Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Line-crosser

On Tuesdays, I go to my secondary school. (Now, I work at two school branches of my language school)
In the secondary school, my students "were" serious people.
However, since teachers' schedules changed a few weeks ago, I happened to be in charge of very funny students.

Among them, Tomoe is the funniest one.
She is like...a Kansai comedian. She is always joking around and speaking loudly.
I love talking with her!

Today's teaching point of Tomoe's class was "gerund and infinitive."
At the free expansion section, the sample conversation was:
A " I am planning to ... next year."
B "That's great! I'd suggest ...ing."
I asked some ideas to fill in "..." sections.
Then, I found Tomoe wrote "I am planning to get married next year."
I was excited to find that!
"Tomoe, what is your idea? What is your resolution? Please tell us!!"
She was hesitating, but she is always so during the class, just trying to hide her shyness.
I said it again urging her, like, "Common!" because I knew this kind of topic made the girls (there were only girls in the class) ran high.
Tomoe said, "Well, it's not "my" plan exactly, but for example..."
She mentioned about marriage, and it made the students fluent more, as I expected.

But after the class, Tomoe said to me, "Keiko sensei! Don't ask me about marriage! You know, married people shouldn't ask "when are you going to get married?" to single people!"
I was surprised, "Oh! ...Sorry, did I cross the line? But I thought you have "a plan!"
She laughed with some embarrassment, "No, actually. Most nice guys are already "sold out! How should I do that? You don't have to worry, that's good, Keiko!
I think you are quite younger than me..."
"Right? I don't think so! How old are you, Tomoe san?"
I know some people who mention "age" actually want to be open their age and want to be said, "REALLY!? YOU LOOK YOUNG!!"
So, I asked her, and I thought I should be open first.
"Shall we say "the age" at the same time? I1,2,3... I'm 34!!"
...But she didn't say.
She drew her face and said, "...I can say my age if I'm so young!!"
...Really?? I crossed the line again???

Basically, I'm quite open about myself, so sometimes I make this kind of mistakes...
Sorry, Tomoe san!!

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