Not The Definitive Article

(I teach second grade. I give my students magazines and ask them to find articles to write about. One student approaches me with his magazine.)

Student: “I found an article! Right there!”

Me: “Great! Do you like that article?”

Student: “Um… yes?”

Me: “If you aren’t sure about it, you can go look for another one that you like more.”

(The student returns a minute later.)

Student: “I found another article. The.”

Me: “So do you like that article?”

Student: “I don’t know! It’s just the. The, the, the.”

Me: “Why are you saying ‘the’? Do you want to write about that article or not?”

Student: “I don’t know how to write about ‘the’ ”

(Then it hits me that a few days ago I had taught them about the articles in English; a, an, and the.)

Me: “Not that kind of article!”