Top Twenty

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Top twenty things I hear on any given day:

1: Hi, Meester.
2: Ay, No.
3: We go with you?
4: For what we go? English or Reading?
5: You can't give us homework, we have like... seven quizzes tomorrow.
6: No, Meester, its true.
7: Meester (He or She) is boddering me.
8: Meester, can I go?
9: Today you will let us play?
10: Yes. Yesterday you said dat you will let us play.
11: Why you give us homework all the days?
12: Entonces... Que pedo, Loco?
13: You will let us sleep.
14: Meester, can I go buy water?
15: Meester, can I go to the bathroom? Please... Meester, it is an emergency?
16: Meester I need to go take a peel. My stomach (pronounced with a soft "ch") hurts.
17: Meester I don't find my book. I leave it here and someone take it!
18: Cállate, vos! De Meester is talking.
19: Sunofabeach!
20: What homework?

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Comments

[Eric Chaffee]

UnLearning Wetback English
Clint, somebody (hey, Teach!) should tell your students that "Meester" is not the equivalent of Señor. Mr is only used in conjunction with a particular individual, such as "Mr Guiterrez" or "Mr Smith." No gringo ever says, "excuse me, Mr." What they might say instead would be "excuse me, Sir" (that is, if they aren't saying "hey, you" or "Uh, Bubba. . . .") But I really like your post. It's got mucho sabor. ~eric.

[Clint Holmes]

Hay Meester
I would tell them, Eric... but at this point "Meester" has become my name. After Charles Schultz named Charlie Brown's gang "The Peanuts" he hated the name, but He couldn't change it because once something is named... well that's that. Although they use "Meester" in the most crazy way I have ever heard, I can't bring myself to change them. I did point the mistake out one day. They gave me some really confused looks and started calling me "Teecher." ;)

[Julie]

In defense of the kids
First of all, "Mister" is still being used to address men. Open any dictionary and check the second common definition http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mister). Granted, it's a bit archaic, and reads a bit low-class, they do seem to use it correctly as a pronoun. At least they're not calling him "Dipwad". My mother has the same deal with her chinese students in Brooklyn. They call her "Missy Chen" and "Missy" for short. The Chinese have a hard time with words that end with consonants, so they tend to slap on a -y or -ie at the end of them. So they're really trying to address her as "Miss." Although they should be addressing her as "Teacher," at least it's not "Old Hag," so "Missy" doesn't seem so bad. There are plenty of "Americans" that walk around thinking that they speak impeccable English, because they're second generation American, or their ancestors came in on the Mayflower, but they butcher the language just as bad as some immigrants. In the end, isn't that the beauty of the American English language? It's a melting pot that is continually evolving. If anyone has ever studied the language, you'd see how much of it is made up of bastardized words from other languages centuries ago. Words and phrases get chopped up, mixed up, and assimilated every decade. So my message is two-fold: The English language is difficult, so give foreigners credit for trying, and before criticizing people for their use of grammar make sure you know the language enough to back yourself up.

[Tio Tom]

Many similarities . . .
Many similarities with American students. Do they have homework-eating dogs there too?