# 私の学校の英語の授業ではこんな事をやってます。どう思いますか？

- Show: 英語で雑談！Kevin’s English Room Podcast
- Published: 2026-09-24
- Canonical: https://podc.club/en/episode/1518322346_5e56f4546373.html
- Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/260e5c24/podcast/play/125802932/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-8-16%2F2278e8e6-cac5-6bbe-548b-afc04d0eb35f.mp3
- Source: Edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. Not an official summary.

A listener who assists teachers at a Japanese public middle school wrote in with two things that have been nagging at them about English class. The first: almost every student pronounces 'Sit down' as 'Shit down.' The second: the teacher uses the word 'loser' directly at students during rock-paper-scissors activities. Kevin, a native English speaker, and Yama-chan (山ちゃん) weighed in on both.

## What this episode answers

### What does the English greeting routine at the start of class actually look like?

The routine is conducted entirely in English: a student leads with 'Stand up,' then a uniform/appearance check ('Check your uniform'), then 'Let's begin,' and students take turns leading it, with almost every student getting a chance to say 'Sit down.'

### When students pronounce 'Sit down' as 'shit down,' how does it land on a native speaker's ear?

It lands as a clearly distinct, very different word from what students intend—'sit' and 'shit' are distinct sounds to a native ear, so it registers as the vulgar word rather than the intended phrase.

### Is it appropriate to use phrases like 'Who are losers?' and 'Losers, raise your hand' in a classroom setting?

The article does not directly answer this as a general appropriateness judgment; it only notes Kevin's view that 'loser' carries much more negative weight than 'the person who lost,' and that directing it at a person, even playfully, reads as an insult in many situations, with the worry that kids may feel something was off once they understand the word's connotations.

### Should a small pronunciation error like Sit vs. Shit be corrected on the spot, or is it fine to let it go as long as the meaning comes through?

The discussion concluded it's better to learn the correct sound early rather than just let it go, though stopping to correct every student every time would be disruptive—so there should be at least one moment where the teacher clearly explains the difference and why it matters.

### How negative is the word 'loser' in everyday English?

According to Kevin, 'loser' carries significantly more negative weight than simply 'the person who lost'; natural English would use 'the person who lost' instead, since calling someone 'a loser' directly reads as an insult in many situations in English-speaking cultures.

## Article

## A Listener Letter: Two Things About English Class That Have Been Bothering Me

This week's letter came from a listener who works not as a teacher but as a classroom support assistant at a public middle school. Because they see English lessons up close every day, two specific moments have been catching their attention, and they wanted to know what Kevin and Yama-chan (山ちゃん) — Kevin being a native English speaker — actually think.

## Concern #1: 'Sit Down' Coming Out as 'Shit Down'

According to the listener, English class opens with a set greeting routine conducted entirely in English. The flow goes roughly: 'Stand up' → uniform and appearance check ('Check your uniform') → 'Let's begin.' Because students take turns leading this routine, almost every student in the class gets a chance to say 'Sit down' out loud.

The problem is the pronunciation. Nearly all of them say something closer to 'shit down,' the listener wrote — and while the teacher's own pronunciation of 'Sit down' is correct, the teacher does not stop to correct students when they say it the other way. The listener admitted they find it a little funny every single time.

Kevin's reaction was immediate. 'Sit' and 'shit' are clearly distinct sounds to a native English speaker, he explained, and 'shit down' lands as exactly that — something very different from what the students intend. 'Sit down' itself is a perfectly normal phrase, but a small vowel shift changes the meaning entirely, making it a textbook case of a pronunciation slip that actually matters. He also acknowledged that distinguishing the short *i* in 'sit' from the *ih* vowel in 'shit' is genuinely difficult for Japanese speakers, so the error is understandable — but still worth addressing.

## Concern #2: 'Who Are Losers?' and 'You Are a Loser'

Pair work and activities are common in this class, and rock-paper-scissors is a frequent way to decide turn order. During those moments, the listener wrote, the teacher says things like 'Who are losers?' or 'Losers, raise your hand,' and sometimes addresses a specific student by name: '(Name)-san, you are a loser.' The kids raise their hands cheerfully and seem to be having fun — but the listener always wonders whether this is really okay.

Kevin's take was clear: 'loser' carries significantly more negative weight in English than simply 'the person who lost.' In natural English you would more likely say 'the person who lost' rather than calling someone 'a loser' directly, because pointing 'loser' at a person — even in a playful context — reads as an insult in many situations in English-speaking cultures. The concern raised in the episode is that even if the kids are laughing now, there is a real chance they will feel something off about it later, once they understand the word's connotations.

## Should Pronunciation Errors Be Corrected?

Yama-chan was also asked whether small pronunciation differences like Sit vs. Shit should be corrected in the moment. One view is that meaning gets through fine, so there is no need to stop class over it. The counter-argument — and the one that carried the discussion — is that when the mispronunciation produces a completely different word in English, especially one that would stand out sharply to a native speaker, it is better to learn the correct sound early. Stopping to correct every student every time would be disruptive, but the group landed on the idea that there should be at least one moment where the teacher clearly explains the difference and why it matters.

## Takeaways

- When students say 'Sit down' as 'shit down,' native English speakers hear exactly that, so the i vs. ih vowel distinction is worth teaching explicitly given how different the two words are.
- 'Loser' in English carries strongly negative connotations beyond simply 'the person who lost,' making it a potentially inappropriate word to direct at children in a classroom, even in a light-hearted context.
- While correcting every minor pronunciation slip mid-class may not be practical, words whose mispronunciation produces an entirely different meaning — like Sit and Shit — deserve at least one clear, dedicated explanation.