Slang

I'm teaching a lesson on slang right now. The biggest surprise of this lesson (and one of the biggest surprises I've experienced teaching so far) is that a vast majority of students don't know what "slang" is. By that, I mean the word "slang." They know the concept, but have never heard the actual word in their 10-odd years of learning English.

This is of course crazy to me, but also very typical. One of the biggest challenges of teaching English in HK is making English seem relevant to the students' lives. When I was in high school, I wondered why we had to learn Chemistry, a subject that taught things I felt like I had absolutely no need or desire to know. I remember using the word "pointless" a lot. Many, many students feel the same way about English here. It makes sense. Outside of school, why would a Hong Kong teenager ever have to use English?

It's my opinion that this attitude is extremely short-sighted. Although it's not fair, English proficiency is essential to go to the best universities, have the best jobs, etc. As children, however, English is only needed to pass English exams. If that's the case, why would they ever come across the term slang? You can't use most slang in formal situations, and isn't school the ultimate formal situation?

Anyway, at the end of the lesson I asked the students to teach me some Cantonese slang. Click on the pictures to enlarge the image and get practicing!



Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee