I have been helping a lady from China improve her English reading and writing. We were working on short vowel u words. It was my first day teaching Kindergarten alone at a language school in South Korea. My boss was very adamant about the children not being allowed to speak Korean. So, like a good worker ant, I kept shouting at the student the whole time to stop speaking Korean (what a waste of time). One little boy was especially getting on my nerves because he was jumping up and down and speaking Korean (boss told me he was a handful). I told him very forcibly to sit down and stop speaking Korean. Next thing I knew, he went quiet and started staring at the floor. A minute later I took a peek and realized he had peed his pants! Any guesses what he was saying in Korean? Short Story Writing | Writers | Read Online | Writing Contests | Writing Software | Writing Journals | Writing A Book | Writing A Novel Vietnamese have a particular problem with pronunciation, in particular, the final consonants in most words.

The girls looked at me as if asking in the language of the Caterpillar' WHOOOO RRRRRR UUUUUUUUU..'and 'YYYYYYYYYYY' RRRRRRR , UUUUUUUUUU , here' I sensed the anxiety in the restless whispering in the room.

I told her what it meant to say a man is well hung here. She blushed and I think her husband probably got an ear full when she got home.

When I was an ESL student myself, struggling, like most English language learners, with phrasal verbs. Today I teach ESL, and I always share this anecdote with my students. I had recently started working as a waiter. At some point, on campus, while still in ESL, an American acquaintance approached me and asked me if I worked out. To me this seemed like an odd question to ask, but since I worked at an indoor restaurant, I replied that I did not work out. I worked in. The Principal gave a loud introduction and left the class; I felt that she almost scurried out of the classroom; reminded me of the white rabbit of ' Alice in Wonderland' The whole restaurant exploded in laughter; Steven turned red and had such a laughing fit that he nearly choked. His mother, a rather dignified lady, wasn't far from that stage. Turns out it was a traditional dish from his "minority" ethnic group.S2. I would have been very happy to receive your fak, but at the time I was faking somebody else- sorry.

I looked around inquiringly.'ma'am she said 'for us , you are a Miss and for your husband you are a Mrs'. Oh Dear. Was she right in this?Usually at the beginning of the year with new students I try a few of their words from their language. The often giggle because I can neither hear the sounds nor pronounce the words. I always put my hands on my hips and ask, "Are you laughing at me?" They always say no. I tell them that they are laughing because I couldn't pronounce their word because I couldn't hear their sounds or put the sounds together correctly in my mouth. I explain to them that language learning is funny. If you change a sound or use the wrong word, the meaning is changed. It is often hilarious. I tell them that when people laugh when they say something, they are not laughing at them but at innocent mispronunciations which sound odd or mean something else. I tell them when that happens that they should also laugh and tell them it must have been the wrong word; then they should ask how to fix it. I haven't had anyone come to me tearfully because they felt they were being made fun of since I started this more than 5 years ago. I think you could use the stories in this section the same way. With his parents and a driver, we had lunch (like a seven-course meal!) in a surprisingly ornate restaurant in the countryside.