If I had to guess, I would say many of you are probably fans (in some capacity) of the popular sitcom Friends.  There is one episode in particular that illustrates incredibly well some of the situations I, and many of the other ETA’s here, have encountered while trying to teach English to Taiwanese students.

“The one where Joey speaks French.”

A little background for the out-of-touch ‘Friend’: Joey, a most-of-the-time-struggling actor writes ‘fluent in French’ on his resume.  He gets an audition for the part of a French man, but unfortunately, he doesn’t know a word of the language.  So the always helpful Phoebe, who can actually speak French, offers to teach him his lines.

Joey Trying To Talk French – Watch the best video clips here

My own personal ‘Joey’ moment:

me: Where are you from?

student: whe asda skdfhkj sdfkhs

me: Where are you FROM?

student: asldfkj slfksjdj weoir LDKJFS

me: Where

student: Where

me: are

student: are

me: you

student: you

me: from?

student: from?

me: where are you from?

student: whe- laks alsdfk  oiud?

me: [banging head on the desk]

Students: 1; Dani: 0

and 10 million points to all language teachers out there, who face this everyday.