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“The elephant in the ESL classroom”: discussing racist pronunciation comedy . . . in the mid-April issue of TYSN

April 2026 Vol 8 Issue 4

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN): 

Teaching English as a Second Language

Let us help you tell your story!

Welcome Mid-April 2026!

After enduring a long, very grey winter in Saskatoon, locals are more keen than ever to jumpstart spring! Seed packets and germination kits, as well as tulips and hydrangea appeared several weeks ago in local grocery stores. But the recent freezing drizzle and the forecast of another 10 cm of snow to fall tonight are taking us in the opposite direction!

That said, recent days have brought us more sunshine and warmer temperatures, so we are ushering “Ol’ Man Winter” out the “EXIT” door!

Since my last issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter,”  I have been busy teaching ESL to students including a Ukrainian newcomer, with a second returning to classes next week. I’ve also received inquiries from Chinese students, as I reach out to friends-of-friends in that community.

In the Western calendar, we recently observed Easter for another year. Some of us listened anew to the Biblical story of Christ’s Resurrection. Whether you observed the religious holiday, spent the days working, or enjoyed a secular break with family and friends, I hope that Easter has brought lightness and hope to your lives.

In “Article One” of this issue, I approach the thorny problem caused when ESL learners (or non-native speakers generally) mispronounce English and/or have heavy accents. Decades of British TV comedy (not to mention comedy elsewhere) have turned the problem into a source of laughter and derision (i.e. racism). And native speakers aware of newcomers’ pronunciation challenges sometimes try to suppress the issue altogether. What is this “elephant in the ESL classroom” about?

And in “Shop News,” I express gratitude for some of the amazing people with whom I occupy time and space, as fellow teachers, writers, editors, estate managers and other friends.

May the (albeit delayed) dawn of spring still bring peace and fulfillment to you, good readers, even in these troubled times.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

 ARTICLE ONE: The elephant in the ESL classroom: discussing racist pronunciation comedy . . . in three 20th-Century British TV shows

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Article One: The elephant in the ESL classroom: racist pronunciation comedy . . .  in three 20th-Century British TV shows

Recent discussions in the business world about non-native English speakers’  need for accent reduction (or better-termed, accent modification), tend to skirt the problem of speakers who are not understandable. On Linkedin last week, several colleagues or supervisors of non-native speakers of English wrote comments that reflect a politically-correct view: “accents aren’t that important; it’s the ideas that count.”

And yet many of us have (or have lived) evidence to the contrary. Plenty of challenges have arisen over the centuries when non-native speakers of English who have heavy accents immigrate to Anglophone countries. The history of accent modification is evident when one researches the significant number of English as a Second or Additional Language textbooks that focus on “accent reduction” or modification:

After working for more than 15 years with Chinese professionals in the US, Lauren Supraner, an American intercultural communications specialist, authored Accent Reduction for Chinese Speakers: A Pronunciation Course for Chinese Speakers of English (2019). She has written openly that “accent reduction” is sometimes needed, and possible to attain, by Chinese speakers of English to succeed in North America.

Two other, seminal guides for English pronunciation have been recommended by teacher-trainers and long published by Cambridge UP, namely Pronunciation Pairs: An Introduction to the Sounds of English (2008), and Ship or Sheep: An Intermediate Pronunciation Course (2006). 

There are also numerous volumes from authors like US-based speech-language pathologist, Rebecca Bower, that offer strategies to learn a “general American accent.”

As these resources show, there are learnable (and teachable) skills of mouth, jaw, tongue and lip movement that can alter the sounds of spoken English for non-native speakers. These are skills that help them to be better understood and so to achieve greater outcomes in their careers and lives.

Post-colonial insights matter here. None of these books suggest the racist assumptions that the English language should always come first; or that the additional/second language speaker is speaking in an inferior way; or that they will end up working at “dead-end” jobs in English-speaking countries, which they should be thankful for (!). Instead, the task is a practical one: non-native speakers need to have understandable accents when they speak English in an Anglophone country.

As the history of ESL/EFL/EAL education shows, when non-native speakers are educated in, conduct business in, or live in a dominant or monolingual English culture, they need to be understood by native speakers, even though the latter should (and often do) strive to listen their way “through” a non-native speaker’s accent.

Mocking second or additional language speakers’ mistakes and the challenges they face toward comprehensibility is offensive to committed English language teachers (me included) and, far worse, to the non-native speakers, themselves. (As I’ve often said, to my students, my early inability to acquire quickly the tone-based pronunciation of Mandarin, my late father’s first language, would have made me the laughing stock of Chinese speakers, worldwide, and not furnish me with a career in China!  But we’re specifically addressing English here.)

And yet racism sometimes still arises from social media discussions and in representations of ESL/EFL/EAL speakers’ pronunciation. Even the phrase “non-native speakers” can offend populations of Indigenous people worldwide, who have historically used the term “native” to describe themselves.

Popular late 20th-Century British drama (not so long ago) portrayed multiple “foreign” characters who speak English badly: their heavy accents result in misunderstandings that are exploited for comic effect. One that comes to mind is the much-abused, Spanish servant, “Manuel,” in “Fawlty Towers.” As you likely know, many such comedies are now archived on YouTube.

For instance, the popular British TV drama (1982-1992), “Allo, Allo” (originally broadcast on the BBC), features a French café owner, Rene Artois, in the town of Nouvion, France, during the German occupation of France in World War II. As researchers of “Wikipedia” write (I confirmed by cringe-watching the show), Rene struggles “with problems from a dishonest German officer, the local French Resistance, the handling of a stolen painting and a pair of trapped British airmen, all while concealing from his [tone-deaf but singing] wife the affairs he is having with his waitresses.”

Much of the humour, online sources say, inheres in “classic farce set-ups, comedy of errors, physical comedy, visual gags, alongside a large amount of sexual [and sexist] innuendo and a fast-paced running string of broad cultural cliches.”

“Allo, Allo” features British actors pretending to be French, speaking English “with theatrical foreign accents to distinguish each character’s nationality.”

Particularly central to “Allo, Allo” is “Officer Crabtree,” a “hopeless British undercover officer, constantly disguised as a local French policeman during World War II. Much of the character’s humour derives from his supposed inability to pronounce French words correctly in conversation. The show features his ludicrous exaggeration and mispronunciation of common English words. For example, he mispronounces “Good morning” as “Good moaning,” and “I was passing by the door and I thought I would drop in” becomes “I was just pissing by the door and I thought I would drip in.”

The actor playing Crabtree was English (and a native-speaker of English). But “while portraying a Frenchman mispronouncing English, the actor extensively deploys malapropisms” to represent his character’s lack of English fluency.  It’s hard deny it’s a clever device.

Online promoters of “Allo, Allo” mention that this device works by “altering certain words in the character’s sentences, substituting different vowels or consonants, changing them into different or nonsensical words, usually laden with innuendo.” Although no character in “Allo, Allo” is depicted favourably, the humour arises consistently by the portrayal of foreigners who speak English with bad accents and ineptitude.

Here is a sample (you may have to copy and paste into your browser):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilhJvFngWcY&list=PLiZCl6XIGf-iIZzvWDqcD_UOWAqTDjs7M&index=1

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And, as you might expect, other BBC comedy is replete with more of the same racist, sexist and stereotypical portrayals of foreigners with absurdly bad accents.

Consider “The Two Ronnies” (Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, in the 1970s and 80s), who, Wikipedia writers tell us, “frequently use . . . the misunderstanding and parody of foreign languages, as a cornerstone of their wordplay-driven comedy. Their sketches often highlight the absurdity of language barriers, mispronunciation and the pomposity of lessons. Their work [is] full of puns, mispronunciation and stereotypical linguistic misunderstandings.”

For instance, “Ali Baba” is the stereotypical (racist) name given to a wealthy Arab Sheikh who visits an English deli in “Pronunciation Problems,”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzeEq5MvNFg

As the English shopkeeper insists on correcting the Arab’s mispronunciations, the latter man takes back his significant supply of British currency from the counter between them, with the result that “money talks” louder than his heavily accented mispronunciation.

Another of The Two Ronnies’ sketches, “Swedish Made Simple,” centres on a language lesson in a restaurant setting. The older Barker plays a putative Swedish teacher, pretending to be a waiter, teaching basic restaurant Swedish, using single-letter words (in subtitles) to the younger Corbett.

The dialogue is not Swedish at all, Wikipedia authors tell us, but a ridiculous parody of Norwegian (perhaps later mimicked by the “Swedish Chef” on “The Muppet Show?”). Corbett’s efforts to learn “Swedish” are full of mispronounced vowels, laden with sexist innuendo. (Note also the addition to the story of the stereotypical blonde “bimbo” waitress.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc3M1nppd3c&t=1s

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Finally, perhaps the worst offender in the genre of English mispronunciation comedy premiered on ITV in 1977, “Mind Your Language.” Like the two programs cited above, the racism of this show also relies on misogyny to meet its comedic goals. Running until 1979, and briefly revived in the late 1980s, “Mind Your Language” features both male and female adult students of differing social backgrounds, religions and languages “set in an adult education college in London.” The show ” focuses on an ESL class taught by Jeremy Brown, to a group of enrolled foreigners.”

Teacher Brown (Wikipedia tells us; I have cringe-watched episodes to confirm) is an ESL teacher who provides the point-of-view. He is a congenial, “single man in his 30s who lives alone . . . and holds a BA from Oxford University.” In the series’ pilot, when he’s hired, the school administrator tells him that the prior teacher was driven insane by the students. Brown manages the mayhem but is often “exasperated by these students’ versions of the English language.”

Prominent in the series is the stereotypical Italian Catholic chef, Giovanni Cupello, who seems unable to understand English metaphors and long words, although he often answers mistakenly to amuse his peers. Similarly, Maximillian (“Max”) Papandrious is a Greek Orthodox shipping worker from Athens, who often spars with Giovanni.

Giovanni and Max become good friends, flatmates and ironically “have the best command of English of all the characters in the class.” Yet their progress  in English is shown to be minimal, at best.

Other characters animate historical stereotypes of tensions between Chinese and Japanese; Indian and Pakistani cultures, rivalry between French and Swedish au pairs, and the competition of physically attractive or assertive women characters (with sexist stereotypes of hourglass figures and heavy makeup). They also vie for teacher Brown’s affection.

Stereotypical language issues are portrayed—the Chinese character confuses “r” and “l”; the German mixes “w” and “v” sounds; religious and class differences abound. And yet, some episodes after conflicts arise, the hostile characters inexplicably return as friends (apt for a sitcom). Conflicts are tidily resolved off-stage. Laughter becomes a safety-valve that relieves the pressure of such conflict without addressing its significance.

“Allo, Allo” “The Two Ronnies” and “Mind Your Language” are only three examples of what could be called late 20th-Century British racist pronunciation comedy. Further research into TV and radio programming from the period would undoubtedly find many more.

But these three sample programs readily suggest not only that pronunciation problems are an inherent challenge for non-native speakers learning English, but also that such problems are socially acceptable to laugh at (and therefore, the racism).

The characters’ speech is driven by stereotype, sexism/misogyny and racism, at the expense of ethnic minorities and women (often both at the same time). These groups are regularly “thrown under the bus” for cheap laughs and are portrayed by actors whose physical features (e.g. large noses, hairy skin and large bustlines) are easily exploited for comic effect.

While comedy that mocks minority races, classes, women and sexual identities is a staple of late 20th-Century British TV and radio programming, the world of ESL/EFL/EAL teaching tends to tread gingerly through such domains. Decades after these shows revelled in racist representations of non-native English speakers, Anglophones today (e.g. on social media, like Linkedin) sometimes bracket off the genuinely complex challenges that arise from non-native speakers’ mispronunciations and accents.

Comedy (especially satirical) is a notoriously slippery genre, so few language teachers  I’ve encountered ever refer to such TV programs for their disempowering effect on racial minorities and women.

Given more contemporary awareness of homosexual, transgender and other non-binary identity issues, one can only imagine new layers of satire which 21st-Century English pronunciation comedy could exploit (and already does, in European programming not as well known on this side of the Atlantic).

When authoritarian politics have overwhelmed our world, increasing the disempowerment of racial minorities and women, it’s worth wondering whose interests are served when minorities’ speaking challenges are dismissed by political correctness—i.e. when native speakers write on social media, “it’s the ideas, not the accent that matter.” Language proficiency and fluency, including pronunciation, are never simple. Comprehension challenges don’t disappear on their own.

On Linkedin, where some native speakers try to reassure non-native English speakers that their “ideas are more important than their accents,” we need to acknowledge that these two aspects of language are always already intertwined. Ideas can only be understood if a speaker’s accent is decipherable. While racist pronunciation comedy from past decades is not socially acceptable, today’s trite statements of political correctness seem to deny (“whitewash”) decades of Anglophones’ racism toward non-native speakers. What happens to the frustrations and injustices experienced by non-native English speakers, and, at the same time, where do Anglophones’ contempt and racism go?

Are we not simply burying (in what might seem a new way), what happens to the suffering of our cultural, linguistic, sexual and gender minority groups? For a speaker’s ideas to matter, they must be understandable by others. Accents are an inextricable part of the delivery of ideas.

One of the unresolvable difficulties of accent modification when one learns new languages is that power inheres in one’s ability to sound similar, and with pressure to sound “the same.” But refusing to recognize the limiting effects on comprehension that come with non-idiomatic “accents” can become its own kind of homogenizing (“whitewashing”) activity, masquerading as tolerance and acceptance. Denial does not efface the loss and difficulty that result from mispronunciation.

The human condition, including its reliance on linguistic communication, inherently includes loss, which ultimately demands empathy and tolerance for non-native speakers at a time in history (now) when both are in short supply.

And now it’s your turn: What do you think about racist pronunciation comedy? And might contemporary social media sometimes cause us to bury the complexity of comprehension, including our potential intolerance (as native speakers)?

 Please share your thoughts; I’d be delighted to hear from you.

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SHOP NEWS:

It seems hard to imagine that Easter passed just one week ago, when many of us listened anew to the story of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

Special thanks to Rev. Devon Pattemore of Regina, SK, who has preached so movingly to the church I attend, while substituting for our regular minister, Rev. Roberto De Sandoli (currently on parental leave).

Rev. Devon’s insights and empathy through the Easter season have been challenging and inspiring to reflect on and absorb.

And those words have provided spiritual armour in the week since Easter, when American dictator Donald Trump has gleefully continued to support Russia’s war in Ukraine; murdered civilians and destroyed much of Iranian civilization; and most recently, usurped the role of Christ-the-Healer in a heinous, AI-generated and blasphemous Easter portrait he posted online.

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During times of autocratic leadership in our world, I’ve been especially concerned to read about the devolution (and imminent disappearance) of a tremendously vital educational resource English language curriculum, “One Stop English” (OSE).

Recommended to me several years ago by TEFL.org’s webinar host, advisor and teacher-trainer, Carl Cameron-Day, I have used “OSE” to create timely and thought provoking, one-on-one ESL classes for adults and youth. The platform also has resources for teaching children.

Drawing on sources such as “The Guardian,” “The Times (of London),” the BBC and the British Council, “OSE” has been invaluable to many English language teachers, worldwide for decades.

The development of AI has overtaken much in the publishing world. The developers of “OSE” have found the costs of maintaining and building of the platform exceed available resourcees.

Sadly, “OSE” will close its online “doors” in June. But in the meantime, ESL teachers and learners who have memberships are well-advised to download resources, which has been generously encouraged by the platform’s directors and developers.

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Thank you to small business and estate lawyer, Ben Nussbaum, and his very able assistant, Ingrid Atkinson, for their fine work, insights and patience shared on even the busiest of days.

The kind of legal support they provide is essential when a family has “grieving brains.”

Thank you, Ben, Ingrid and their team!

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It’s been a privilege to review and edit one of several articles by my long-distance friend, midwife Christel (originally from South Africa, now living in BC).

Christel is developing several articles on midwifery out of her recently defended PhD dissertation on midwifery in her native South Africa.

It’s been a privilege and pleasure to read Christel’s work and to learn more about midwifery standards and practices in South Africa, Europe and America.

Christel plans to build a midwifery-led birthing centre in the future in BC, Ontario or Alberta. (Unfortunately,  she could not “sell” this prospect to the Province, so she and her family have relocated  to BC.)

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I’ve been delighted to work for a month with a lovely Ukrainian through a non-profit organization. While it is painful to hear from her about the political and cultural losses that Ukraine has suffered in its war with Russia, we have also found space for genuine learning and enjoyment, as we practice English conversation each week.

Shortly, this student will start online language classes with one of our local settlement agencies. I will be delighted to see how that opportunity will allow her to develop her life in Canada.

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Thank you to my Chinese cousins Jian-Yu (Jenny) and Deming (David), who have retired in British Columbia, for their recent interest in my English-language classes (ESL), which they have promoted to more distant contacts both in China and Canada.

Although we’ve always respected and enjoyed each others’ friendship, for many years the demands of education and careers took us in different directions.

So it has been such a mid-life blessing to return to closer communication! I cherish their interest and support.

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Special thanks go out this month to Beth Brimner and Joann Brimner for including me in their Easter Sunday feast in Erindale. The delicious ham, scalloped potatoes, all many side-dishes and desserts were delectable!

Beth and Joann’s company, along with a good visit with their local Chinese friends, made for a wonderful Easter celebration, and a reunion from last Christmas Eve!

Thank you, dear friends, and Easter Blessings upon you.

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At Easter and in Saskatchewan’s fledgling spring, good reader, I hope you have found emotional and spiritual refuge, whichever faith you follow (or do not), and among family and friends, as we continue to care for our beautiful, but  broken, planet.

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Marketing for our times

 

On Good Friday,  Easter weekend (2026),  Marketing innovator, Seth Godin, published these thoughts, challenging the assumption so many make (especially in our AI age) that marketers obsess over money and care about nothing more than how to make more of it.

Instead of complying with the world’s dominant system(s) and regimes (led by Thatcher, Putin, Trump, Netanyahu, etc. ), Godin argues we should interrogate both: “Can we create the conditions to cause this system to change enough for us to do the long-term work we’re proud of?”

Because when we get our proverbial “foot”  in the system’s “door,” work that can bring longer-lasting change may follow.

To fellow entrepreneurs: how do you use marketing to resist the dominant systems of these times?

“There is no alternative”

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Can swearing help us cope with loss? One answer in the mid-March issue of TYSN!

March 2026  Vol 8 Issue 3

Tell Your Story Newsletter:

Teaching English as a Second Language

Let us help you tell your story!

 

Welcome Mid-March 2026.  Spring is coming!

As I prepare this issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter,” we mark one year from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s election as Canada’s 24th Prime Minister. Even for those who dread international politics (and there’s never a shortage of criticism), Carney has been organized and decisive in strengthening foreign and domestic policy through these tumultuous times. He has started to shift Canadian foreign policy and our economy amidst threats from Donald Trump, the wars in Ukraine and Iran and more.

And less than a week ago, progressive thinkers in the Western world observed “International Women’s Day,” at a time when women in particular have lost much ground under ruling men whose psychopathic behaviours have undermined much of democratic values.

At a time when many of us are facing losses, Canadian-born theologian Kate Bowler has blogged about the importance of “swearing.” Swearing, you might ask? How could that possibly help? It’s personal, Bowler would say; and Friedan was right to connect the personal with the political. (It was feminist Carol Hanisch in 1970 who famously wrote, “The personal is the political.”) . . . The more things change, the more they stay the same . . .

In “Storytellers’ Corner,” I revisit five “common Latin terms everyone should know,” from contributors to the online resource, “Grammar Check.”

Rather than insisting that everyone “should” know such Latin terms, I offer them instead as a source for experimentation and laughter, to be applied (if you wish) at your next meeting with family or friends (haha)!

And, although the wind was bitterly cold in Saskatoon this week, I hope you have found, good readers, the relief that has come with the lengthening of daylight hours and the return of at least some prairie sunshine.

Despite the wars and international governments that instill hatred for, segregate, torture and even murder the vulnerable, may each of us find compassion for ourselves and our neighbours, and to appreciate the blessings we still receive, even as we try to oppose the lawlessness in our world.

As a friend recently wrote: “Three nutritious meals each day, the chance to earn a living that supports my family, and (at night), a warm bed and a good book may be blessings enough to keep going.”

And may we find rest in such blessings each day, before we turn to the work of supporting others in our community, near and far.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Shih

Principal

Storytelling Communications

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IN THIS ISSUE:

  • ARTICLE 1: Can swearing help us cope with loss?
  • STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Five Common Latin Terms to Use (or Laugh at)
  • SHOP NEWS
  • ABOUT US

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Article One: Can swearing (in Lent) help us cope with loss? Some thoughts from Kate Bowler  

American theologian Kate Bowler writes with great authenticity about anger, pain and the many forms of loss human beings can endure.

She herself endured stage four breast cancer at age 59 (in 2020) and her book titles themselves reflect her questioning of a Divine Being, faith, and life itself:

Have a beautiful, terrible day! Daily meditations for the ups, downs and in-betweens;

The lives we actually have: 100 blessings for imperfect days;

Everything happens for a reason: and other lies I’ve loved;

and

Joyful, Anyway.

Bowler embraces a hands-on, down-to-earth theology on finding hope and grace amidst the most gruelling of life’s challenges (e.g. life-threatening cancer when she was raising a young child).

In a recent blog posting, she testifies that swearing has a therapeutic effect, as she’s found in the “ten years since [she] took up cursing for Lent.”

It may not be “theologically ideal” to curse, she says. But “the greater honesty I have been afforded, the more theological discomfort I have been able to tolerate.”

Lent, for those who do not know, is a season in the Christian calendar when believers try to understand Christ’s own sacrifice on the cross by taking on one of their own: we may give up bad habits, start new spiritual practices, donate funds or time to our local church communities, or simply give up alcohol or chocolate for the 40 days leading up to Good Friday (the day of Christ’s crucifixion).

Bowler writes: “Lent asks us to identify with being on the losing team with Jesus as He walks toward His death, either as a witness or as a fellow sufferer. How difficult or easy is it for you, lately, to figure out where you are in the [Easter] story?”

Bowler says that for Lent 10 years ago, “I started swearing.” And cursing, one might argue, can help to find just where in the Easter story one is.

Bowler swore about “cancer. . . . about dry croissants and coffee that cools too quickly.” She continues: “I swear about people trying to narrate me as part of a heroic battle with cancer. I swear about Curious George seeming a little whiney to the Man in the Yellow Hat . . . .” (she is a mom, after all).

Bowler allowed herself to swear after reading “an article about how people in grief swear because they feel the English language has reached its limit in a time of inarticulate sorrow. Or at least that is what I tell people when I am casually dropping f-bombs over lunch, as I explain the mysteries of Lent.”

Today is indeed a “time of inarticulate sorrow,” whether we consider Russia’s war on Ukraine; Israel’s and America’s war on Iran; the atrocities in Afghanistan (to name only three of the world’s “hotspots”).  Immense sorrow coincides painfully with Christ sacrificing his life for believers, over 2000 years ago.

Closer to home, a woman I know has discovered her husband of 20 years has been unfaithful for at least the last three. Another  friend who is a young mother has been diagnosed with stage-three gastrointestinal cancer but finds her family unwilling to provide her with much support.

A colleague who endured horrific abuse as a small child from both parents, reports that she’ll lose her sight before she turns 55.  Sometimes the world holds more sorrow than a person can bear.

A much-loved family friend told me nearly 30 years ago, anticipating Bowler, that the only way through the trials of life was to swear—that my language of coping was too subtle to combat the emotional pain I was enduring as a student.

As a language teacher, I find the possible coping function of swearing to be fascinating. Perhaps we should include some salty language when we’re teaching ESL/EFL to refugees! (Swearing has been part of more than one BBC comedy on the topic!)

Bowler refers to a 2020 article from Keele University psychologists (Staffordshire, UK) that argues “only ‘traditional’ swearing improves our ability to tolerate pain.”

Dr. Richard Stephens (senior lecturer in psychology at Keele) and PhD student Olly Robertson have published a study that “uttering traditional swear words [worked] in helping to tolerate pain.”

By contrast, while saying “fake swear words” like “twizpipe” and “fouch” elicited emotion and laughter, “fake” curses had little impact when it came to coping with pain. This contrasted the salutary effect of “traditional swear words.” Stephens and Robertson found that only well-established curses induced “stress-induced analgesia and increased pain tolerance by 33%.”

The suffering of immigrants and newcomers to Canada (whom I meet in my ESL teaching) could, according to these findings,  be reduced by the emotional efficacy of swearing.

Stephens concludes that “it’s not the surface properties of swear words, such as how they sound, that underlie the beneficial effects of swearing, but something much deeper, probably linked back to childhood as we learn swear words growing up.”

So when our parents or teachers outlawed swearing to us children, when we faced the calamities of life, that discipline may have done us more harm than good. Those easily offended might rethink this study’s findings.

So, yes, we can give up chocolate or caffeine for 40 days, but Bowler recommends that we also practice swearing, especially about today’s authoritarian world politics and their assault on humankind.

Cursing what we cannot change may allow us to process pain and loss that we’d otherwise suppress or repress, and that would then lead to depression and serious mental illness.

In her blog, Bowler reminds believers and agnostics alike, that swearing may help us to remember three basics that can guide us through any season (including Lent and long SK winters)! She asks us to remember: “(a) You are loved. (b) Life is absurd. (c) It’s hard to be a human.”

And now it’s your turn. What do you think of using swearing as a linguistic practice to endure our pain and suffering?

Which swear words do you appreciate? Please write in; I’d be delighted to share your insights in future issues of TYSN.

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STORYTELLERS’ CORNER . . . . 

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Words, Stories,

Riddles and Jokes on Writing and Editing . . .

Five Common Latin terms to know and use (from grammarcheck.net)

(1) A priori (From what is before). E.g.: ” ‘All bachelors are unmarried’ is an a priori statement.”

(2) Ad hoc (For this situation). E.g. ” ‘The library was turned into an ad hoc shelter, during the storm.”

(3) Ad infinitum (To infinity). E.g. “Sandra complained about her work ad infinitum.”

(4) Ad libitum or Ad lib (As you desire). E.g. “Some actors used to ad lib their parts in certain scenes of the play.”

(5) Ad nauseam (To the point of sickness). E.g. “We heard another ad nauseam rant about his narcissistic political ambitions.”

If you have never studied Latin (or not for long), how might you make use of these terms in common parlance–for entertainment if not edification?

Please share your stories with me; I’d be delighted to cite you in a future issue. 

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SHOP NEWS:

Special thanks this month to Steve Cavan, whose many hats include those of ESL teacher, mentor and editor.

Steve’s willingness to lend his specialist knowledge of linguistics to support a student with high-level sensitivity has been welcome.

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Thank you to former editing client and long-time friend, Greg Gilroy, for hosting and sharing details of a beautiful birthday party he held for his elderly mother, who recently turned 97!

Few adult children are as attentive to their mothers’  last years as Greg is;  it was heartwarming to view family photos from the event.

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These days, I’m thinking of my dear friend Arian in Ontario, whose family and lifelong friends still live in Iran and who are fugitives, due to Netanyahu and Trump’s attacks on that nation and the subsequent reciprocal bombings unleashed, between it and other, Middle Eastern nations.

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In much happier and healthier news, CONGRATULATIONS go out to new parents, Rev. Roberto and Heather De Sandoli, on the birth of their daughter, Rosanna Marie De Sandoli on March 13th!

Rosanna weighed in at nine pounds and brings her parents, grandparents and friends much joy.

Congratulations, Rev. Roberto and Heather!

And welcome to the world, Rosanna!

There are always more people to thank and new work to promote. But this is a wrap for mid-March!

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ABOUT US:

Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I help new and economic immigrants to secure better jobs or contracts by improving their English skills; and I help internationally educated, second language academics to publish more effectivel, so as to increase their success in the tenure system.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant website (www.elizabethshih.com).

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!

Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca).

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On better classroom judgment for ESL/EFL teachers: how to optimize learning, from Cecilia Nobre

One of the contemporary problems of ESL/EFL teaching is that teachers or tutors find that language instruction is a messy and inexact “science.”

As Brazilian EFL/ESL teacher (and CELTA trainer), Dr. Cecilia Nobre, argued recently on  Linkedin.com, if language teachers think “covering the [lesson] plan” will have made the lesson work, we “might be measuring the wrong thing.”

She writes that recently “a trainee told me she felt great about her lesson because she had covered everything in her plan. She had followed every stage, used all her slides, managed the timing well and given clear instructions. Yeah, sounds perfect!”

But the trainee’s students spoke for only about 7 minutes out of the 45-minute class.

Uh-oh.

Nobre tells us “I have spent years sitting at the back of training rooms watching lesson after lesson and I say this with care: we often confuse control with learning.

I too used to fill silence, rescue too quickly and explain before learners had tried. The lesson looked impressive (but the progress was slower than it could have been).”

She lists what should  be “the practices of teachers whose learners actually improve–15 habits,” although she observes she may have “missed a few”:

ESL/EFL teachers succeed when . . .

1- They wait (for learners to respond)
2- They listen more than they speak
3- They recycle language relentlessly (re-teaching and re-applying words or phrases within and between classes)
4- They notice patterns instead of isolated errors (that learners make)
5- They trust learners to try first (knowing that learning comes about through effort and errors)
6- They delay explanations (allowing learners to do their crucial cognitive work)
7- They respond to what emerges (from students’ thoughts and expression, not expecting coherent “wholes” in responses)
8- They use fewer materials more deeply (they don’t distract from learning by changing materials artificially)
9- They value learner effort over correctness
10- They let tasks run longer (when they are succeeding in eliciting student interest and learning)
11- They give feedback selectively (correcting only errors that are relevant and timely, or waiting for later to preserve a learning moment)
12- They build routines for noticing (observation may allow insights)
13- They resist rescuing (intervening only when a learner has reached the end of their capacity)
14- They accept mess (learning does not happen tidily or in a linear movement)
15- They intervene with precision (interventions should be brief, direct and unambiguous)

Nobre writes: “Unpredictability is not failure, it’s evidence of thinking in progress.” That is true of lesson plans for teachers and for the learning process of learners.

She observes that while it’s important to consider “pacing” in a class, simply “covering material (strict adherence to a lesson plan) without uptake from learners is just tidy administration.”

Adhering too much to “rigid planning kills responsiveness and responsiveness is where real teaching lives.”

“What matters is what [learners] carry out of the room, not how polished we felt at the front.”

Teachers use “selective feedback” because declining to correct too often “protects fluency and focuses on meaning before form” (because “meaning” is where fluency lies).

“Control feels safe; thinking feels risky. Guess which works?”

Are you an ESL/EFL learner or a teacher? Does Nobre’s list of 15 habits for English language learning make sense to you? Please write in; I’d be delighted to hear from you. 

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What does linguistic “fluency” mean in this month’s issue of TYSN

 

February 2026 Vol 8 Issue 2

Tell Your Story Newsletter

Teaching English to economic immigrants

and internationally educated, non-native speaking academics

Let us help you succeed in English!

Welcome Mid-February, 2026!

As I write this month’s issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter” (TYSN), we are returning to arctic cold after two weeks of a greatly premature spring: unseasonable warmth and sunny days have made life feel lighter, except from occasions of freezing rain and the subsequent ice-laden sidewalks and roads that have challenged pedestrians and drivers.

At the mid-winter “mixer” of the Saskatoon chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) that I thoroughly enjoyed on February 5th,  several wondered aloud about this atypical winter (i.e.”Didn’t February used to be the coldest month of the year?!”).

Others engaged in the other, rueful topic across our country–Canadians’ collective worry and rage about the hair-raising politician (“melon felon”) at the helm, south of the Canada/US border.

While not bracketing off these concerns, I discuss in “Article One” this month, I return to my English-as-a-Second Language services; one of most central issues to language learning and teaching is what we mean when we refer to “fluency.” Finnish scholar, Pauliina Peltonen, weighs in. What does “fluency” really involve and how can we teach it?

In “Storytellers’ Corner,” I share some nerdy jokes in English, some of which (I hope) may be new to you, good readers.

And in “Shop News,” I name some of the folk who make my freelance teaching and writing life supported and possible.

As we begin the third week of February, I wish for you, good readers, that you will continue to find meaning and purpose in your work; and that you’ll find the blessings that still grace our lives, even in these challenging times.

Happy mid-February!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

 ARTICLE ONE: What does linguistic “fluency” mean? 

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:  English language jokes 

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Article One: What does linguistic “fluency” mean?

Those who teach and who study English-as-a-Second Language (or English-as-a-Foreign Language or English-as-an-Additional Language, as it’s sometimes called in Europe), we tend to think that the goal of such study is “fluency.”

And by that, we usually mean some version of “smooth and effortless speech” (Peltonen), or a general proficiency in a language (in a research tradition that dates to the 1970s and 80s).

But in a 2023 article called “Fluency Revisited,” Finnish English language specialist Pauliina Peltonen shares much wider and subtler connotations of what “fluency” involves and points to practices that we as language teachers can use, to help learners develop it.

More recent research into second language acquisition (SLA), a narrower sense of the term has developed that relates to “temporal aspects,” like the speed of the learner’s talking and how/whether they pause. Here, “fluency” is associated with a “natural,” relatively fast rate of speech, without frequent pauses as one develops one’s thoughts in words.

In 2010, one researcher posited a three-part concept of fluency, as measured by (1) “utterance fluency,” (2) cognitive fluency and (3) perceived fluency.  What are these and how might they help contemporary English language learners?

“Utterance fluency” is measured by the speed of one’s speech, breakdown (pausing) and repair (corrections). “Utterance fluency” is enabled by underlying cognitive processing that is fast and efficient, and called “cognitive fluency.”

“Cognitive fluency” forms the basis for listeners’ impressions that a speaker is fluent—i.e. “perceived fluency.”

These three distinctions are based on a concept of “fluency” that is individualistic and thought-based. Such theory tends to be judgmental, however, and blames the learner for their shortcomings in attaining “fluency.”

The 21st century has seen new ways of conceptualizing the term, as developing from interactional settings, as a social process and as a collaborative activity, rather than the sum of two people’s individual abilities.

This has been termed “interactional fluency,” evident in learners’ minimizing silences between their individual turns, collaboratively; and evident in how speakers create linkages across the turns they take, such as through body language and small gestures.

In contemporary times, Peltonen says that “fluency” is built through three themes that pertain to how we teach language and assess it, and how learners learn it: (1) there is fluency in interaction; (2) there is a continuum between fluency and disfluency (even native speakers slide into disfluency, depending on the speaking partner and subject matter); and (3) there is one’s first language speaking style that is a factor that can influence second language fluency.

Peltonen writes that the old pedagogical perception that separates “fluent” from “disfluent” speech is now seen as oversimplified. Some aspects of speech that have historically been classified as signs of “disfluency” are often strategies used by learners to secure time to think, to avoid long silences, and so, to serve fluency (e.g. repetitions, pauses filled by “uh,” “um,” and “you know,” etc.)

Therefore, contemporary researchers (including Peltonen) have established that there is a “continuum” between “fluency and disfluency.” Disfluencies can occur in one’s native language and not only in a second one. Speech doesn’t have to be “perfect,” or “without so-called disfluencies.”

This continuum has allowed more recent language researchers to identify that the speaking style of one’s native language can influence one’s fluency in a second language, instead of comparing second language learners to native speakers of English.

Researchers who take into account a speaker’s (native language) speaking style (formal, informal, academic, etc.) can customize individual learning goals and exercises for studying their second language.

Peltonen concludes by saying that there are three major realities that are important both to learners developing fluency, and to those who teach them: (1) both individual and interactional fluency develop in language teaching; (2) teachers and researchers should reconceptualize “disfluencies” as potentially fluency-maintaining strategies (an “um” is less important than the speaker’s overall comment that follows it); and (3) teachers and researchers should help to raise awareness of learners’ individual speaking styles to facilitate the development of their second language fluency.

How can learning strategies used by native speakers of Spanish, Mandarin, Hindi or Urdu (etc.) help to meet learners’ goals for English fluency? Learners may not achieve, for instance, a fully idiomatic speaking style; but they may develop more idiomatic competency alongside other factors toward fluency, so that they can be easily understood and integrated into their communities.

So if we are developing a more realistic set of ideas around “fluency,” how do we best teach or coach learners to get there?

Unless declined by a learner, I practice not starting language classes with grammar, but instead start with the practical task of reading aloud. I’m influenced in the pragmatic approach of my own mentors, Steve Cavan and Monica Kreuger; and by the Italian language coach (active on Linkedin), Teresa Lara Pugliese.

I’m in favour of a more capacious understanding of what “fluency” involves, since a language is never really learned by starting with traditional categories and rules (some of which international language testing systems use). Instead, as Teresa Pugliese writes, “[language] is learned by entering real, meaningful situations.”

Students are sometimes surprised when (during the first, “discovery” class) I ask about the contexts in which they live and work. They express curiosity about how we’ll proceed from there.

“In that space, between surprise and curiosity,” Pugliese says, “a language stops being a system of rules and becomes a living, usable experience.”

She wrote recently over Linkedin:

“Children do not learn through grammar. They live the language first; only later do they become aware of its structures. . . . With adults, the process is different, but not in the way we often assume. Full immersion, as in childhood, is rarely realistic; but that does not mean the adults I work with, need to accumulate, memorize or cite abstract rules.

Adults need functional, usable language. Language that allows adults to act in real contexts; to take part in meetings, to handle professional conversations, to move confidently within a cultural environment.

And to do that, language alone is not enough. Learners equally need to have cultural understanding”  (Pugliese).

This is where I too focus my teaching. I draw on the actual personal and professional situations that challenge learners. After I learn about the settings they work and live in, I guide learners to communicate effectively in them.

When contexts are clear, we can purposefully focus on grammar, style of speaking and pronunciation that underpin what they already know they need to express.

Like Pugliese, I find that no two learning paths (classes or meetings) I cultivate with and for my learners are ever the same.

And that’s how it should be.

If you are a language learner, does this strategy sound more clearly applicable to your language learning needs?

And do you agree with a more spacious and flexible view of fluency in either your native or additional language?

If you’re an economic immigrant or second-language academic who struggles with English, please message me to learn how I can help you achieve practical fluency that will meet your goals! 

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STORYTELLER’s CORNER . . . . 

STORYTELLER’S CORNER: Words, Stories, Riddles

and Jokes on Writing and Editing . . .

This month: twenty-five English language jokes

From “@weareteachers,” some laughter to lighten the “cognitive load” you’re carrying:

(1)   “Your dinner” vs. “You’re dinner.” One leaves you nourished; the other leaves you dead.

(2)   A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned by a man with a glass eye named Ralph.

(3)   Last night, someone broke into my classroom and stole all of the dictionaries. I’m at a loss for words.

(4)   The passive voice is to be avoided.

(5)   Double negatives are a big no-no.

(6)   Eight vowels, 11 consonants, an exclamation point and a comma appeared in court today. They are due to be sentenced next week.

(7)   Irony is when someone writes, “Your an idiot!”

(8)   I gave a theatrical performance about puns—it was really just a play on words.

(9)   Never leave alphabet soup on the stove when you go out: it could spell disaster!

(10)   Autocorrect has become many writers’ worst enema.

(11)   I avoid cliches like the plague.

(12)   Thanks for explaining the definition of “many.” It means a lot.

(13)   I wrote a song about tortillas. It’s a wrap.

(14)   When two English majors got married, the pastor said, “I now pronouns you, he and she.”

(15)   He was a surgeon with bad punctuation. He got fired for leaving out a colon.

(16)   Seven days without a pun makes one weak.

(17) Every time you make a typo, the errorists win.

(18) The past, present and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

(19) It’s raining cats and dogs out there and I just stepped in a poodle!

(20) Why are so many people bothered by grammatical errors? I couldn’t care fewer!

(21) English is a trying language to learn. It can be understood through tough, thorough thoughts, though.

(22) A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.

(23) “Let’s eat grandma!” “Let’s eat, Grandma!” Punctuation saves lives.

(24) “I” before “e,” except when you run a feisty heist on a weird, beige, foreign neighbour.

(25) “I like cooking my family and pets.” Commas matter.

Do you have a story, riddle or joke on any aspect of the English language? Please share it with me; I’d be delighted to use it in an upcoming issue. 

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SHOP NEWS:

The “shop” has felt somewhat quieter this month, since the glow of December’s “holiday scene” has long gone dark. But my sometimes solitary days of work have been happily punctuated by new students, and by visits with (and messages) from fellow creatives (writers, editors, designers, photographers). The latter were featured in the first official meeting of my nearly 15-year-old writers’ group, under the new name of “Saskatoon small business group.” We are currently and very ably led by Ashleigh Mattern.

Special thanks (in no particular order) to the new students I’m teaching/ coaching and learning from; and to local editor, Dawn Loewen; communications director, Aasa Marshall; fundraising communications expert, Richard Kies;  photographers, Debra Marshall and Tara Kalyn; entrepreneurial and governance leader and director, Monica Kreuger; China-Canada trade and business expert, William Wang; the U of S International Medical Graduates’ Support Program coordinator, Leah Buschmann, and administrative coordinator, Carlie Russell; and IT “whisperer,” Jordon MacKenzie.

And in my wider community of friends (with whom I keep “fluent”) — Erin Watson, Nial Willems, Beth Brimner, Sharon Wiseman, Rev. Roberto and Heather De Sandoli, Laura Van Loon, Martha Fergusson, Barbara McEown, Fafali Ahiahonu, Janet Okoko and Trung Nguyen.

Long-distance friends (now in BC) are Christel Jordaan-Schlebusch and Dewald Schlebusch. (Apologies to any I may have missed!)

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There are always other writers, editors, coaches, entrepreneurs, businesses and programs to promote in Saskatchewan.

Please  write me to share your stories . . . . 

But for now, this is a wrap for mid-February!

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ABOUT US:

Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I now help economic immigrants and internationally trained (non-native speaking) academics to communicate more clearly in English–both in writing and by speaking–so they can better succeed in Canadian workplaces, marketplaces and academic settings.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant website (www.elizabethshih.com).

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!

Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca).