SWPL

[Plane]

https://www.facebook.com/stuffwhitepeoplelike


This was really funny until they described me.

[Xavier_Onassis]

There were few things listed that I dislike listed.
But not all that many things I really liked.

[Plane]

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/page/4/


You aren't in one of the stereotypes?

[Xavier_Onassis]

I don't think so.

I never watch ball sports or NASCAR and idiotic nonsense like Dancing with the Stars and those phony bearded Duckhunters appeal to me not one whit.

I could give a shit about the Superbowl, March Madness or American Idol

[Plane]

  You might be what this guy calls "the wrong kind of white people".

#115 Promising to Learn a New Language

Throughout history, white people have a pretty poor record when it comes to promises (see Americans, Native for examples).  Thankfully, modern white people are trying to erase the shame of the past by making promises to themselves that they will never keep.

Writing a novel, going vegan, or sending their future kid to public school are just a few of these great breakable promises.  But by far the most common self improvement promise is to learn a new language.

This plan is first formulated when white people realize that two years of college Italian does not confer fluency.  For the most part, these classes will only teach a white person how to order food in a restaurant, ask for a train schedule, and over pronounce words when they are mixed into English. Amazingly this small amount of proficiency is more than enough to warrant inclusion on a resume under “spoken languages.”

For many white people the lack of a second language is their greatest secret shame.  It fills them with so much shame that they will literally spend the rest of their lives promising to learn a new language, but not so much shame that they will actually do it.
 When it comes to learning a new language......

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/page/4/

[Xavier_Onassis]

When I told people that I taught Spanish, I always met people who asked me how much I charged to tutor them. I developed a program for this, believing that they were sincere, but then all I heard was that they did not have the time THIS YEAR, that maybe in the "near future".  So I just complied some resources on tape and later for the computer and told them to call me or e mail me and I would give it to them free of charge.  I still do not get any comers. It seems that learning Spanish occupies the part if their minds occupied by stuff like "losing a few pounds" or reading a classic novel.

It was not my teaching technique, because none of these people ever tried a single lesson. Occasionally, I would get them to repeat several syllables to help with their pronunciation.

This is nto typical of "White people", but for Americans of all colors who were born and raised here.

[Plane]

Yep , that is me.

Every time I get an educational project started something catches on fire.
I have a little stack of Spanish learning materials left over from false starts, including one course that was apparently a pirated copy that never played a bit.
I just can't make it the priority it needs to be.

Humor works sometimes when it bites.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Learning another language is not such an easy thing to do. It requires time and dedication. The usual way language is taught in the US is far from optimal. The Europeans are best at it, especially the Dutch, Swedes. Finns, Danes and Germans. They start in the third or fourth grade and then actually use English as a medium to teach other subjects. We start in the 10th grade. The assumption that it can be taught twice or three times per week in college is false for most people, as it takes more time and practice than most people actually need.

And most Americans have little dedication . In Europe, there are schools where the entire faculty speaks English. In the US is is just Sra Garcia, and she did not learn it in school.