16/12/2025
Today’s classroom moment made me pause, laugh, and learn 😅
A student was playing with her chair, so I told her to stop. When she didn’t, I joked, “If you fall off that chair, I’ll clap.”
(“Kapag nahulog ka diyan sa upuan mo, papalakpakan kita.”)
That’s my usual Filipino banter when I’m reminding my Filipino students to sit properly.
She jokingly fired back, “What if you lose your job?”
I replied, “That’s okay.”
Then another student chimed in with, “No, not my dawg,” referring to me.
At first, I honestly thought he was calling me a dog 🐶, so I asked, “Me? Your dog?” He repeated it like it was totally normal. I asked him to spell it, and he did—then explained what it meant.
All I could say was, “Really?”
Then I walked over to my computer and asked ChatGPT if he actually meant it the way he said it. 😂 So, I made kwento to ChatGPT and it helped me understand what my student mean.
Teaching really keeps you on your toes—sometimes you’re correcting behavior, sometimes you’re learning new slang in real time.
