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 Thursday April 10 2008

You’ve been in TEFL too long when…

Alex Case has a MEME related to TEFL going. I’m copying it here and then adding my own to the list.

  1. You laminate your shopping lists
  2. When you have a house or family meeting, you ask people to discuss the issues in pairs first
  3. Two thirds of your favourite teaching books are out of print
  4. The worksheets at the bottom of your pile of things to try have started to decompose
  5. You speak to your family with Elementary level English
  6. Your foreign students teach you about the latest music from back home
  7. You even try to elicit your proposal of marriage - “What do we call it when a man and …”
  8. You’ve been in your host country longer than your students have been alive
  9. When you return to your home country it annoys you to no end that people are speaking English everywhere and you can’t tune it out
  10. when you return to your home country, you get reverse culture shock
  11. You correct everyone’s grammar, even when it’s not wrong
  12. you know more acronyms than anyone should ever know
  13. you know more than 17 different fun ways to re-seat a large group of people
  14. you have more non-native English speaking friends than native speaker friends
  15. You look at English as a means to make money, not to communicate
  16. you can easily explain the difference between the simple past and the present perfect
  17. going to work in the morning makes you want to cry.
  18. backpacker is a term of derision and scorn
  19. You actually can use the words “my privates” in a sentence without it being in a sexual context. (credit to Fencerider)


Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Thursday Apr 10, 2008 at 06:12 AM
Random_Ramblings |
Picture of Jim

Jim wrote 12 words  on  Thursday Apr 10, 2008  at  08:09 AM Korea (South)

You put a smile on my face this morning.  It’s all true!!!!

Picture of Alex Case

Alex Case wrote 34 words  on  Friday Apr 11, 2008  at  07:10 AM Japan

Wow- I started a meme! And that without really understanding what it means!

Particularly love numbers 8, 9 and 13 above. I might have to return the compliment and borrow them for my list

Picture of fencerider

fencerider wrote 71 words  on  Tuesday Apr 15, 2008  at  11:17 AM Korea (South)

i’m particularly fond of number 8…my college students are not that old but many of my private lessons are….They always look at me with this confused blank stare when I ask them in Korean…since i’ve been in Korea longer than you, am I more korean than you? 

Another one you could add:
19. You actually can use the words “my privates” in a sentence without it being in a sexual context.

Sean.

Sean. wrote 44 words  on  Tuesday Apr 15, 2008  at  11:29 AM Korea (South)

#8 is my personal favorite as well, mostly because I wrote it. It’s not true for me and my students (university age) yet but in a few years it will be.

I also like your #19 and will add it to the list now.

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