Endlessnight Posted July 10, 2010 Report Share Posted July 10, 2010 I would like to share a funny story about myself. (Well I find it funny )It came about from my less than perfect knowledge of the Arabic language. I used to be a teacher of EFL and taught grades 4, 5, 6. One day, in my grade 5 class I wanted to tell the girls to bring an English dictionary to school the next day. They didn't understand the word 'dictionary' so I thought i'd translate it for them just this once. Anyway dictionary in Arabic is 'gamoose', but I told the girls to bring a 'jamoose', mispronouncing the hard g as a j. The girls started giggling and giving me weird looks so I asked what was wrong. One girl said 'miss are you sure you want us to bring one?' when I said of course i'm sure, one little girl finally piped up 'but where are we supposed to find a moose?!' Seems 'jamoose' means 'moose'! Anyway, I decided no more translations for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrmaJean Posted July 10, 2010 Report Share Posted July 10, 2010 A moose might be pretty big for a classroom, huh? It must have been a learning experience in and of itself to work with children, endless. I bet you were a wonderful teacher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Symora Posted July 10, 2010 Report Share Posted July 10, 2010 Where does one get a moose in Saudi Arabia anyway :confused: Lots of those in Canada though... Is this your new job Endless or your old job --- who are you teaching now?In one on my volunteer gigs lately, I met this incredible woman who volunteers 6 days a week. Over the age of 80 no doubt, but smart as a tack and faster on her feet than I am. Anyway, we were waiting for a later event so we spent a few hours together chatting. She taught primary school until she was 70, and continues to volunteer in a kindergarden one morning a week. She told me the story of little girl in her class who told her that she was going to marry Johnny, so this lady asks her if Johnny has a good job so you can have a good life together, and the little girl replies <oh yes, Johnny is in charge of cleaning the blackboards every day :-)> Kids, you gotta love them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luna- Posted July 11, 2010 Report Share Posted July 11, 2010 That gave me a chuckle too. Girls that age are just lovely - just moving from literal to figurative understanding. But what is the figurative for "bring a moose"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron.X.C Posted July 11, 2010 Report Share Posted July 11, 2010 Ha funny. Bringing a moose to the classroom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endlessnight Posted July 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2010 Children that age and younger are lovely. They say the cutest things and are so innocent. I wish I had children. I would have loved them so much. I am teaching adults now Symora at the new job. In the job I held before my last one I was a teacher. It was a learning experience as you said, IrmaJean, and I consider myself lucky that I have had the opportunity to teach because working in schools has also been very educational for me. I'm particularly lucky as I never finished high school, let alone went to college. What learning I have I got from reading books. Take care everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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