After the session two weeks ago, in which we discussed Engfish, I decided that this was a critical thing I needed to share with my students. All of them have used this very formal, stilted style that doesn’t make any fucking sense.
Doing a small amount of research, I found this transcript of Ken Macorie’s discussion of Engfish., which I shared with the class.
…it went over like a dead fish. This clearly was not going to work.
Then, I remembered the tried and true method of getting my students to actually engage with the class… GAME SHOWS.
This is what I came up with. It’s a quiz based on the Macorie article, using a free service called Kahoot. It’s funny, irreverent, and allows the students to engage with the material anonymously. Each example of Engfish should be explained after the quiz question is answered, and the overall tone should be kind of funny.
My current plan is to incorporate Kahoot into my next sample work session, by using examples of Engfish from the class’s texts. Everyone really seems to love it, and the anonymity means that more people are willing to participate. (Of course… you can check the answers online afterward to see who didn’t answer the questions!)
I’m looking forward to seeing the effect this has on my student’s work. You can get kahoot at… well… Getkahoot.com.