Don't play with it

~~~

Lie (?), n. [AS. lyge; akin to D. leugen, OHG. lugi, G. luge, lug, Icel. lygi, Dan. & Sw. logn, Goth. liugn. See Lie to utter a falsehood.]
1. A falsehood uttered or acted for the purpose of deception; an intentional violation of truth; an untruth spoken with the intention to deceive.

It is willful deceit that makes a lie. A man may act a lie, as by pointing his finger in a wrong direction when a traveler inquires of him his road. Paley.

2. A fiction; a fable; an untruth.
Dryden.
3. Anything which misleads or disappoints.

Wishing this lie of life was o'er. Trench.

To give the lie to. (a) To charge with falsehood; as, the man gave him the lie. (b) To reveal to be false; as, a man's actions may give the lie to his words. -- White lie, a euphemism for such lies as one finds it convenient to tell, and excuses himself for telling.
Syn. -- Untruth; falsehood; fiction; deception. -- lie, Untruth. A man may state what is untrue from ignorance or misconception; hence, to impute an untruth to one is not necessarily the same as charging him with a lie. Every lie is an untruth, but not every untruth is a lie. Cf. Falsity.

Do excuse that... i was just thinking about lies today... white lies... big lies... small lies... lies by omission... and how we're actually taught to lie in society... from since we're small...

Now that that's out of my system....
~~~

Today was a good day. I realize how futile it is to complain about my students. They have their moments, but i like them too much.

Today, i taught my hellish Form 2s Reported/Indirect speech. I was going in accordance to the textbook but then i realized that they were a) distracted, b) not following in the textbook c) ultimately not understanding and d) not making the least effort to try to understand. After I went through everything, possibly more than twice and reaching nowhere until i decided try another approach. I closed the textbook, leaned against the desk, and I re-taught the lesson trying to use their language, trying to make the lesson more practical. As students, inquisitive students, it's hard not to be involved in "he said/she said" throughout the day. Thus, what i did is point out and emphasize just that, and also when they're telling the story they don't tell the story in first or second person, but in third person. Also, that when you do so, tenses come into play - future, present, past. Also, that if we are speaking of something that always remains true (a true statement) then the tense remains in past tense. My objective with this practical approach was to demystify the topic and bring it down to a level where they go "OHHHH, thats what she means...!". Hopefully, my endeavors were successful. Next class, I shall have them give me everyday examples to make sure they understood.



As for my Form 3s, I reviewed an exercise they apparently did already. I was going in accordance to the pre-planned lesson and we've essentially covered most of what has to be covered for their end-of-term exams. The theme, I soon realized as the lesson progressed, was about fashion. There were two poems and two dialogues dedicated to arguing/defending fashion. It was a fun class. The lesson provided some leeway to prompt a discussion on their opinion on fashion - what's proper/improper, the attention attracted based on dress and such. Next class they want to have a discussion on folk tales such as Lagablesse, Old Higue/Ligaroo, etc. On Friday I plan to read an article from Cosmogirl magazine, from back when the magazines had more substance than fluff. It was one of my favourite magazines to read... very inspiring as a female, offered excellent advice on career choices/budgeting, and many stories of ordinary teens that have done amazing feats. I'm thinking of reading the Julia Stiles article on adhering to her values and pursuing further education despite her successes as an actress and the influence/pressure of the media. The characters she tends to play in her movies tend to be very strong, self-assured (not self-centered) characters, which seems to some extent imitate her actual personality. She's amongst my favourites... I'll stop now. Enough diversion... what I really meant to say is I'll be having that discussion about ghosts and such after my article reading.


Then my Form 1s... they're warming up to Sprat Morrison. Of course, since we are behind, they need to warm up faster.... but at least they are beginning to like it...

My children. *contented sigh*