Seventh grade ELD (English language development, read: English language learners).
The teacher was out on jury duty (first day--I don't know if she got selected for a jury as I worked elsewhere the next day). The lesson plan was a bit of a scramble. This group was to play Scrabble.
If you think about it, it's an excellent way to have them doing something in English. And due to limited boards, the students played in pairs as teams, which meant they were conferring on proper English words.
Things went fairly well. I mean, they got a little loud, but that was to be expected.
Then one group called me over. They were talking as I approached.
"It means gender."
They needed a ruling. Was it okay to play the word "sex"?
Sigh. For that age... But they weren't giggling. It was an actual, reasoned debate. The team that wanted to play it rightly pointed out it had a valid definition that was classroom appropriate.
Considering the tenor of the conversation, I allowed it. They weren't being silly. They were treating it as a word. I appreciated that.
Besides, using X was going to give them issues anyway.
Your post title certainly got my eyes today, LOL :) Points to them for defining it too :)
ReplyDeletebetty
That sounds like a fun day in class. I love scrabble.
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed I didn't get to play :-(
DeleteWell, that is a proper word not only action but what sex are you, male, female...undecided:)
ReplyDeleteIt is.
DeleteI agree, they showed maturity and proper use of the word.
ReplyDeleteThey did. Getting the 10 points was their reward. (Or did they have a double word score? I can't recall now.)
DeleteWow. Shocking maturity. I can't believe it.
ReplyDeleteGood for those kiddos!
ReplyDeleteThey're good sometimes ;)
DeleteHi Liz - yes they certainly seemed to be intelligently playing their game and as you say the 'X' scores high. Glad to read about one of the good times - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteNicely done!
ReplyDeleteOccasionally they do good ;)
DeleteDefinitely allowed and it was a good chance to use the X. That sounded like a fun lesson!
ReplyDeleteHAHA....at least they were looking at it as a word and being a CHILD about it.
ReplyDeleteTrue.
DeleteThis was very funny, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletewww.ficklemillennial.blogspot.com
Of course it's a word! And a very good word if you place the letters in the right places :)
ReplyDeleteI work in an industry where the word "sex" (as in gender) is referred to many times a day. So, I kid you not, we had to comply with a regulation called "Regulation (3 x's). I am truly not making this up, but our email system at work blocked any discussion of "Regulation (3x's)" for a time. So, having said that...I would have allowed it in Scrabble, too.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a headache.
DeleteI'm impressed. And the usage seems fair to me. ~nods~ We've become lazy, using my e-reader for Scrabble so we don't have to second guess legal use.
ReplyDeleteLegal use and acceptable use by 12-year-olds are two different things...
DeleteOne of the classes I had for student teaching long ago was an ESL-History class (something like that). It was my less stressful because the kids, mostly Vietnamese refugees, wanted to learn and were interested in learning about their new world.
ReplyDeleteObviously their competitive nature shined. Clever activity set by the teacher.
ReplyDelete