The Coffee House

[snowbear124 55]

Heh...I'm grading some papers (yes, I'm at my other job, but I'm here for 4 hours and I've only got about 30 minutes of work to do) and a student just wrote that he wants to be an EMT to "help and service people."

A happy ending to your ambulance ride?

Heh...I'm grading some papers (yes, I'm at my other job, but I'm here for 4 hours and I've only got about 30 minutes of work to do) and a student just wrote that he wants to be an EMT to "help and service people."

A happy ending to your ambulance ride?

That is hilarious.

How do you typically respond to those types of errors? (Unless it's not an error! )

I can send them a link to our job application, but I don't think we give extra points for that.

 

[runnah]

 

[limr37 7]

Writing papers are hard.

If I had to write a paper right now I'd fail horribly.

Well, any skill you haven't practiced in a long time will be rusty, but I would wager that after 10 weeks of a 15-week writing course, you'd not be making the same mistakes you did at the beginning.

 

[runnah]

Writing papers are hard.

If I had to write a paper right now I'd fail horribly.

Well, any skill you haven't practiced in a long time will be rusty, but I would wager that after 10 weeks of a 15-week writing course, you'd not be making the same mistakes you did at the beginning.

The idea of going back to school makes my butt cheeks tighten up.

 

[limr37 7]

That is hilarious.

How do you typically respond to those types of errors? (Unless it's not an error! )

For this particular one, I just leave it alone. If it's really bad, then I'll make a comment to explain the error and why it might be embarrassing. For example, there was a student who wrote an entire essay about how much she loved cooking. The problem was that she spelled it wrong every time. Instead of the second 'o' in cook, she was writing the letter 'c.'

That was actually one of their final essay exams - they have to pass one of the exams in order to pass the class - and all the teachers in the department score the exams together (two people have to score each essay and agree with each other, or get a third to break the tie.) So we were all crying with laughter over that one!

But for that kind of thing, you just write a very professional kind of note, explaining what the work means and how it's considered inappropriate. Remember, these are non-native speakers I'm mostly dealing with, so they are unaware of how some of their errors sound.

If it were a native speaker? I would not be as nice. I had a student once write a paper in which he talked about goosing his girlfriend. Let's just say that his paper was filled with so much red ink that it looked like I had bled all over it.

 

[runnah]

For this particular one, I just leave it alone. If it's really bad, then I'll make a comment to explain the error and why it might be embarrassing. For example, there was a student who wrote an entire essay about how much she loved cocking.

Do you ahh...have her number?

 

[waday]

That is hilarious.

How do you typically respond to those types of errors? (Unless it's not an error! )

For this particular one, I just leave it alone. If it's really bad, then I'll make a comment to explain the error and why it might be embarrassing. For example, there was a student who wrote an entire essay about how much she loved cooking. The problem was that she spelled it wrong every time. Instead of the second 'o' in cook, she was writing the letter 'c.'

That was actually one of their final essay exams - they have to pass one of the exams in order to pass the class - and all the teachers in the department score the exams together (two people have to score each essay and agree with each other, or get a third to break the tie.) So we were all crying with laughter over that one!

But for that kind of thing, you just write a very professional kind of note, explaining what the work means and how it's considered inappropriate. Remember, these are non-native speakers I'm mostly dealing with, so they are unaware of how some of their errors sound.

If it were a native speaker? I would not be as nice. I had a student once write a paper in which he talked about goosing his girlfriend. Let's just say that his paper was filled with so much red ink that it looked like I had bled all over it.

Ah, didn't realize they were non-native speakers. Gotcha.

My in-laws' speak English as their second/third language. I still chuckle at some of the things they say. Don't get me wrong, they speak excellent English... but some things just come out wrong.

Then again, apparently my mother's dog's name in Arabic is a bad/slang word. That was an interesting topic of conversation for a while

Goosing his girlfriend? That's lovely. I wouldn't have been as nice. I would have just put a big F on it.

 

[sm4him]

Writing papers are hard.

If I had to write a paper right now I'd fail horribly.

Well, any skill you haven't practiced in a long time will be rusty, but I would wager that after 10 weeks of a 15-week writing course, you'd not be making the same mistakes you did at the beginning.

The idea of going back to school makes my butt cheeks tighten up.

Huh. Kinda makes me wonder exactly WHAT your school experience was like…

But I really, REALLY don't think I want those details.

 

[runnah]

Huh. Kinda makes me wonder exactly WHAT your school experience was like…

But I really, REALLY don't think I want those details.

High School was not good to me.

 

[snerd]

That is sooooooooooo weird!! My cell buzzes in the doc's office awhile ago. It says East San Francisco Area. I know of nobody out there! Maybe Tiny Tim?!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro

 

[pgriz]

You probably won a cruise somewhere... I get these calls from all over North America and they keep changing the number they call from so that you can't block it in advance. The nice lady's name is "Aimee". Know her?

 

[sm4him]

That is hilarious.
How do you typically respond to those types of errors? (Unless it's not an error! )

For some reason, that "unless it's not an error" comment made me think of an email my sister received a couple of years ago. She works for our county Office on Aging agency and received the following email from one of the nursing homes--and yes, the writer was a native English speaker, so she doesn't have that excuse.

"It is rare to hear of the elderly living past the ripe old age of 100 years old, but can you imagine having a total of four fixing to be six under one roof?….Come celebrate the lives of four of our wonderful residents...One wrote a book and the other is possibly well over the age of 103…"

not done yet, but let me interrupt here. So she mentions that there are 4 centenarians present (and uses that classic southern term, "fixing to"), but then only says what TWO of them have actually ever done. Evidently the other "two fixing to be four" had not managed a single thing in their 100+ years that was notable enough to mention…

Okay, but now the real gem of the story…

"…and the other is possibly well over the age of 103 and has vivid memories of the civil rights error."


My sister's comments were awesome:

"On top of the language usage, one wonders about the creative use of numbers throughout. What about the two soon-to-be centenarians? What became of them? And after the writer mentions the four "wonderful" residents who are "all over" the age of 101 years, she tells us that ONE wrote a book and another remembers something that happened 60 years ago--wow! Did the other two manage to get through 100 years without doing anything as remarkable as remembering the 1950s?
In all fairness, though, I may be mistaking an editorial opinion on the part of the write for a wrong word choice at the end."

 

[limr37 7]

Ah, didn't realize they were non-native speakers. Gotcha.

My in-laws' speak English as their second/third language. I still chuckle at some of the things they say. Don't get me wrong, they speak excellent English... but some things just come out wrong.

My parents are non-native speakers. My mother's English is quite good, but my father's English was always somewhat broken. Portuguese was his native language, but he spoke French, Italian, and Spanish before he moved to America in his 40s and started learning English. We used to tease him about some of his more amusing pronunciation errors, like saying the /l/ in would, could, and should. He had a sense of humor about himself so it kind of gave him a kick when we'd tease him

Then again, apparently my mother's dog's name in Arabic is a bad/slang word. That was an interesting topic of conversation for a while

Goosing his girlfriend? That's lovely. I wouldn't have been as nice. I would have just put a big F on it.

Oh, he got an F on that assignment. And then on others. Then he got kicked out for plagiarism. And then you know what he did? Showed up for the final exam! After failing a bunch of assignments, THEN being told that he would get an F for the class and be reported to the disciplinary committee for cheating, he STILL didn't realize the exercise in futility taking the final would be. He walked in and I could barely even speak for a couple of seconds. I took him aside and told him to just go away. Actually, looking back, I should have made him take the exam, just to make him suffer through it.

 

[limr37 7]

For some reason, that "unless it's not an error" comment made me think of an email my sister received a couple of years ago. She works for our county Office on Aging agency and received the following email from one of the nursing homes--and yes, the writer was a native English speaker, so she doesn't have that excuse.

"It is rare to hear of the elderly living past the ripe old age of 100 years old, but can you imagine having a total of four fixing to be six under one roof?….Come celebrate the lives of four of our wonderful residents...One wrote a book and the other is possibly well over the age of 103…"

What in the what?

What does "four fixing to be six" mean? I mean, I understand the "fixing to do something" Southern construction, but "fixing to be six"?

And "the other is possibly well over the age of 103"... why don't they know the ages of their residents? And doesn't "well over" imply something like 10-15 years? So, she might be 115 instead of 103?

not done yet, but let me interrupt here. So she mentions that there are 4 centenarians present (and uses that classic southern term, "fixing to"), but then only says what TWO of them have actually ever done. Evidently the other "two fixing to be four" had not managed a single thing in their 100+ years that was notable enough to mention…

Okay, but now the real gem of the story…

"…and the other is possibly well over the age of 103 and has vivid memories of the civil rights error."

 

[runnah]

Everyone is the south is always fixing to do something.

Which is odd because everything is so damn broken down there.