I occasionally used to have these fun conversations back when I worked in a big language school in Madrid.
Me: The Grand Canyon is really the only thing worth visiting if you go to Arizona. The rest of it’s basically just a giant wasteland with some soul-sucking mega-suburbs now and then.
Student 1: But the Grand Canyon isn’t in Arizona, it’s in Colorado.
Me: Actually, the Grand Canyon is in Arizona.
Student 2: No, we call it El Gran Cañon del Colorado because it’s in Colorado.
Me: Well, no, actually you call it El Gran Cañon del Colorado because it’s on the Colorado River, which passes through both Colorado and Arizona.
Student 1: No way, it’s in Colorado!
Student 2: Yeah, I saw this thing on TV that said that Americans don’t know anything about geography. Why are you all so ignorant?
Me: (Sigh…) I guess you’d better look it up, then.
Students: (Pulling out smartphones… frantically tapping…)
Student 1: Huh. Who knew? Looks like it’s in Arizona.
Me: Anyway, as I was saying…
You might also be interested in this conversation with an ESL Student. Or hey, a little bit of American Ignorance never hurt anybody.
I’ve also got a classic article about owning a language school. It’s called Pimping for Fun and Profit. And if you’d like something more serious, you can check out Working in Spain.
Have fun,
Daniel.
P.S. I can’t believe it’s been almost 4 years since I quit my day job and achieved my current level of James Bondish international awesomeness. More about that, of course, in my book: The Zen of Blogging.
P.P.S. Actually, now that I think about it, I have a whole article about some of the silly questions people ask Americans abroad. And their answers. Enjoy!
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