Miss Isness
Jedi Master
I just wanted to share two recent experiences I had at work regarding mixed messages. I teach English as a second language. I'm currently working in a big company, and teaching business English. The first case regards a simple contradiction. I'm not normally surprised when my students contradict themselves out of error, but in this particular case it was an advanced student who had an excellent command of English. The thing that surprised me is that it was so hard for me to point out his contradiction, as I was tempted to think that I was somehow responsible for not understanding, or that he didn't actually realize that he had 'changed his mind' within the span of a 5 minute conversation. However, it was apparently just a slip - using the opposite adjective to the one intended. It's certainly easy for that to happen when speaking a foreign language, but this guy was so confident and well spoken that it took me completely off guard.
In the second case, I was teaching a group of advanced students. We were discussing the importance of communication, and the best means of communicating when one of the students decided to demonstrate a particular technique. He started saying something in the affirmative while waving his index finger back and forth, which is a gesture that indicates the negative. Before I could even identify what was happening, my mind went completely blank. He then went on to explain that he has met people that consciously use this technique to beat their opponents. He works in the legal department.
When I expressed that I was shocked by his demonstration and subsequent explanation of his personal experience, he said it was actually quite common, and went on to give another example which reminded me, to a T, of someone I'm very close to. I immediately found myself questioning whether this person has been doing this sort of thing intentionally. What a scary thought. I'm now acutely aware of how mind numbing it is. I was absolutely speechless.
In the second case, I was teaching a group of advanced students. We were discussing the importance of communication, and the best means of communicating when one of the students decided to demonstrate a particular technique. He started saying something in the affirmative while waving his index finger back and forth, which is a gesture that indicates the negative. Before I could even identify what was happening, my mind went completely blank. He then went on to explain that he has met people that consciously use this technique to beat their opponents. He works in the legal department.
When I expressed that I was shocked by his demonstration and subsequent explanation of his personal experience, he said it was actually quite common, and went on to give another example which reminded me, to a T, of someone I'm very close to. I immediately found myself questioning whether this person has been doing this sort of thing intentionally. What a scary thought. I'm now acutely aware of how mind numbing it is. I was absolutely speechless.