Broken English

Many students tell their parents that I speak broken English. The anecdote below is a good example:

Last week a student asked me if I was good at mental calculation.
"No," I said. "I count better on my fingers."
 The boy laughed and said, "What kind of English teacher are you! How can you stand on your fingers and count?"
"What is the correct way of saying then?" I asked.
"It should be 'I count better with my fingers."

Another example, just in case the previous one fails to convince you...

I knocked on the door of a classroom and said, "May I see Daniel Ujang?"

The whole class erupted into laughter.

Miss Tan, a Science teacher, stifled a laugh and said, "Mr. Lo, why are you so curious to see Daniel's face? You should have said, May I meet Daniel?"

Comments

suituapui said…
A little learning is a dangerous thing. I would insist on "please" though even though "may" is used instead of the less polite "can".
October 18, 2015 at 11:59 PM
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