Your blog reminded me of a dare I accepted once. An egotistic Spanish Instructor (and TERRIBLE teacher) was bragging that he spoke Spanish like a native and had proved it by completing his driver's test in Spanish.
Note: It was his style to fail over half the class by the end of the term, and his tests were absurd: "Complete this sentence in Spanish: 1) El _____ (noun) ______ (verb) la ______ (noun)." Now that doesn't sound impossible, does it? Well, it was, because for him, there was only ONE correct answer! It was a guessing game, nothing more.
Anyway, one of the boys in the back of the room raised his hand and said, "If one of us could pass the drivers' test in Spanish, would you give that person an A for the class?"
"Indeed," responded Professor Fails, "it would show that you were really comfortable with the language."
Oh what a dare that was. My birthday was next week, and I figured I had little to lose. If I didn't pass, I could always take the test again in two weeks. I didn't have to do much more guessing than I'd have had to do with his test anyway, so off to the DMV I went.
And I passed! But it was not my knowledge of Spanish that did it. After taking many driving tests through the years, I used my very basic knowledge of Spanish and my excellent knowledge of driving exams.
I brought him my exam paper publicly in class and he gave me the A, whether I deserved it or not. I don't know if it took him down a peg or not. It was my first class in Spanish.
no subject
Your blog reminded me of a dare I accepted once. An egotistic Spanish Instructor (and TERRIBLE teacher) was bragging that he spoke Spanish like a native and had proved it by completing his driver's test in Spanish.
Note: It was his style to fail over half the class by the end of the term, and his tests were absurd: "Complete this sentence in Spanish: 1) El _____ (noun) ______ (verb) la ______ (noun)." Now that doesn't sound impossible, does it? Well, it was, because for him, there was only ONE correct answer! It was a guessing game, nothing more.
Anyway, one of the boys in the back of the room raised his hand and said, "If one of us could pass the drivers' test in Spanish, would you give that person an A for the class?"
"Indeed," responded Professor Fails, "it would show that you were really comfortable with the language."
Oh what a dare that was. My birthday was next week, and I figured I had little to lose. If I didn't pass, I could always take the test again in two weeks. I didn't have to do much more guessing than I'd have had to do with his test anyway, so off to the DMV I went.
And I passed! But it was not my knowledge of Spanish that did it. After taking many driving tests through the years, I used my very basic knowledge of Spanish and my excellent knowledge of driving exams.
I brought him my exam paper publicly in class and he gave me the A, whether I deserved it or not. I don't know if it took him down a peg or not. It was my first class in Spanish.