Tone and teaching

I was talking to a colleague about tone and intonation. I gave an example about how we use a stronger downward pattern to sound strong or rto eprimand and a light, sing-song cadence when don't want to offend someone or show a lower status. We use high lifts to encourage people. However, I never thought about if we use too many high pitches while teaching, it can sound too cheerful, like fake praise, and lower our status as teachers. It's especially tricky when teaching college level because they want to be treated like adults or near-equals. However, they need guidance and sometimes have bad behavior and deserve to be reprimanded. The wrong tone makes them feel discouraged or that someone is talking "down" to them. I think this must be very difficult for non-native speakers, no matter how fluent they are in English. Even within English dialects, intonation causes terrible misunderstand. I've read that Indians in England can sound rude when they intend to show respect due to cultural differences in how intonation is used.

Cursive

Believe it or not, I've taught ESL for nearly 20 years and have only recently learned that most of my students can't read cursive handwriting. However, being international students with high respect for instructors, none ever told me this.
As a child, I was fantastic in cursive writing class. My fourth grade teacher said I didn't have to practice any more because I could perfectly copy those posters hung in the classroom. They were green, always near the ceiling, and each showed a letter as it was to be written reaching either to the first line or second line. Yes, I rocked at cursive.
Today, however, I scribble something that is a cross between cursive and print. I believe most American adults write like this. All these years of writing on the board and no one mentioned it was illegible. At first I thought mostly the Arabs couldn't read it. I learned today that my Chinese students can't read it either. I wrote their names on the board with the fancy, near-calligraphy-but-how-I-learned-to write-cursive-capitals of  "G", "Z", "F" and "Q". They were shocked! They had no idea what those letters stood for. I then googled "cursive handwriting" and attached the file to the class website.

Knock on Wood

After learning about why we cross fingers, I began to wonder what the origin is for "knock on wood." Some say it's because most cultures believed that spirits lived in trees. The Irish would knock on trees for good luck from the leprechauns. However, I believe it has more to do with a Jewish version back to the Spanish Inquisition of the 15th century. Jews seeking refuge from persecution fled to synagogues built of wood, and they devised a coded knock to gain admission. As a result, many lives were saved so it became common to "knock on wood" for good luck.

tastes?

"Taste" can be count or non-count. "She has great taste in fashion!" is non-count. But when my student wrote: "He makes tea which is superb taste." I corrected him "...which HAS A superb taste." Another student asked if "taste" is a count noun and I said that it was. Then he asked if it could be plural and I said no. Can it? I don't think I've ever heard of "tastes".
He gave me a dirty look and said, "It can take a singular but not a plural?" I replied, "Don't shoot the messenger! I didn't create this language, I just teach it1"

why do we cross our fingers?

I asked a Chinese student to present two idioms to my speaking class, and he chose "keep your fingers crossed" and "a little bird told me". First he explained their meanings, good luck and a secret source.

But then he explained the history of these common expressions. People used to ward off vampires by making the sign on the cross, crossing their fingers. (Take that, Edward Cullen!)

"A little bird told me" was even more bizarre. It was forbidden to say anything bad or have evil thoughts about the king, because the thoughts could drift away out the window, like a little bird. So a little bird signifies your secret thoughts. Isn't that wild? This reminds me of that sign that says to watch your thoughts because they may become words, which become action or reality.

"different"

One of my students is really fluent in English. I read her essay and had no suggestions or corrections. Her sentences are very complex and correction, and her grammar is perfect. I told her this. She complained that she needs help with vocabulary. (Note: students who really need ESL claim they don't and those who don't claim they do. Isn't that the case with everyone and everything?)
I looked over her paper and noticed that she used the word "different" many times, so I told her to use a thesaurus, on-line or book, and write synonyms. She said she didn't know how we use those. It's true. I'd never thought about it, but as a native speaker, I can read synonyms and get the tone, nuance or just usage.
Later, I stopped at Border's and saw a $15 thesaurus on clearance for $4. Most thesauruses (sp?) are about $5 or $6 anyway. This one, American Heritage, explains all the meanings. It claims for "different" that "difference" is the most general; "dissimilarity" is difference between things that are alike, such as twins; "divergence" suggests an increasing difference; "distinction" means a difference that is determinable only by close inspection; and "discrepancy" is a difference between things that should match. (American Heritage Thesaurus, page 191.) There you go! There are many differences among the synonyms for "different"!

Beers and Malls

My pronunciation students gave presentations last week and today. A Korean compared American and Korean beer commercials. Many American ones take place in homes with parties, like the Superbowl one in which the house is made out of Bud Light. He said Koreans do not have parties in their homes; most live in apartments, so they drink in bars and clubs.

Another Korean explained that malls don't have windows. Also, the escalators force you to walk around the other side through merchandise, which drives me crazy, but I've never thought about it.