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alien boy
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For me, I haven �t seen the worksheet... but I believe the jokes involve stereotyping & vilification. If the rest of the worksheet were the same I would have reported it as not being an ESL resource for those reasons.
It is all well & good to assume from the title of a worksheet that it will be interesting & useful... but it always pays to read something first. What is the old pun... to assume makes an ASS out of of U & ME...
I have used Santa letters & replies as an activity for my junior high school students. We draw lots to see who writes & who replies. They can write anything they want BUT there is one caveat... all the letters & replies will be on display for the entire student body & teachers to read... so a sense of humor is a very good thing, but foul language will not be good for anyone, especially the students & it may even affect the comment in their 2nd term report card!
SO for me, the worksheet is/was not a resource unless it also has some exercise &/or discussion about the in/appropriateness of certain types of jokes/humor in terms of stereotyping etc.
�If Santa wrote back �, whether copied or original, the worksheet sounds like it was not an ESL resource because the language used couldn �t be justified for teaching adults (& definitely not minors) in the form in which it was uploaded.
regards,
AB
P.S. Malvine, I�m with you on the �comment� writing approach & belief.
P.P.S. I wasn�t aware of a �huge� discussion in the forum... this discussion has almost 3 times the number of comments in comparison with the single thread I�ve seen on the other one...
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21 Dec 2009
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DUSIA
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Do you mind if I change a topic a bit? Recently I have observed that my teenage students use words like F word among each other without actually understanding it! They pick it up from the movies and they got the wrong idea that all the native speakers use it all the time. Several times I tried to investigate if they understood the meaning of the F word and to my surprise it appeared that they were not aware of the fact how nasty it is and what does it really mean!!! It forced me to spend some time explaining the difference between language they pick up from the movies and the language used by normal people in normal cirrcumstances...
I was taught English by an eldery gentleman interested in art and literature, but I remember that one lesson (I was 17 years old) he spend explaining use some "most popular" English "dirty words". He was able to do it in a very calm, delicate and professional way so no one was offended and no one treated it as something bad - he taught us part of the language and that �s it...
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21 Dec 2009
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Agacica
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I guess I �m the reason of all this fuss.
I just want to say that during my metodology studies I was taught that adolescents are people between 18 and 21 and after their 21st birthday they become full fledged adults.
That means they are mature in the constitutional sense. I had never encouraged anyone to use it with teenagers and if anyone claims otherwise... well, that �s simply mean.
As far as I remember I �ve said:
"The WS is a bit rude so don �t show it too much to teenagers ;P"
I �d like to highlight the significance of this small and maybe unnoticed face-icon sign.
This means irony dear friends.
Besides, your reaction is as if I had offended you, at least!
It makes me a bit sad to see and read all this, after all many of us - fellow teachers - download WS not only to get the stuff they need or get some interesting ideas for their exercises but to have a laugh at the content, too. And that was my intention.
If you don �t find it funny, no problem. Sense of humor is an individual thing and I �m not going to develop on that.
After all the very end of the WS information was important: "Merry Christmas my dear friends".
And it was supposed to be a funny gift for those who will find it funny and interesting.
Let �s end this pointless discussion then to let the Christmas be Merry indeed.
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21 Dec 2009
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blunderbuster
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Hi there,
I do not understand the people (all of them, since I have read several threads that discuss this issue) who have a problem with the fact that their worksheets might be or might have been removed. The people who own and operate this website don �t owe anything to anybody, do they? I think they have created something wonderful and I am glad to be a part of it, even though I was a bit sceptical at first. If you upload something, you should be prepared for people using your worksheet in ways you might not approve of and you should also be willing to accept the fact that you might never find out what really happens to your work (if it is your work).
Shortly before Christmas, I also downloaded the worksheet in question above and I also hadn �t read it properly before downloading, only when saving it I realized that I wouldn �t be able to use it in class. I did not report the worksheet but I am glad Victor and his crowd do have an eye on what is happening on this platform.
In general, everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt. teacher and student alike. People who aren �t native speakers sometimes find something funny simply because they are able to make sense of the words that they are reading, they are happy that they understand. Cultures and what is and isn �t tolerated in them can be very different (as an example, just look at how differently animal rights are treated around the world). But after all, YES, we should lead by example and promote a peaceful world free of violence, free of verbal and physical abuse in the classroom, because it may be the only place in a child �s life where they have the chance to experience such an atmosphere, seriously). All of us should take this into consideration and keep it in mind when making or distributing worksheets, no matter where, when and how. It might come back to haunt you.
"If Santa wrote back..." was a great idea, I find, all of you, please be inspired to take the idea a step further and make a worksheet that will blow us away ( in the utterly positive sense of the expression) same time next year.
Regards
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30 Dec 2009
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