We are nearing the end of our big English Language Learner's test at school. It's pretty much the same thing I've done in New York. The test is broken into 4 parts; listening, reading, writing and speaking. The first three I can test the kids in groups of up to 6, which is a great time saver as I have like 45 kids to test. The speaking however is done individually. And it is what causes me the most stress.
So I have this little lisp. It's been nagging me since, well, as long as I remember. I even have memories of being pulled out of class during my third grade year to do speaking exercises. My family likes to tease me about me saying "snake". To this day my tongue sticks out between my upper and lower teeth when I say 's' words.
Over the years I've learned to hide it more, but even today it still happens in the following three scenarios; tired, over-served and over-excited. Clearly I wasn't over-served or over-excited while administering the speaking part of the test, just really tired. Thank you HP. I read and re-read 'Maria's Field Trip' to my students and by the end I sounded like a non-native English speaker. More like a native of Spain where a lisp is appreciated.
So I will save my breathe and count down to Spring Break (2 days!).
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