the real tragedy

"Kids these days" (I know, I know, I'm only 23!) are smarter than me in so many ways. They can do pretty much everything on their phones, they can create appealing graphics and they can edit a video clip to perfection. But they do suck at a few things. One of those is spelling. I've already written one blog post about spelling, but I feel the need for an outlet to laugh about it. To record it -- even just for my own amusement.

Today I marked grade 11 student notes on the film version of Shakespeare's Othello. While I was happy to see that most of them caught the bulk of the plot and characters, I had to smile at some of the following quotes:
(For those who aren't familiar with Othello, it's a tragedy that takes place in Venice and Cyprus. The main characters are Othello, his wife Desdemona and the villain Iago.)

"Othello and Destamana get a lope at night so no one knows their married."

"Cassio is the new leuftennant."

"Othello is inragged." (It took me a second to realize that was "enraged.")

"Iago tells Rodrigo to call Des' fauther." (father?! really?)

"Desdemona's father is the senitor."

Apparently very few of them knew how to spell Venice. I got "Vinece," "Venis," and -- my personal favourite -- "Venus."

"Othello and Desdemona sneak off in Venus to get married." haha I just imagine an alien, outer-space version of the play!

I'm not trying to be mean, and I know my spelling isn't perfect ... But for grade 11 students -- all of whom have English as their first language -- really?!

The grade 12 students aren't much better. After almost thirteen years in public education, in one paragraph one student wrote Egypt three different ways: "Egypt," "Eygypt," and "Eygmptions."

And although this isn't a spelling issue, I have to include it. When my grade 12 classes did partner presentations on African countries, I asked the other students to take notes on each presentation including: 3-5 facts, 1 piece of constructive criticism, and 1 compliment.

I guess I should have clarified ... I ended up getting compliments like:

"HOLY SHIT! That was a good presentation!" (excuse my language)
and "I liked Kristina's sweater."