looking for an English verb

[Eman Hassan]

Hello there everyone
I am a teacher and while I am teaching, some students suddenly lose concentration and start thinking about some other things. You can actually see that in their eyes.
My question is:
Is there a verb to describe that? I mean if we want to start a dialogue like that:
Teacher: Marcus, are you following?
Marcus: I'm sorry,miss. I--------.
Which verb can we use to fill in the blank?

Thank you

 

[JMurray]

not a teacher

Teacher: Marcus, are you following this/the lesson?
Marcus: I'm sorry, Miss. I was distracted.

Although, if I were the pupil I would probably say, "Sorry, Miss, I was just thinking about what you were saying".

 

[MikeNewYork]

Hello there everyone
I am a teacher and while I am teaching, some students suddenly lose concentration and start thinking about some other things. You can actually see that in their eyes.
My question is:
Is there a verb to describe that? I mean if we want to start a dialogue like that:
Teacher: Marcus, are you following?
Marcus: I'm sorry,miss. I--------.
Which verb can we use to fill in the blank?

Thank you

"Was distracted" is good. Another would be "was daydreaming".

 

[Eman Hassan]

Thanks guys

But I still feel that distracted doesn't really mean that I lost concentration because of my own thoughts. I think it means that something else did the distraction, right?

And daydreaming too has a different meaning. Maybe I wasn't dreaming or imagining anything. Maybe I was just thinking about a problem that I have.
What do you think?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Thanks guys

But I still feel that distracted doesn't really mean that I lost concentration because of my own thoughts. I think it means that something else did the distraction, right?

And daydreaming too has a different meaning. Maybe I wasn't dreaming or imagining anything. Maybe I was just thinking about a problem that I have.
What do you think?

In that case, your problem could be distracting you. If you don't like that word, try "was preoccupied".

 

[Eman Hassan]

In that case, your problem could be distracting you. If you don't like that word, try "was preoccupied".

Thanks again.

So, there's no other words native speakers use?
You are a native, right?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Thanks again.

So, there's no other words native speakers use?
You are a native, right?

Yes, I am a native, but I am not a mind reader. English has many words, but you have to help find the one that suits you. Take the words that have been offered and look at their dictionary definitions. Look at the words that are used in the definitions. Or use a thesaurus. You might find what you are looking for.

 

[JMurray]

There are phrases that describe this situation. We say that people are "lost in thought", "off in their own little world", and similar expressions.
In reality, the pupil is very likely to say something like, "Sorry, Miss. I was just thinking about something".

 

[emsr2d2]

I was in a little world of my own.
I was daydreaming.
I was thinking [about something else].
I was somewhere else!
That's how I look when I'm concentrating on such an interesting class.

 

[Tdol]

Zone out

 

[Eman Hassan]

Thank you all for your help

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you all for your help

There is no need to write a new post to say thank you. Simply click on the "Like" button in the bottom right-hand corner of any post you find helpful. If we see that there is a new post in a thread, we spend time opening the thread to get to the new post, only to discover that there is no new question or new information, simply a thank you. It wastes your time and ours.

 

[Tdol]

I was in a little world of my own.
I was daydreaming.
I was thinking [about something else].
I was somewhere else!
That's how I look when I'm concentrating on such an interesting class.

&
I was miles away.

 

[Eman Hassan]

I did some research on "zone out", and I kind of feel that it is more of an intentional action. In other words, you choose to zone out. And hence you choose to create a zone for yourself. But what if we want to say that someone unintentionally lost concentration in class?