Are You Hungry? How About a Peacock Sandwich?

Came across a link to a humorous post in my feedreader, by a couple teaching English in China. They analyze a set of alphabetical blocks, used to teach English vocabulary. Predictably, hilarity ensues.

Is that a panda? NO! it’s a bear cat! Someday, your Chinese friend might ask if you want to see his wecker. Don’t slap him! He just wants to know if you want to see his new VW Bug. And if they offer you a peacock sandwich, relax. It’s just turkey.

Chumble Spuzz! » peer-see:

One of the things that is so amazing about teaching English as a foreign language is that it forces you to rethink components of English you take for granted and experience the language in a completely new way.

Um, isn’t that what a teacher is supposed to do?

Well, that might be true. But the main reason for that, at least in Japan, is that they are learning the language outside of any cultural or creative context that would actually allow people to learn to use the language. (That, and they live by their dictionaries.) So forget about talking normally. Think s-l-o-w and without any interesting idioms or expressions (unless you want to spend more time explaining the joke than you did telling it!)

They really should use native speakers to check the materials. As many people observed in the comments after the article, the chosen words might not be wrong, but they sure are strange. You see that all the time in Asia.

But then again, at least these people are trying to learn a foreign language. Yeah, I know, “English is the International Language,” blah, blah. (So was Latin, once.) I know a lot of people here in Japan, who make fun of people’s English, and are so critical, but they can’t even string together a grammatically correct sentence, even after living here for years. MostMany English speakers abroad are inexcusably lazy and self-indulgent to think that everyone in the world should accomodate them, even as they make fun of people who struggle with their language. The same people who complain and moan when people back home don’t speak their language, think it is ok to live and work in countries where they don’t even try to learn the local language.

Having said that, these blocks are funny.

(Via Japan Newbie.)