Twice now I have been corrected by kiddos because they don't "understand" my accent.
The first time it happened was during a second-grade session. I am so lucky to have in my schedule time to be IN a second grade classroom with the most wonderful second grade teacher ever. The group is wonderful (most of the time) and I have two unique kiddos that I get to monitor especially closely. The other day we were doing some ketchup and relish time (you know - "catch up" time for kiddos not quite finished with something and free time to "relish" for those all done with everything) and one of my students had some morning work to finish - a crossword puzzle with clues. This particular student is very interesting. He is very low in reading and takes considerable time to process, but when he does, he comes up with very detailed answers. That doesn't really come in to play with this scenario, but he's just a very interesting kid! Anyways! The clue was "married to your aunt" (pronounced ah-(as in open your mouth and say ahhh)-nt). I read the clue to him so it would take the pressure off decoding so he could work on comprehension and choosing the word that worked. He was so confused. I tried to rephrase - you know - these people go in a pair, your aunt and blank. Do you have any aunts? Are any of them married? What do you call that person? Several clues here --- with ample wait time. Still nothing. Finally one of his table partners helped him out -- she means married to my AUNT (pronounced ant). Then he got it right away...
The next time came with a small reading group of fifth graders that comes to see me. We were talking about palm trees - their fronds, coconuts, trunks and roots (r/u/ts). They all cracked up and said I was saying it wrong! The absolute only way to say that word is roots (r-ooo (rhymes with boo)-ts). Teachable moment! Teachable moment! Let's talk about dialects and accents and more than one possible pronunciation. And how the teacher is NEVER wrong. (heehee -- just kidding -- definitely always teach my kids the opposite of that statement!)
3 comments:
Me, I would vote for gymnastics! IC really likes all the busy activity at gym. They walk the beam, play on small bars, jump on tramps, jump in the foam pit. MVJ sounds like a busy bee so she'd love that! Ballet is fun too, but IC really didn't get into it that much when she was that young. As her attention span grows with age, she is getting much better at ballet, but at MVJ's age, IC did much better in gym. But ballet is awfully cute and IC loves the IDEA of being a pretty ballerina more than she likes practicing 1st position. However, if she sticks with both, they will complement each other for performances (says my cousin who is now a collegiate level gymnast).
Definitely makes sense... it's just that darn performance at the Chester Fritz I went to that one evening. All those little girls all dressed up.... waaaay too cute! haha! But, I think MVJ would enjoy gymnastics more... alas... ; )
I had to lose my accent in about a week when we moved because I was made fun of so much. The major ones were "notebook," "boat" and "bag." Our "o's" are just too o-ey and long and our "a's" are to Ay-ey. BUT - I have NOT changed Aunt. They aren't little bugs.
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