Tuesday, November 1, 2011

focusing on the funny

I have a boatload of very un-fun work to tackle before the end of the week and out departure for Washington DC! Feeling very not motivated and filled with fatigue, I have decided to focus my attentions on the funny.

First, mispronunciations have been rampant in my classroom this year. I often repeat new words or foreign names multiple times and have the kids repeat after me to ensure they to don;t sound ignorant later, but there always a few that slip through.

1. Clergy is sometimes pronounced cler-GIE as in rhymes with Fergie.

2. Magellan is pronounced MAG-a-lin almost like Mary Magdalene. That is rough for the first person to circumnavigate the globe.

2. Today, Richelieu, Louis XIII's infamous, Machiavellian Cardinal, was pronounced rick-a-loo as in rhymes with "get a clue". Ouch!

When talking about the students packing list and dress code for the DC trip today, I had a male student ask if he could "bedazzle" his uniform. I told him that he was allowed to but that no one else in the class was. It was a wonderfully hilarious moment.

I think that is all the funny that I can come up with for the moment. Alas, I guess I will have to get to work.