Tempo de leitura: menos de 1 minuto

Mark G. Nash e Willians Ramos Ferreira

The school answering machine

This is hilarious. No wonder some people were offended! This is the message that the Pacific Palisades High School California staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone answering machine.

This is the actual answering machine message for the school. This came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children’s absences and missing homework.

The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children’s failing grades changed to passing grades – even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough school work to pass their classes.

The outgoing message:

Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school. In order to assist you in connecting to the right staff member, please listen to al the options before making a selection:

To lie about why your child is absent – Press 1

To make excuses for why your child did not do his work – Press 2

To complain about what we do – Press 3

To swear at staff members – Press 4

To ask why you didn’t get information that was already enclosed in your newsletter and several flyers mailed to you – Press 5

If you want us to raise your child – Press 6

If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone – Press 7

To request another teacher, for the third time this year – Press 8

To complain about bus transportation – Press 9

To complain about school lunches – Press 0

If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his/her own behavior, class work, homework and that it’s not the teacher’s fault for your child’s lack of effort: Hang up and have a nice day!

Glossary

• answering machine > secretária eletrônica
• no wonder > não é de se estranhar
• staff > funcionários
• voted unanimously > votaram em peso; foram unânimes
• record > gravar
• the actual answering machine message > a mensagem real gravada na secretária eletrônica
• this came about > a ideia surgiu
• implemented a policy > implementaram uma política
• requiring > solicitando
• missing homework > lição de casa não entregue
• are being sued by parents > estão sendo processados pelos pais
• failing grades changed to passing grades > notas vermelhas alteradas para notas azuis
• even though > mesmo que; embora; muito embora
• to pass their classes > para passar de ano
• outgoing message > mensagem gravada
• you have reached > você ligou para
• in order to assist you > a fim de auxiliá-lo
• make excuses > inventar desculpas
• swear at staff members > xingar os funcionários
• flyers > panfletos
• raise your child > criar seu filho
• reach out and touch, slap or hit someone > contactar alguém ou dar um tabefe ou bater em alguém
• request another teacher > solicitar a troca de professor
• if you realize this is the real world > se você perceber que este é o mundo real
• lack of effort > falta de esforço
• hang up and have a nice day > desligue o telefone e tenha um bom dia

Cf. Autonomia não é só para autodidatas

Cf. Leitura: abrir o dicionário ou deduzir pelo contexto?

Cf. Comentários e perguntas: que problemas revelam?

Speak up! We’re listening…

Seria a piada um triste reflexo da realidade em muitas escolas? Ficou alguma dúvida de vocabulário? Identificou a foto que ilustra o post? Nós do Tecla SAP gostaríamos de saber se o texto foi útil também para você refletir sobre o tema. Por favor, envie suas respostas na seção de comentários, no rodapé da página. Muito obrigado pelo interesse e pela participação!

Referência

Sorria, você está praticando inglês!, de Mark G. Nash e Willians Ramos Ferreira, Disal Editora, 2010. Leia a sinopse.