Re: Re[2]: GEN: Reindeer 'paws' and other adaptations

[Diane Durbin <dianed@TENET.EDU>]

I have been thinking as I have read these funny malapropisms about what
kids think we are talking about...I have had dozens of experiences where
kids asked for something that was a total distortion of what the teacher
said.  It is a signal that we ought to be very clear about what we say
and mean, and even when we are we ought to be sure the kids understand.
Just last week I had a kid come in wanting information on a famous
Greek.  I said we would look in a book I had on Greece.  The child said,
"No we're not studying Greece.  We're studying Greeks."  I found out that
although they had been talking about Greece for over a week, this student
didn't realize that Greeks were from Greece.  He thought they were from
Greek, which was entirely separate from Greece.  I once also had a
student who had been in the library almost a week doing research with her
junior English class.  One day she asked if she could ask me a question.
I said she could and she asked, "Was Robert Frost an American?"  Mind
you, she had been researching her author a week - and who could be more
American than Robert Frost.  When I assured her that he was, she replied,
"I thought so, but I wasn't sure."

Diane Durbin
dianed@tenet.edu

On Thu, 7 Dec 1995, Elizabeth A Wilson wrote:

> America the Beautiful always had me wondering why anyone would sing about "ever
> waves of grey" (amber waves of grain?)
>
> Then we pledged allegiance to "one nation, individual..."
>
> No wonder kids think adults are crazy/stupid!  We don't make sense!
>
> Betsy Wilson
>