The one thing they learned from me..

With the increased enrollment at AFE, I have been recruited to teach classes in addition to my work in communications/donor relations. Teaching English seemed a good fit for me because since I am still studying Spanish, I happen to know all of the Spanish words for grammatical things.

So far, I have only taught two classes. The first class was a little rough. When I told the class that I would be taking over, one girl rolled her eyes. The rest stared at me and looked bored.

However, the second class was a lot more interesting and I am certain that the students at least learned one thing from me.

We were practicing the “th” sound – a very difficult sound for Spanish speakers – when the wrong sound slipped out. It came out as “ffffuuu” and ended with a “cckk.” Unfortunately, the young lady knew exactly what she said. The rest of the class didn’t but suddenly became very interested.

“Elise, you’ve got to tell us what this word is so we don’t say it by accident!”

“We promise we won’t say it if you tell us what it is!”

“What does it mean? It’s better that we hear it from you than from someone else!”

They were very convincing. I compromised. I spelled the word phonetically in Spanish for them, but I warned them that I would automatically deduct 20 points if I ever heard it or saw it written anywhere. As to the meaning, better they don’t know.

My class of twelve is full of very eager learners. I encourage everyone who visits to speak English with them and to give them the chance to practice their new skills. Please, however, refrain from allowing them to practice the one word in English that they know for sure.