Complementary

The boss says, "ALL teachers are language teachers." I actually agree with the boss on this. I have reached a certain level of literacy in English that my students want. Therefore it is partly my job to teach them English, even the mechanics like spelling, usage and grammar that have become so unfashionable in their English classes.

In Math Studies I needed to reteach the Year 13s the differences between they're, their, and there. Jay was delighted, "we're learning English in math class!" he laughed.

The Higher Levels are more sophisticated. I asked them to describe two angles that sum to 90 degrees. Isaac answered correctly, so I asked him to spell complementary.

"C-O-M-P-L-I- . . ."

"No!" I interrupted. "Not an I, an E. Complimentary angles would be angles that say nice things to each other, like 'you're a cute angle. Thanks, you're acute, too.'"

They all laughed and Tim blurted out:

"Isaac, you're a cute angle!"

"Thanks, Tim," Isaac retorted, "you're obtuse!"

"You're right!" said Tim, cleverly getting the last word with a bit of self-deprecation. Or, as my friend Shannon used to say, "self-defecation."

This sort of word play is beyond the students in Studies. That's the difference between Higher Level and Studies. In Math Studies, we can't make math jokes because nobody will get them. Unless it's a silly, simple joke, like:

Why is 6 afraid of 7?

Because 7 8 9.