**Music to My Ears
John Devine
1When I decided about a hundred years ago to become an English teacher, I
thought I was going easy on myself. "You've been speaking and writing
English for over two decades already." I told myself, "So how hard could it
be to teach others to speak and write it well?" Not long after I taught my first
class, however, I realized that I didn't know English as well as I thought I
did.
2It's been so long now that I don't remember the slang students used back
in the day. Slang has changed a lot, and since I never use slang myself, I'm
just as much in the dark as ever. Just the other day a student named
Marcus walked up to me and said, "yo, homeboy, what it do?" I didn't say
anything back because I didn't understand the question, if it was one. I used
to try to learn my students' slang, but it changes so fast that I always fall
behind faster than a clumsy skier in choppy waters.
3Whenever I'm greeted by such incomprehensible colloquialisms, I say to
myself, "you should've become a doctor like your father." But then I
remember listening to my father talk shop on the phone when I was a child.
4x What is the central idea of this passage?
4x A
4x B
4x
C
D
The frustrations of being an English
endless.
All professions and cultures have t
vocabulary.
All people should attempt to adhere
American English.
The vocabulary of the South is clos
British than people realize.