Year Summary for 2012

Two of my reading classes did the ‘i’ lesson today. I had to explain ‘chill’, ‘cliff’, ‘knit’, and ‘vanish’. At least a couple of kids in the noon class knew what a ‘vest’ was. (No, ‘vest’ doesn’t have a short ‘i’, but it is one of the words in the short ‘i’ lesson.) I continue … Continue reading Short i

Singlish: “You need to go toilet? Okay, wear your shoe first.” English: “You need to go to the toilet? Okay, put on your shoes first.” ‘Wear’ is really not the same as ‘put on’, if you ask me. Oh, and the whole reason this conversation happens is that kids don’t wear shoes inside schools and … Continue reading Wear your shoe

Once upon a time, my mom worked at a company called ESL Instruction and Consulting. She was instructed to answer incoming calls by saying, “ESL Instruction and Consulting, how can I help you?” One day she answered the phone one day and said, “ESL Construction and Insulting…”

Once upon a time many years ago, my mom and I were doing Mad Libs. Mad Libs is a game where there’s a story printed on a notebook, but some words are missing. One person tells the other person what type of word to supply. (A color, a plural noun, a profession, a verb.) Then … Continue reading Beware! Beware! A bottomless __________!

In Singapore, the answer to a question will often be “I also don’t know.” The implication is that the asker doesn’t know and that the answerer is thus the second person who doesn’t know. We Americans don’t say ‘also’ in English when we don’t know unless at least one person has already failed to answer … Continue reading I also don’t know.

How many times have I seen construction sites or trucks marked with this logo and thought it said ‘sandwich’? I guess when riding the bus, sometimes I’m a bit ‘blur’. Or hungry.

Why? Because in Singapore, there are no yards.* There aren’t any sticks measuring 36″, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about that area around your house where there’s grass and plants and trees. Maybe you have a fence, a driveway, a mailbox at the end of the driveway, and a doghouse or … Continue reading What’s a ‘yard’?

The stuff stuck to my shoe is not gum. It’s fake eyelashes.