Jose is an Older Man

This guy is probably, and I'm guessing, in his late 40s or early 50s.  He's attending this week's  English Conversation Group.  He told us he never misses a chance to go and speak English, so he travels to other nearby conversation groups on different days.  What's nice about our English Conversation Group is that there's no pressure and no one looks at you funny or is rude to you, if you can't pronounce a word correctly,' it's a very relaxed environment and we talk about "whatever".

I can't believe that people can be really rude to others because they can't say a word perfectly.  Another student of mine was in a hospital attending her clinical requirements and one of the Respiratory Therapist yelled at her and told her to "learn how to speak English first and you'll be a better Therapist".  The woman who said this was from another country with a very, very, slight accent, not as perfect English either. My student felt awful and lost even more confidence in herself. She's a timid, introvert and walked away feeling hurt. 

Back to Jose; he decided to attend a local junior college to take an ESL class.  He said he paid alot of money, nearly $500 for two credit hours and a book.  Jose has not been working for over 9 months since he was laid-off from his job. 

If you were to talk to Jose, he can understand and speak English pretty well; enough for him to get by in a conversation everyday.  He doesn't understand alot of slang and idioms that we use today.  For example, we were talking about "shadowing" someone at work and he had no clue what that meant.  I never realized how much we use slang or idioms on a daily basis.  Here's a few examples:

• Take it Easy
• A Dime a Dozen
• A Drop in the Bucket
• Don't Bite My Head off
• Once in a Blue Moon
• You Crack Me Up
• Off the Record
• Hit the Sack or Hit the Hay
• Out of the Blue
• A Piece of Cake
• Bite the Bullet
• A Taste of your Own Medicine

Just by adding idioms in our daily conversation can easily confuse someone who is learning the English language.  I try not to add them in my conversation group, 'cause sometimes, it takes awhile to explain what some of the idioms mean; and that can get even trickier and more confusing for others.