Sibboleth

Today in class my ear became attuned to an area of pronunciation my oral communication students need a little help with.

At the time, I was drilling them in the proper use of "could".

"I'm going camping this weekend," I said. "Do you have any suggestions for what I could do while I'm there?"

"You could... you... you could..." They were having trouble coming up with possible camp activities, so I began pantomiming.

"You could play fishing!"

"Go fishing," I corrected, and mimed something else.

"You could climb a mountain!"

I acted out swimming as best I could.

"You could go jazz dancing!" We all laughed, while I continued flailing until someone answered correctly.

"Okay, now this one might be harder," I warned them, and sat down to warm my hands by a pretend fire.

"You could... campfire?"

"Good, but what verb should you use?"

"Burn!"

"No, it's already burning. Let me show you more clearly." I got up, walked to a starting point, turned around, walked back toward the fire, and made a big show of plopping myself on the ground.

Sudden recognition lit up the students' faces, and all four yelled in unison --

"Shit!"

"What?"

"You could shit by the campfire!" They were so pleased, and looked expectantly for my affirmation.

For a moment, the room was silent.

"Okay, good! Now, let's work on your pronunciation."