Wreck a nice beach

I always admit it when I make mistakes in class, and I tell the teachers to do the same, because if you insist that you're right, your students might go home and look it up, and then you'll come out looking like an insecure jerk. If they don't look it up, they'll end up copying your mistake, causing their next teacher to have to clean up your mess. Just admit that you're wrong and move on with your lesson.

Anyway, I made a mistake in class the other day and my student's response to this mistake was "you're not a robot!"*

My very first thought? "Like robots never make mistakes with language. Gosh!"

And I wonder why one of the teachers keeps quoting Napoleon Dynamite to me.


I walked into class the other day and one of my students said "you are very beautiful." It took me a moment to realize that that's pre-intermediate-level speak for "you look nice today" because they haven't learned that construction yet. They'll learn it in chapter 6, but now I kind of don't want to teach it.


* - not, by the way, in a sympathetic tone like "don't worry, everybody makes mistakes," which I would have found a bit condescending, but in more of a surprised tone like "well, I guess I owe somebody a Coke," which I found kind of flattering.