teacher mistakes?

[Misomisery]

Have you ever let a cuss word slip while teaching a class?
If yes, then how did you handle it? Did they care?

Also what are some other mistakes/blunders you have made?

[SamhainP8]

Back in the day I went to work a help shift several times at a non-home branch of Nova with a pair of old socks on that were worn thin / had holes in them, much to the delight of various kids classes.

[AsahiSupaSpy]

As my example of annoying people I would always use Jehovahs Witnesses. Of course one time, a rather pleasant old duck told me that she was, indeed a JoHo. Such is my disdain for them though that I just shrugged and plowed on regardless.

[Mogura]

Part of the job is pretending that you know what the fuck you're doing. Admitting mistakes runs counter to that...

[Boogaloo]

It depends who is watching you too. If it's a native speaking supervisor, you'll get pulled up on it, but if it's just Japanese people they may not understand the force of your cuss-word. Japanese seem to use 'kuso' an awful lot, I've found. It doesn't seem to have anything like th force of 'shit'. The other day in a class I dropped the chalk and said 'shit' under my breath. The JTE with me found it interesting and pointed it out to the class as a linguistic point of interest.

Mistakes stemming from not knowing what you're talking about are something else though. Make sure you know your English grammar!

[Raelene]

The other day I yelled at an extremely trying child "get over here, you little sh*t!" I was quite shocked at myself, and resolved to do better. I've done a lot of awful things in the classroom, but swearing is out of the question. Remember, you are the English language role model for most of your students.

[sirwanksalot]

I show up prepared. My job is to correct student mistakes. If a student catches me making a mistake then he is doing his job as a learner and I'm happy. Usually the happiness comes after the blushing subsides.

[steki47]

I show up prepared. My job is to correct student mistakes. If a student catches me making a mistake then he is doing his job as a learner and I'm happy. Usually the happiness comes after the blushing subsides.

My favorite example was back in January 2007 I was teaching a Nova junior class and wrote "January 2006" on the whiteboard. A little girl jumped up and said, "Chigau! Nana desu!". I thanked her and continued. Very cute!

[katamari]

an old trick from my real teacher days. if you fuck up and get called on it, just say "well done! you passed the test!"

daft bastards always fall for it, or at least pretend to. everyones a winner.

[Wage Slave]

Or just pass it off sock tactics - If you do it deliberately a few times then mistakes can easily be passed off as more of the same.

[SamhainP8]

I deliberately make mistakes all through my lessons, kids LOVE that shit!

[Wage Slave]

I do it too but not nearly as much as I should. You are right kids love it when it is done well. Like everything else it can be done well or badly and I'm not a natural at that one.

[SamhainP8]

Apparently I'm a natural fuckup

[sirwanksalot]

I deliberately make mistakes all through my lessons, kids LOVE that shit!

Breaks the monotony and keeps them on their toes!

[SamhainP8]

I do it mainly as a sly way to get them to review past lessons vocab.

[Langslave]

The kids I was teaching were 5-6 years old and Id make mistakes on purpose all the time. Sometimes little ones to see if they were paying attention, sometimes obvious, silly ones for a larf, then Id compound my "mistake" by getting sillier and sillier. Kids would cack themselves.

[MacGyver]

The kids I was teaching were 5-6 years old and Id make mistakes on purpose all the time. Sometimes little ones to see if they were paying attention, sometimes obvious, silly ones for a larf, then Id compound my "mistake" by getting sillier and sillier. Kids would cack themselves.

heh. That brings back some memories. I used to do it 50% for a laugh and 50% to reinforce what they were learning.

[Langslave]

Kids learn, have fun, go home and tell mum they love school, mums happy so signs up again...shame the school never appreciated it.

[Edogaijin]

Did I read on here many moons ago that a teacher didn't know what a certain Japanese mushroom looked like so he asked a young girl to draw one on the blackboard.
The embarrassed young girl drew a very nice looking penis...

[Raelene]

Well, I attempted to draw an upright banjo for a bunch of high schoolers ... wish I'd never done that now.

My most embarrassing classroom experience was when I asked the students what the capital of Argentina was (the textbook told me to do this, I would never dream of asking such a thing on my own). None of them knew, and they asked me to provide the answer. I bluffed my way out of it by angrily lecturing them about their obviously inferior educations, and ordering them to research about Argentina for their homework.

Later on, in private, I googled the answer. It's "Buenos Aires." But you already knew that, didn't you?