Crazy English

On Wednesday of this week, we started our "TEFL Methods" class. Six hours of class every day feels long, but our teacher is really good about modeling the methods that he is teaching us, so it makes for some interesting times in class. This morning we read a poem called "Our Strange Language" highlighting just how crazy English phonetics are. We had a contest in class to see who could read it aloud the fastest with no mistakes. Joe accomplished that in 23 seconds. I'll share it below...see if you can beat that!

When the English tongue we speak
Why is "break" not rhymed with "freak"?
Will you tell me why it's true
We say "sew" and likewise "few"?
And the maker of the verse
Cannot cap his "horse" with "worse"
"Cord" is different from "word"
Cow is "cow" but low is "low"
"Shoe" is never rhymed with "foe"
Think of "hose" and "does" and "lose"
And think of "goose" and not of "choose"
"Doll" and "roll," "home" and "some"
And since "pay" is rhymed with "say"
Why not "paid" with "said," I pray?
"Would" is pronounced like "could" -
Wherefore "done" but "gone" and "lone"?
Is there any reason known?
And in short it seems to me
Sounds and letters disagree.

Just this simple exercise really helps us as teachers see why it is so stinkin' hard to learn English! I'm thankful my mom taught me the phonetic units of English rather than just the letters. Makes a big difference.

Anyway, I don't have too much to say tonight. It's been a few really busy days. And I'm feeling pretty drained. Maybe I'll put up some pics tomorrow.