The title of this entry is a quote from a student in my Listening & Speaking class, who used it during an impromptu speech. He was a fast learner, and was able to catch and correct his mistake immediately after I asked him if his lower leg owned any other kinds of businesses. I'm glad he didn't decide to take it in a more perverse direction ( Read more... )

We are living in interesting times, dear readers.

As anyone who's been following my blogs for the last few years can attest, I try to avoid talking politics in my blog entries. I've spent enough time in academia to know that one should try not to chime in on a discussion without having something of value to add to it, be that a novel idea, an ( Read more... )

Yes, I know it's been more than a month since my last update. Tempus fugit and all ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from one of the students in my last morning class, who uttered it during a presentation in which she played the role of a realtor trying to sell a house to a couple who wanted to become homeowners. When she made them a really good deal and the husband said he wanted to think about it, she switched to the hard sell ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from one of my students, who used it in an e-mail explaining why he was absent from class. While I found his absence disappointing, I'm not sure what owning a chimney has to do with it...but I'm pleased that he didn't call me "Mrs. Devin" like another student recently did.

( WARNING: This entry is long. )

The title of this entry is a (mis)quote from one of my students, who accidentally swapped two of the sounds in "checkup" to produce it. She handled her verbal blunder with grace and aplomb, laughing it off and explaining that she was hungry. Well played, I say ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from one of the students in my morning class, who is as well-known for his outspokenness as he is for his lack of a filter. To his credit, he's been finding lots of contextually appropriate opportunities to use the word "disgusting" since I taught it to him, and this particular quote of his effectively illustrated ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a sentence from a paragraph written by one of my students, typed exactly as it appeared on paper. I'm not sure if said student was trying to cleverly employ a figure of speech or has chronic self-esteem issues, but I prefer to believe the former over the latter. In any event, it was one of the more memorable sentences ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from my friend Jess, who uttered it while recounting the story of how she met a man she is currently dating. No, he wasn't the same one who died, though I might tell the tabloids something juicier for the right price ( Read more... )

The title of this entry is a quote from my mom, who uttered it after one of my recent visits to the DMV. While her mixing of similes and adjective phrases was creative, her assessment had some unfortunate - if tenuous - grounding in fact ( Read more... )