My bus ride

The trip from home to the uni is about 50 minutes. I don't mind it if I can get a seat on the bus. There are many reasons why I don't drive. I can't be bothered to take care of a car, the way people drive here scares me, I have a poor sense of direction, to name just a few. The main reason, though, is I need the time on the bus to 'think'. You see - there is always something I need to do when I'm in the office or at home. Taking time off to do nothing but think has been a luxury for me. So the bus ride is actually a joy. Apparently, I am one of those people who get carsick reading on the bus (not on the plane, not on the train, but just on the bus). So I'm physically confined to that space, unable to do anything or go anywhere. What's on my mind during those two hours? Well, on the trip to the uni, I most likely will be thinking about what I'm teaching that day. On the trip home, believe it or not, I reflect on my teaching: did the class go as I had planned, what should I do next time to make it better, did students do or say anything interesting, and so on. Then when I get home, I talk about all this to my husband and bore the heck out of him. But hey, he does this to me too!

Accent

A friend told me today one of his students speaks with a strong British accent and that when he asked her how she acquired the accent, she said she had purposely learned it because it sounds classier than an American accent. This upsets me. Let me make it clear first that I am not pro or against the British accent. Looking back, I have probably acquired American, British and Australian accents at different stages while I was learning English. However, I never see any of these accents as classier or better than the others. Language is a tool, which carries the message you want to convey. The tool itself does not make you more or less classy; the message does. What difference does it make whether you speak with an American or British accent when your message is completely rubbish? Honestly, I am not surprised at what this student said. I’ve heard similar ignorant statements before, mostly from English majors, unfortunately. I hope these people will soon stop viewing English or a certain accent of English as an accessory they wear to make them look good. What English (or any other language) does for us is: it offers us more opportunities to understand the world. It's as simple as that.