need your suggestion, I explained a word wrongly

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zara1987

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hey there

I've recently started to teach English last week I explained a word ( the word was spilt and at that time I said split and said split means to divide into two and pour:cry:) but after the class I realized it was wrong and I made a mistake! I know I have to tell my students but at the same time I don't want to lose their trust. what should I do? please help me to come up with a good strategy to deal with my mistake.

thanks in advance.
 

Skrej

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I would just say something like "I misread/misheard (depending on how you encountered the word) and need to correct the definition I gave you. Write out the two words to point out the similarities and how confusing they can be, and give correct definitions for both. Point out they're even both verbs, so there's even more room for confusion.

Perhaps turn it into a mini-lesson about regular/irregular verbs?

As far as losing trust, it's been my experience that a teacher error doesn't create any trust issues, as long as you admit the error. Just point out that it's easy for even advanced speakers to occasionally make errors, so they shouldn't be discouraged to make a few themselves.

They'll respect you more for providing the correction than finding out later you were wrong and didn't say anything.

Even as a native speaker, I occasionally slip up when teaching. If the students happen to correct me first, it really gives them an ego boost to recognize the error. My students love it when I mess up, and it drives home a lesson I always tell them on the first day of class - don't be afraid to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them. Mistakes are actually a critical part of the learning process.

I'd also wager that your students will now remember the two words much better than if they'd just learned them both in the course of regular vocabulary.
 

zara1987

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thank u soooooo much.
 

emsr2d2

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Thank you [strike]soooooo[/strike] so much.

I hope you teach your students to use full, correct words! Remember that learners on this site can see from your profile that you are an English teacher so they will assume everything you write is correct. On that basis, please make sure you that use correct spelling, grammar, capitalisation and punctuation.
 

Tdol

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They'll respect you more for providing the correction than finding out later you were wrong and didn't say anything.

I agree- you will show that you are thinking about classes afterwards, which is a good thing.

You could ask them whether they had asked you about spilt or split first, and say you want to check as these are easily confused and you may have misheard/misread, which puts some distance between you and the issue as they will be asking themselves whether they wrote it down incorrectly.
 
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