I think I've been in Japan too long...

So today during class we were teaching my Junior High first graders (7^th graders) about past tense verbs. They have this handy little verb handout that has 3 pages of common English verbs with cute pictures to show the meaning of the verbs. So in class we were reviewing the third page and the Japanese English Teacher had me say the word in present tense, which the kids repeated, and then I said the word in the past tense, and the kids repeated that.

So we were going along nicely until we got half way down the page and got to the word throw. And my brain just kinda died. I honestly could not think of what the past tense of throw was. So there was this awkward pause after the kids repeated throw where I finally just said, “What’s the past tense of throw?” My teacher came to the rescue and responded, “Threw?” Of course! I felt really silly, so I told the kids and the teacher, “I don’t speak English,” which is what many of my students say when they don’t know an answer. They were all pretty amused by the situation.

I have noticed my vocabulary has started to wane recently as I often cannot remember the word I want to use in conversation with other English speakers. But I have never been unable to answer something basic in class like that. I’m still pretty embarrassed, but luckily it was at my awesome school where the kids are super friendly and forgiving of their crazy teacher. And I suppose it probably makes them feel better when they can’t remember a word knowing that the native English speaker also forgets really basic stuff from time to time.