Our students share their English teacher anecdotes
This year, to celebrate World Teacher’s Day, we asked English Online students to submit funny stories involving their English teachers. Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the winning anecdotes. Enjoy!
Harlan Principe
I will never forget my first lesson with British Council English Online. I had booked a free private class and after the standard greetings, my teacher asked:
“Did you bring materials for this lesson?”
I froze. Materials? What materials?!
“Yes, in private classes, students often bring materials or a subject they want to discuss.”
I hadn’t brought anything at all. How embarrassing! I wondered whether I had time to quickly go and grab my old highschool textbooks.
It was a bit of an awkward start, but once she heard it was my first time booking a class, the teacher started explaining how to use English Online. Her ability to calmly adapt to the situation blew me away.
I can honestly say that this experience contributed to convincing me that I’ve come to the right place to improve my English.
Imasha Silva
Today I’m going to tell you a story about something that happened a long time ago, in my English literature class.
One day, my friends and I were asked to write a literature review on a section from Pride and Prejudice. I can’t remember which section exactly, but never mind. I planned my review and started writing.
“the massage from this sentence is…”
After re-reading my review and with a nod of satisfaction, I submitted it to the teacher. The next day it was her turn to correct our answers. Once the class had settled, she addressed us: “I didn’t know Mr. Darcy gave massages. In my whole life, this is the first time I’ve read that the characters gave each other massages!”.
As you’ve probably already noticed, I had misspelled “message”, and had introduced massages into the Austen classic. We were in hysterics! We read each other’s sentences and laughed all day. Let me tell you, after that day, I never forgot how to spell message ever again.
Mina Ebrahim Mouris
I had a very busy day at the hospital as I am a dentistry student. My phone kept on ringing, so I kept silencing it in my pocket without checking why it was ringing. After a while, I realized that it was my English Online class reminder! I had class in less than 5 minutes. I was quite bothered because I wanted to attend class as we were going to cover an important topic. I made my excuses and ran, hoping to find a quiet place to attend class.
After a few panicky minutes of running around the hospital, I eventually found somewhere appropriate.
I was very happy that I could attend class, but I realized that I was still wearing my lab coat in a deserted place. I think my fellow students thought I was a bit weird!
Pallavi Ojha
Every good writer is a good reader first. And as I’m writing this short blog, it’s appropriate that I tell you about my English teacher, Ms. Sita, who gave me the confidence to read.
My dad sent me to a Birla Balika Vidyapeeth school in Rajasthan. I was a pretty good student, excelling in academia, sports and music, but I’d never thought much about reading. Most of my new friends, however, would spend hours with their noses buried in a book. I was fascinated and petrified at the same time. Often, when we’re afraid of something, we pretend that it’s not important, and so I told myself that reading just wasn’t cool.
That year, the school curriculum included the best-selling novel, “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. As I said before, I was academic and wanted to get a good grade.
But the problem was I didn’t like reading. I headed towards Ms. Sita to ask whether she could tell me what the novel was about.
I vividly remember her words. In a stern voice, she said, “Novels are meant to be read.” I took her response as a personal challenge. With a heavy heart, I started reading the novel. To my surprise, I finished the 200 page novel in just 3 days!
Today, I have finished more than 50 books and written several articles. And the journey continues!
Roxana Monica Raffa
On a wintry morning, while correcting homework, my teacher and I smelled something awful.
I initially thought I’d imagined it, however, the foul smell continued. I gathered my courage, and asked her whether she could smell it too. She nodded.
As I moved my feet, a disgusting odour filled the room. I looked under the table, and there it was, a big fresh piece of poo stuck to the sole of my trainer. Such bad luck!
Her desk was traditionally furnished, and on the floor was a beautiful Persian carpet. Can you imagine what would have happened if I had stepped on it?
She offered to clean my trainer. I took it off. We went to the laundry room and there she brushed it until it was spotless.
The funny thing is, I will always remember that English lesson. Almost as though the whole embarrassing experience and the horrid smell helped cement the new vocabulary in my mind. Maybe teachers should start using these unpleasant smelly pedagogical methods from now on!
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