That's the Way ESL Teachers Think!

When Terry read my last blog entry, his comment was: You're losing it! That's nuts! "Times they are a-changing" means exactly that - times they are a-changing...!

To which I replied: But what does that mean? What does the AH / EH / A / UH add?

And he looked at me in disbelief - as if I were crazy!

Then I realized it: Of course, he's not an ESL teacher... He isn't used to looking at English and asking himself: What does this mean?... so as to be able to logically explain it to someone else.

I remember very clearly the first time I ever thought about language this way. I was in a teacher-training class at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the instructor asked us: What does "I'm eating" mean? How does it differ in meaning from "I eat" or "I have eaten"?

I was dumbfounded - I had a degree in English - but I had never looked at the English language that way.

Eventually I learned to explain to students that "I'm eating" usually means right now, as in "Don't bother me - I'm eating." "I eat" usually means habitually or often, such as "I eat my lunch in the cafeteria." And "I have eaten" is actually a past tense used when the time of the action is not mentioned; in other words, when I say, "I've eaten" - I usually mean I'm not hungry but I'm not telling you when I ate.

I have explained verbs to hundreds of English language learners - but I have never taught them the expression, "times they are a-changin'"?! Is this a verb tense? I asked myself, or merely a random expression? Do I use this form in any other expressions?

Well, I might say, I'm a-walkin.' But when would I say it? And what would it mean?

After reflecting on it a while, I can only surmise that it's a variation of "I'm walking [right now]" - and would only be said in a relaxed, spoken situation. It has the feeling of country about it... But I probably wouldn't use it in the negative form (He's not a-walkin'. or Times aren't a-changin'.) And I probably wouldn't pose the question: Are you a-talking to him right now? (Or would I... if I lived in the country?)

Yes, I've been a-thinkin' about it and that's the best I could come up with...

If you have any further insights, about this strange - but lovely - verb form, I'd be delighted to hear them.

And if you love a-thinkin' about language that way, you might enjoy teaching English to immigrants and foreign students!