The Things They Teach The Children.

English with a kick.

Just having returned from some extra lessons I am still a bit speechless at what the kids have to learn. English all well and good, but English about love and relationships can get a bit iffy and tricky to explain.

The girl I was helping has just reached her fourteenth birthday and when I looked at the text she ( and I suppose we ) had to study, my heart sank. Terms like cheating, having an affair, having a fling. chat up, passionate, intimate had me in a spot of bother at how to explain them. Honestly, is that the English foreigners need to learn?

Some of the sentences were so casual and almost normal, such as

John went to Italy on holiday and had a fling.

that even my pupil looked at me and said:

" You know, it isn't right that they normalize having a fling. They should have had a ' gosh ' or something like that in the sentence. "

Well, how precious is she? The whole chapter about relationships and the ups and downs that go with it is honestly not quite the thing to approach as a second language. At least we can be thankful for one thing...young Austrians travelling overseas to widen their horizons will be able to converse about such intricate issues which are a hallmark of many relationships.

Again, I am so thankful to have gone to school in South Africa and learned the appropriateness of issues in all sectors of life.

Biggi