12.21.25: Teaching English Abroad

The funniest part of teaching English abroad is realizing how little you actually know about your own language. A student asks why we say "I'm good" instead of "I'm well" and you freeze. Then someone wants to know why "read" and "read" are spelled the same but pronounced differently. You start making things up. Historical reasons. Latin influence. The British, probably. Your students nod like this makes sense. You wonder if your teachers did the same thing. English is just a language shaped by centuries of people confidently guessing, and you're continuing that tradition.