In this essay , Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris the main character David was taken back a few steps when he signed up for a trip to Paris to learn the language of French more than he already did and too his surprise he was stuck with a very pessimistic teacher. To me this short essay did not hold my interest. The essay focused on how mean the teacher was and it wasn’t until the end where he figured out that her way of teaching was only to help him and the rest of the class understand and learn the language. A few incidents happened in the beginning of the story that made us feel bad for David and the rest of his class. I can relate to David because I have a class right now and I am sometimes scared to ask a question because I feel I will be ridiculed for what I say.
David was asked what he liked and disliked and according to his teacher she disagreed with everything that he said. David answered the teacher by stating that, " I detest: blood sausage, intestinal pates, brain pudding." He finished up the question by saying that he loves IBM and typewriters and the French word for bruise and his electric floor waxer. His teacher responded to him by saying, “Were you always this palicmkrexis?" Instead of focusing on what he liked and disliked she focused on the grammar in which he spoke and because he didn’t put a gender on typewriter he wasn’t "intelligent" in her eyes. I have had this happen to me before because I have stated my opinion and even asked a question that I honestly did not know the answer for and was yelled at and talked too as if I made the biggest mistake in the world. It makes me feel as if I can’t express myself and that I have to be conformed when I walk into class and that every question of mine is dumb, even if I believe that it’s a very well to do question.
I can also identify with David as we got closer to the end of the essay because he finally understood his teacher and understood that her negative way of teaching in the end was in the class best benefit. She wanted to the best for her students even though the way she presented herself wasn’t very pleasant. David makes a statement in the book that, "Understanding doesn’t mean that you can suddenly speak the language. Far from it. It’s a small step, nothing more, yet its rewards are intoxicating and deceptive." That’s how I feel right now, at this very moment. Although I may not get everything the teacher ask me to do or teaches me, understanding that she is in my best interest makes me at ease with myself and reassures me that I am not dumb, just have a lot more learning to do.
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2 comments:
I felt the exact same way as you did on this short story Me Talk Pretty by David Sedaris. This short story made me think of previous and past experiences with my teachers. It just goes to show that majority of the teachers out there are strict, but they have good intentions. They just want us to learn, even though we take it the wrong way. Maybe it is us that need to be more open minded to their teaching styles? I know I need to be.
This blog is very true in my opinion, I agree with you about the intentions of the teacher in Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Which were to improve the student’s French by harshly criticizing it. In the blog you tell us about a similar situation you had with a teacher, as David did. I too have been in a similar position, where I felt I shouldn’t state my opinion because I feared I would get ridiculed for it. But like you stated professors criticize students, not to be cruel but for their best interest, which is to improve our skills, which is something we both have learned.
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