You bight me a Tenglish Eacher if...

You have lost all ability to speak this language that you teach.

I have noticed that my ability to speak this language, of which I am supposed to be an expert, is quickly disintegrating. After speaking in what we call 'special English' all day, slowly with the most simple words you can think of and LOTS of synonyms, you start to loose the language you have spoken your whole life.

Just a few examples would be to reverse the first sounds of word pairs. For example, I have a friend who really like Josh Groban. One day she commented that Josh makes her 'kneak in the wees.' We could not help but laugh. I have also aptly named the person on the train the 'chicket tecker.'

You start to make up words that don't even exists and become very confused when trying to make an noun into an adjective or the such. Last night I taught my roommates and friends a new word. Jackalope. Now some of you may think that is the made up word, but it was not. Jackalope is a common word, look it up...but no...as I was explaining what a Jackalope was I said it was a 'fictionary' animal. Yes...fictionary, it is an unword and should be added to the Denglish Ictionary.

Finally you find yourself with the inability to remember the simplest word in English. A few months back a teacher asked me what the word was for a knife that was not sharp. Of course you are all thinking 'dull' well...my mind was blank and I said 'There isn't a word for that...' She asked another teacher and that teacher immediately responded with 'It's dull.' This teacher was a Czech woman and a non native speaker of English. (Shame)

So...to keep up with my own language, I have been reading a LOT. I have read about 13 books since August, and I am still going. This helps to keep the vocabulary going and to remember those words that are so easily forgotten.

And, if you noticed my mistakes in this blog...you apparently are NOT a native speaker English teacher....cause I promise you, those were not made on purpose! I just thought it would be a funny example of what happens to your English.