Always Weed Out Google Searches
(I am a Grade 4 and Grade 5 French teacher. I am doing a mini-lesson on things the kids might see outside.)
Me: “Sun is ‘le soleil,’ clouds are ‘les nudges,’ and the sky is ‘le ciel.'”
Student: “How do you say ‘grass?'”
Me: “Hm. You know what? I don’t remember offhand. Let’s look it up.”
(I encourage any student to look up words they don’t know, and have made no secret that there are words I don’t know or forget. So I quickly Google it and respond.)
Me: “Grass is ‘l’herbe!’ There we go.”
(Fast forward about three months. I am sitting in my office preparing a lesson, and creating a word search.)
Me: “… nuage, ciel, arbre… grass… grass… What was ‘grass’ again?”
(I Google, and I find ‘le gazon.’ Confused for a moment, I look a little more thoroughly, and then, to my combined amusement and horror, I figure out my mistake.)
Me: *to my colleague* “So apparently three months ago I taught the kids a French street term for ‘Marijuana.'”