Ass people.

Don’t lie to them for money.


One of the things that makes teaching easier isn’t what the students know. Sometimes, it’s what they don’t know that helps out.Take today for example. In one of my classes we were going over instances where consonant sounds aren’t pronounced fully in order to keep a sentence flowing. The example sentence was, “I don’t like to ask people for money.”

Not that hard to say, but explaining how to reduce sounds can confuse students. So I rewrote it on the board as, “I don’ lieda ass people for money.”

Thankfully, none of my students have ever heard the word “ass.”

This is one case where I’m thankful for the bad translations used in Korean schools. To them, anything in the vicinity of one’s hips (including their ass) is all “hips.” But it’s weird too. Say the word “ass” to a batch of 8th graders in the US and they’re start chuckling or flat out saying, “teacher, you said ‘ass!'”

Of course, me being me, I started trying to think of other words I could sneak into lessons and examples. Hmmm……

Nah, better not go down that road. Wouldn’t do to get fired this close to the end of my contract.

^.^