Corrupting the language

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY:
People's lives are in our English-teacher hands and we are not to be trusted.

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So teaching is hilarious. The things I have witnessed this week make me confused as to whether I should sing our praises or seriously reconsider the validity of allowing people such as ourselves to ever take on roles of authority. Let's discuss:

Exhibit A: At one point today Kelly was muttering to herself about chargrilling, a term she is going to teach the class. She actually turned to me and said, "This chargrilling is really stressing me out" (which is even funnier when you hear it said in a Manchester accent, and even funnier still if you could see the real anguish on her face). I don't think the students will ever know the psychological strain their teacher went through in an effort to enhance their ability to order in a pub.

Exhibit B: I am actually teaching my class the phrase "I have a broccoli allergy" today...of my own volition....as in, I didn't get it out of a book....I wrote the lesson. Someday, these poor people will be talking about allergies in English, and their example is totally going to be "broccoli allergy." I may be responsible for their future English-speaking friends shunning them.

Exhibit C: Oli said to a student yesterday, "so did you find it sexy?" in regards to a TV advert from the UK that they had just seen. "Sexy" was one of the vocab words, but it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen: Oliver, crouched by the students' desks as they discussed the adverts in groups, asking JESUS if he "found it sexy."

Exhibit D: 5 of us spent 10 minutes today searching for a picture of the world's fattest man online. How else will the students understand the different connotations of fat, chunky, obese, and heavy?

But what makes all the lesson planning worth it? Moments like the one yesterday when Juan María, a 40-ish industrial engineer in my class actually jumped out of his seat when his group scored a point in a vocab review game, knocking over his chair and taking his partner Pilar down with it. Ah, lexis...were you always this exciting?