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).
oh, a chance for us to give solicited advice. But I don't know the answer to this one!
ReplyDeleteThis 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. :)
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.
ReplyDeleteI would say patient and optimistic.
ReplyDeleteYou could be a wiseass and write in "All of the above" in the target language.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is patient.
ReplyDeleteAfterall, how useful is a teacher who is impatient?
It's gotta be strange...it keeps the students awake, and we all know that consciousness is the first step in learning...
ReplyDeleteYou 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.
ReplyDeleteI'd go for optimistic. 'Strange' is a good choice as well.
ReplyDeleteSo, 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. =)
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to what is supposed to be the correct answer. I'm guessing patient, right?
ReplyDeleteBut, 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 :-).
In the language of interest for this homework, the correct answer is 'patient'.
ReplyDeleteI love it.
ReplyDeleteDo you think the person who wrote the question snickered and thought "all of the above" when he/she was writing it?
It was a serious question in the textbook. There are lots of questions like that in this book.
ReplyDeleteAnother 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.
When I start the semester, I am optimistic.
ReplyDeleteWhen 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!!
My answer: e) able to create multiple choice answer sets with just one correct result.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm feeling snarky today :-)
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.
ReplyDeleteI guess in a language class it's better to be a talkative person than a quiet one!
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.
ReplyDeletePatient.
ReplyDeleteAre these questions designed to provoke discussions? They could be useful for getting people to justify their answers in a different language.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe the authors have a penchant for oversimplifying things. :-)