A rather harrowing situation, sure, but one that shows some forward-mindedness of the part of the textbook authors, especially since the typical lesson includes such tripe as the story of Sarah and Jeff, who get married and graduate from university and get a pay rise and move to a larger house and have a baby, just like that, in a world where progeny arrive on command and IVF and frozen embryos and perhaps even uteri do not exist. (Which is, admittedly, the world that I might like to live in.)
But then consider that to lead this lesson, one needs to convey and then check understanding of the meaning of "sperm," and things start to fall apart on the teaching front, with us – all of us but the poor trainee to whom the lesson was assigned, that is – snickering over ideas ranging from drawing a not-so-innocent-looking "balloon on a string" to asking questions like, "What came out of you after you were looking at porn on the computer last night?"
I had my own ideas but bit my tongue, since my own personal definition of the word falls along the lines of "something that you very hopefully put inside you at the right time every month but that doesn't seem to lead to anything much." Why would I rain on the jolly sperm parade with that?
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| borrowed ethically from source |
Aww c'mon, I'm all for bumming people out! ;)
ReplyDeleteLol! I'd really like to live in that world too!!! I love all my new blogger friends, but I'm pretty certain I'd give my right arm to not have a blog dedicated to our private parts (yea, I'm so mature I just said private parts).
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up... Sperm parade! Oh the visuals!
Love the visuals :) Thanks for the laugh tonight!
ReplyDeleteSperm parade. Classic!
ReplyDeleteYour course sounds fascinating. who would have guessed sperm, embryos and IVF would be important in the teaching of English. It is certainly comprehensive.
ReplyDeleteIt was incidental to the main aim of students learning to discuss dilemmas and give opinions ... I just felt bad for the poor teacher that such dilemmas had to involve such vocabulary!
DeleteLove your definition!
ReplyDeleteIt is cool that that was the example, in the text book no less! And crazy that some people's biggest concern is googling the word sperm!
ReplyDeleteIt is a good thing that the sperm was the only stumbling block. Whenever i hear people talk about IVF I have to supressed the urge to say "Actually that is a bit simplistic, what really happens is ...." adn then there is no stopping me, good job I don't teach English!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you could have given a great lesson on everything involving IVF while incorporating nothing regarding learning English!
DeleteThat happened to another teacher who gave a lesson based on cloning and stem cell research and other advances in modern medicine. He gave the simplistic "let's learn English"-oriented explanations and definitions and was corrected on every point by a learner who is also a biologist. Classic.
Sperm has such a different meaning for us now, doesn't it? Used to be something that we were so afraid of when we were younger (pregnancy...yikes) and now it is a whole new ballgame (haha no pun intended).
ReplyDeleteI would love to know the story behind how this topic ended up in your textbook! This is obviously not something that would happen to Sarah and Jeff, but a far more interesting couple, Mandy and Steve, perhaps? Who spent their life savings on a failed IVF, which culminated in divorce, and eventually led to the example that some poor teacher trainee had to try to simplify into an English lesson. But the "jolly sperm parade" that ensued sounds like a good time!
ReplyDeleteA not so innocent looking balloon on a string! Brilliant! The joys of translations! I studied French Spanish and Portuguese for my degree and when living in France had to have an interesting conversation with a French Policeman when I was flashed! Never before had I had to look up terms such as touching/rubbing himself and other fun associated words!!
ReplyDeleteHa! Hopefully you never had to use that vocabulary ever again ......
DeleteNow when we BD this month I'm going to picture the husband's smerm on a jolly parade up to my fallopian tubes. Thank god he already knows I'm crazy, otherwise it might be a problem when I start laughing hysterically during. Or humming some Sousa march afterward;-)
ReplyDelete