Say it right…

Some teachers, in their anxiety and eagerness to ensure that the students catch everything they say, will speak slowly and articulate each and every syllable in a word slowly and clearly…

This teacher is probably saying, ‘This…is…a…boy,’ and getting the students to repeat in chorus after her. But in real life, people do not normally talk like that and hence, many students, once they step out of the school, will find it very difficult to understand what people say. Native speakers, for instance, will join all the words together, especially when one word ends with a consonant and the next word starts with a vowel. So, ‘This is a  boy’ will end up sounding as if it is one word, like this: ‘Thisisaboy’.

I have often wondered why teachers love to drill their students to chant sentences in that unnatural sing-song manner considering that in real-life, people do not speak like that nor do they speak in complete sentences all the time. The teacher will sing, ‘Where are you going?’ and the students will emulate her style of speaking and reply, ‘I am going to the market.’ Normally, we will just respond briefly, ‘To the market.’

But come to think of it, I would say it is a blessing in disguise that teachers do not drill their students to chant in the proper consonant+vowel manner. Imagine the whole lesson with the whole class of 30-40 kids screeching at the top of their voices, ‘My pen is red!’

Don’t get it? Then maybe, the following may help. I got this from my radio friend, Martin Edwards, in the UK. He sent me an email to tell me about his friend who jammed the office photocopier when he dropped his pen in between the rollers. The guy quickly borrowed another pen from a friend to write this note which he stuck to the machine…

Get the joke now…??? LOL!!!