Mistakes

We did a word test in which students write the English translation for Japanese words. Ryo was repeating 'Park' over and over again. "Park park park park."

The test began and Ryo wrote nothing for 'Park' and his answer for 'Big' was "Pog" which made the female JTE* break down laughing uncontrollably. Saying nothing, she wrote "Pog" on a piece of paper in front of me and I laughed hysterically too. This was during the silence of a test.

After the test the girl marking Ryo's paper laughed and said "Pig?" and I corrected her, "No, Pog!" This made the girl laugh even more and she showed Ryo's paper to her friends and they all laughed as well and I thought about stopping her but I didn't because it was too funny.

The JTE explained the Pog situation to everyone - Ryo had specifically practiced 'Park' over and over again only to fail to write it and then write "Pog" for 'Big'. Then all 24 students had a good laugh at Ryo and he tried to explain but no one cared.

"Don't be afraid to answer wrongly. It's okay to make mistakes."

*JTE = Japanese Teacher of English