So what am I teaching now?

That is a good question! Let me fill you in. For those of you wanting to know about fun and exotic stuff: bugger off! This is pedagogy time fool!

So I decided that with all of my students being all self conscientious about the way they pronounce, I would teach them just that. That is probably the least important part of learning a language, and it is probably also the hardest for most learners. With that kind of difficulty to importance ratio, I don't know why people are so caught up on it, but they are, and so I will do my best to help them.

Then again, maybe I feel that way because pronunciation is my favorite part of learning a language, and so it really does not seem like that much of a obstacle to me as much as a challenging challenge. I don't know why, but I really do enjoy trying to figure out the sounds of a language, the way the come together, the effect one sound might potentially have on the sounds around it. My favorite thing of all would be figuring out the way the mouth transitions from one sound to another. If there is one thing I have learned all these years, it is that if you are straining your mouth when using a language, you are probably doing it wrong. With the constantly evolving nature of language, most rough edges have been sanded out by now. If you experience strain. . .well, it might behoove you to take it as a sign.

Anyways, I enjoy learning pronunciation in the obsessive way that a conspiracy theorist displays to connecting all of the dots in news stories. Also, I've been told that when I switch languages, its like a different person suddenly started talking. . .not bragging or anything you know. . .just repeating something others have said about me, that's all.

So back to teaching. I decided that it might be a good idea to teach my students the IPA. "What is that?" I hear you ask. Well, that would be the international phonetic alphabet. It is a system that maps out all of the possible sounds humans can make with their mouths and arranges them on a chart based on manner of sound and place of sound. My hope now is that when they get stuck on a pronunciation, I can write the sounds out for them and then they will be able to "see" the difference between the sound they are making and the sound that is needed.

Then I gave them an activity where I crumpled out a big paper ball and played music. The idea being that whoever has the ball when I paused the music had to come up to the front and transcribe the last word before the pause. It was quite fun, and it pretty much turned my classes into a club. . . A club minus the alcohol. . . A club minus the alcohol and plus hot potato. Yes, that is an apt way to phrase it.

Plus, there was just something about blasting Ke$ha songs from the school's speakers in the super conservative and quaint  town that just made me feel, I hesitate to say it, good. . .

. . .oh man, what is this town doing to me?

AHHHH! A lizard just pooped on my hand right as I was about to hit the "Publish" button! Not cool lizard! Not cool!