English as a second language- swear words

[Piginapokiee]

I teach English as a second language (third in some cases). My students like to swear. Sometimes they get it wrong.

I have a class of school leavers. They will all be 16 this calendar year.

I have been thinking of doing one lesson all about how to use swear words correctly.

As a parent, would you object to this?

I hate to break it to you, but if you swear at your boss you might get the sack.

Of course it is - but we understand, for example, that it's unacceptable to swear in church.

Is OP saying she's going to teach her pupils to swear at their bosses?

I'm sure OP understands that too 😅

I answered your point.

I'm sure that she does.

Interesting replies, thanks!

A lot have mentioned the students not understanding the level of offence, which is exactly the problem. The way they use swear words when speaking English would definitely raise eyebrows if they were to speak line that in the UK (and even more so in the US!).

I think it’s appropriate to weave into a lesson on idiom but also include the more polite form. It could even be structured on you can say instead of swearing indifferent contexts like at home with family, what you say with friends, what you say at work, for situations like:

1. Sudden minor accidents like stubbing your toe/spilling water (e,g. oopsie)
2. Being annoyed with someone (he’s getting on my nerves)
3. Wanting some one to leave you alone (give me some space/get lost )
4. Needing to go to the bathroom (I need the bog, I’m busting)

I tended just to explain to pupils that certain words were unacceptable in polite society, even if they had heard native speakers using them.

I once had the opposite issue...

An S3/Y10 boy complained that a Polish man had threatened to "batter' him.

"All I did was call him 'a wanker' in Polish." [Apparently, his Polish pals had taught him a few words.]

"Well, that might have upset him for a start. What word did you use?"

He told me. Now, I don't speak Polish but I do know another couple of Slavic languages and the swear words tend to be much the same in all Slavic languages.

"That's the problem. You called him a c-u-n-t in Polish. You're lucky you're still standing."

I think it is not a good idea. Even if you were planning to keep it mild, students will push the boundaries to take it further. Teaching idioms on the other hand is very useful. Teaching slang in reverse is good too - picking words and expressions they have heard at school and offering formal English equivalents as well as helping them understand the meaning and appropriate usage.

Depends on the boss, someone at work got very drunk at our Christmas party and repeatedly said 'fuck you' to the big boss (and tried to strip off but I stopped him ) and our boss just laughed, and it was never mentioned again. I swear at my manager fairly regularly, never a problem.

@Piginapokiee A lesson on swearing and slang could be very useful, explaining the different levels of offensiveness etc. plus it would be fun and engaging for your students. But some parents might object, but also I think any student knowing their parent is the type to object just won't tell them about the lesson! It really depends where you are - are you teaching to foreign students in the UK or to native students somewhere else? Some cultures are less fussed about swearing, for example, I picked up a book for teaching English at my local library, in the children's section, and it had a two page spread dedicated to swear words! It was very amusing but I did think it shouldn't have been in the children's section, definitely aimed more at teenagers so YA section would have been best for it, but I'm in Finland where swearing in English doesn't count (you hear fuck on the radio for instance from presenters, and songs never have a radio edit)

I think that’s the OP’s point with wanting to teach them how to swear in an appropriate context.

The kids are presumably already using swear words to communicate with others and to try to sound cool and knowledgeable?

However, they need to learn to choose their words to fit the context of the situation. It’s not just a case of translating directly from their native language as the other posters have already pointed out.

If their parents are also not native English speakers, then they're not going to learn the rules at home and they’re at risk of making some serious errors and causing unnecessary embarrassment all ‘round.

It sounds like a really practical lesson to be honest. 🤷🏻‍♀️

ESL teacher here and I think it's a good idea, especially if you can grade the swearing strong to weak.

They're going to use it anyway and some of the swearing I hear from my younger students (18-25) is straight out of rap and horribly offensive particularly as they often don't always understand the meaning of the words they are using.

I don't teach it but always correct my students or offer an English alternative to a bad translation, for example; my students telling me they shit (fucked-up) at work today! Or 'fucking' + adjective (they hear this in music / movies etc but don't understand) as in fucking good which opens a good discussion on fucking as an intensifyer and the use of strong / weak adjectives and which ones would and generally wouldn't be used with fucking. The students generally really enjoy it and the discussions that follow.

There is so much creativity with English swearing, it makes me sad that my students only use what they hear in rap and I have been tempted to put together a lesson myself at times (phrases verbs, compound nouns, idioms), sadly I am not as brave as you and while I don't need to worry about parents, the universities and business I go to might not appreciate my creativity!

If these kids are ESL students then could they do with some lessons about slurs too?
If they listen to English in music and film they may need to be specifically told not to use the n word or crude words like bitch and how to describe disabilities and ethnicities eg an American would assume Asian means East Asian, in the UK, people would assume South Asian.

A lesson on different words meaning different things in other English speaking countries could be fun. For example “rubber” being very different in US vs UK and “thong” being very different in UK vs Australia.

Over 30 years ago our A Level Spanish teacher taught us about swearing in Spanish - I think it stemmed from idiomatic swearing in one of the books we were reading. It served me well and I learned what you really didn't want to say to someone unless you wanted to start a fight. I do think there are ways of doing this without it being a lesson dedicated to swearing.

I think a lesson on the meanings of swear words and how and when to use them appropriately - and when not to use them - would be useful. And which words are so offensive they should never be used.

Someone upthread mentioned an Italian idiom that translates as 'pig-God'. I imagine that might be very offensive to Muslims. That is the kind of thing that could be included.

When I started learning German my teacher told us all the German words which we'd find rude, to get the giggles out of the way. And many years later we had a discussion about swear words in adult discussion. Shit is barely a swear word in German, totally acceptable in school, not at all the case in English.

But she might impart knowledge that means they don't tell their boss that they feel like a 'limp dick this morning' like I managed to... thinking I was saying rabbit...

Coglione v Coniglio

If it was full blown adults that enrol themselves, sure go for it. In many countries 16 is still seen as kids so definitely inappropriate.

Presumably the parents won’t know the proper use themselves

It’s not that hard to find it out.

I don’t know if that’s true. The easiest way is for an English personal to tell you but you need to have someone you feel comfortable asking (or you learn the hard way by using it incorrectly and having someone pull you up on it).
you can use google but you need to know what to search for and to understand what it’s saying.

A Russian course presenter last week said to us ‘right, you bastards, let’s make a start!’ 🫣

Americans use South Asian and SE Asian.