On Being Naughty

I was being naughty today and showed a video to my class that included this as part of the dialogue.

A Talking Parrot: " Tarzan, stop it. You behave yourself. "

An interviewer reading from a parrot expert's book: "What if it learns your lovemaking cries and repeats it when your mother-in-law visits?"

Before you roll your eyes on me, I have to tell you that this video came with the ELL books we adopted last year. Apparently, nobody took the time to watch the videos or read the book or check all of the supported material before they adopted it because every unit so far has had material that is in someway or other inappropriate for teenagers.

Maybe they were hoping Advanced level ESL students would not pick up on such nuisances.

I know I was.

I had to play this short video about 5 times in each class for a worksheet that came with this video and every time this part came about, I stunted very low, shrug my shoulders and made a constipated face. If I didn't hear a loud "Ha, Ha, Ha!" i took a deep breath. To my surprise only one girl who laughed out loud GOT it and everybody else were either too pure and innocent or lacked the English skills to get the reference.

I want to believe its the first reason, but would be flattering myself if it was.