".

There were two instances that my 'monitor' brought up in our in-depth recap, and I'd like to share them with you now:

1.  With confidence, a teacher can get away with anything.

This I have found to be true in my past classroom experiences, albeit on the opposite side of the desk, but I never thought I would be able to perform such trickery, such mind games!  And all without even realizing that I did it!  It was brought to my attention that I gave the correct answer, but used the wrong reason.  I would like to state here, for the record, that it was a grammar question.  "Judge not, lest ye be judged!"  (I think that quote originally was said about someone who was teaching grammar, but wasn't comfortable themselves with said grammar--I'm fairly certain I'm accurate on that.)  My 'monitor' brought it up to show me what the correct answer would be, and to tell me that it didn't matter because I said it with confidence.  They didn't press me about what the reasoning was, just how the sentence would be structured.  This is how I saved myself.  I said the bogus reasoning with such confidence that they didn't dare question me (granted, I thought it was a real reason, but still).

2.  Challenge the students, just as they challenge you.

I had asked the students to write down five questions that they might ask the main character of the story they had read.  I walked around the table, 'monitoring' the students--making myself available to answer any questions they might have, and hopefully answering them correctly.  I saw one woman put her pen down very decisively, and sit back in her chair; I went over to see if I could offer any of my teaching services and saw that she had only written two sentences.  I said, "Hey now, you're not done, are you?  You've got three more to do."  She shook her head and put her hand firmly on the desk, "No.  Two is enough."  I playfully nudged her on the arm and declared, "I disagree.  Three more!"  I could hear my teacher audibly laugh from the back of the room--he brought it up as a positive aspect of my rapport with the class.

Those intermediates are a tricky bunch; almost forcing me to abandon my carefully planned teacher language, and trying to waste the time away by telling of their escapes from the clutches of Communist Russia.  It is a slippery slope, and before you know it you could find yourself eliciting answers about your favorite slang phrases.  ("Guys, listen up.  Now this is what I would say to a dude if he had some sweet dance moves.  'Sick' is the right answer.  Awesome.")  The trick is to hang in there.  If you know something is right but you're not sure why, just say it with confidence.  They probably won't question it if you do...which is perfect, because who understands English grammar anyway?

On an entirely different note: look what Meghan and I found in Old Town Square!  How cool is this?!