Do native teacher say "Please help me carry the books'?

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Tan Elaine

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Where I live, when a teacher asks his pupils to carry books, he tells the pupil, "Please help me carry the books." The interesting part is he will leave all the books for the pupil to carry.

Do native teachers ask their pupils to do something for them in the same way stated above?

Thanks.
 
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Grumpy

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In that case, the teacher should say, "Please help me by carrying the books".
 

Tdol

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Do native teachers ask their pupils to do something for her in the same way stated above?

Not that I know- we'd carry some ourselves. Grumpy's suggestion fits your situation, but, culturally, walking off leaving a student to carry the lot strikes me as arrogant.
 

Tan Elaine

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Not that I know- we'd carry some ourselves. Grumpy's suggestion fits your situation, but, culturally, walking off leaving a student to carry the lot strikes me as arrogant.
I actually meant exercise books. Is such a request by a teacher arrogant to a native speaker? (I think all the respondents are thinking of thick textbooks.)

Grumpy wrote: "Please help me by carrying the books."

I wonder whether my sentence is acceptable: "Please carry the exercise books for me."

Thanks.
 

Barb_D

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Your sentence is also fine.

Yes, it's arrogant for a teacher here to assume that a student is a servant to carry anything. To ask for help? Sure, that's fine. To state that it's needed and walk away? Not so much.

Now, within a class setting to say something like "Joe, please hand out out those booklets over here. Sarah, here's a box of pencils - please give one to every student," that's fine and expected. It's that "do this" and then walking away that seems so off.
 
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