Saturday, November 17, 2007

Homework Help

This is probably cheating to ask for help with this, but I am puzzled by a question on my language homework this weekend. Here is the question (translated):

To be a good teacher, it is necessary to be

(a) patient
(b) strange
(c) optimistic
(d) hard

Too bad 'all of the above' is not a choice.

(and yes, I do know which one I am 'supposed' to choose).

19 comments:

EcoGeoFemme said...

oh, a chance for us to give solicited advice. But I don't know the answer to this one!

This blog has an unusual culture. You write thoughtful, articulate, insightful posts almost every day and we come back with like, 30 comments with unsolicited advice: "did you try this"; "maybe you should do that". Thanks for sharing and giving us a chance to put ourselves in your full professor's shoes. :)

Dr. Lisa said...

Ha! My physics students think I'm hard, my astronomy students find me strange, and the old students who keep in touch always thank me for my optimism and patience.

Anonymous said...

I would say patient and optimistic.

Perilla Docta said...

You could be a wiseass and write in "All of the above" in the target language.

Anisa said...

The answer is patient.

Afterall, how useful is a teacher who is impatient?

oreneta said...

It's gotta be strange...it keeps the students awake, and we all know that consciousness is the first step in learning...

Mentor said...

You mean you know, without hesitation, which one you're "supposed" to pick? I'm afraid I would really hesitate between 'patient' and... 'optimistic'. Perhaps this is because I feel a bit pessimistic today. Or perhaps because of the way the question is phrased.

Schlupp said...

I'd go for optimistic. 'Strange' is a good choice as well.

Serdic said...

So, add all of the above as a choice. At the very least, you'd be practicing your language skills, and it may lead to an interesting conversation. =)

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to what is supposed to be the correct answer. I'm guessing patient, right?

But, one does have to wonder whether the answer is more obvious in the original language. Are the flavors of the words the same in the original? (that's a rhetorical question, but in the translated version, we can't be sure that it's a flawed multiple choice question).

bj

(Oops, I guess I've helped you cheat :-).

Female Science Professor said...

In the language of interest for this homework, the correct answer is 'patient'.

Kim said...

I love it.

Do you think the person who wrote the question snickered and thought "all of the above" when he/she was writing it?

Female Science Professor said...

It was a serious question in the textbook. There are lots of questions like that in this book.

Another example:

True or False? It is better to be very talkative than to be a quiet person.

These questions make for interesting discussions in the class.

Unbalanced Reaction said...

When I start the semester, I am optimistic.
When I lecture, I am strange.
When I have office hours, I am patient.
When I grade exams, I am hard.

I guess all of us have to be a combo of them all to get through the semester!!

Anonymous said...

My answer: e) able to create multiple choice answer sets with just one correct result.

But I'm feeling snarky today :-)

Anonymous said...

Oh now, I really want to know whether it is true or false that it is better to be a talkative person than a quiet person. One might expect that answer to be quite culturally loaded.

I guess in a language class it's better to be a talkative person than a quiet one!

Bruce Sabin said...

Maybe the answer is "hard" because Socrates still teaches many people, and while he isn't patient, optimistic or terribly strange, he is still hard.

Ms.PhD said...

Patient.

Anonymous said...

Are these questions designed to provoke discussions? They could be useful for getting people to justify their answers in a different language.

Or maybe the authors have a penchant for oversimplifying things. :-)