Cake Wrecks, World Educator
June 3, 2009 I thought you guys might appreciate this e-mail I got today:
Hi Jen,
A friend of mine posted a link to your site, (and) I think I spent about 3 hours yesterday going though your blog when I was supposed to be working on lesson plans for the English class I teach. I am an American English teacher at a big elementary school not far from Seoul, South Korea. My Korean coworkers heard me laughing so hard that they came over to my desk to investigate. Clever as I am, I told them I was working on my next lesson, which I wasn't... until I realized that I WAS!
So today, I decided to ditch the book and instead teach grammar and spelling mistakes from Cake Wrecks. The fourth and fifth graders loved it, and the students were able to correct about 90% of the mistakes! How embarrassing that even Korean elementary school students know better!
Thanks for the great teaching material!
- Carolyn H.
The Cake Wrecks pop quiz - gotta love it.
Here the children are wondering how the U.S. ever became a world power.
(The answer, of course, is Whoopie Pies.)
Carolyn, thanks for helping to spread the Wreckage on such a global scale. Why, by influencing these young minds you've made our bid for ultimate Wrecky world domination that much easier! Tell me, did you perchance introduce the kiddos to their friendly neighborhood Carrot Jockeys?
Reader Comments (102)
That's so cool :)
Man, I wish MY public school elementary classroom looked so nice.
...Perhaps this is a reason for wrecks...
Look at that lovely classroom!! I want one!!
OMG This is fantastic!!!
How cool is that?!
I nearly died laughing at the caption on the last picture!
We need more teachers like that who can be creative with their lessons. I was a graphic design student and we had an instructor who would bring in printed materials that made it into the magazines and newspapers with obvious mistakes on it. Like the one that said "We fix clocks!" But they left a very important letter out of the word "clock".
Umm sign me up for that class!
So refreshing to see such wonderful teachers coming up with new ideas!!! I LOVE IT!!!
Say, I need some teaching materials for finance and home food preservation...any ideas?!?!?
P.S. - I don't really need to tell you, but I wil: Your blog is AMAZING! And SO entertaining! Thank You!
Very funny! And what a great idea to use as a teaching lesson. I'm sure the kids enjoyed it, and will remember the lessons learned better than from a more 'traditional' class. :)
What a brilliant idea she had! I get caught laughing out loud hysterically to the blog all the time too- however, I just get a shameful look from my boss for it, no sweet lesson plans.
Love it!
Kathleen
Bravo to Caroline! Maybe I can convince my husband, who teaches college astronomy, to interweave Cake Wrecks in his lessons. ???
That is FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!!!
¡Ay, caramba! Somebody please tell me there's a Spanish variation of Cake Wrecks. I would love to use "Pastels Malas" to get my secondary education learning on.
That is awesome! And wow, what a beautiful classroom.
Love, love, love the blog. Every time my 4th grader hears me giggling at the computer, he rolls his eyes and says, "Cakewrecks"
-Lara Starr
http://cakestarr.blogspot.com/
Caroline, you are one awesome teacher! Thanks for sharing, Jen.
This is the most awesome blog post I've ever seen.
Aww! That's such a sweet email. Thanks for sharing!
I wish I were still teaching! You could do one-a-day Cake Wrecks grammar problems. I see a new book in your future, Jen. Bored English students everywhere will thank you while doodling carrot jockeys on their papers.
It's a shame that Jen's wit does not probably translate well... Sarcasm rarely does!
It is, however, pretty amazing that adult wreckerators can't spell better than ESL students!!!
Korean children
now linger in Seoul bakeries,
yearning for cameras.
LOVE it!!! Maybe they should do that in American schools.
HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*chuckles* Okay. That is just too awesome. :D
That so rocks! Makes me miss being a teacher...
As another American teacher working near Seoul, Korea, I think this is a great idea! I wish my kindergarteners knew English well enough to do this! I may suggest it to some of my other co-workers who have older students :D
Wow! Great save with the coworkers. I wish that I'd had something like that to say when I first found this blog (at work) and laughed uncontrollable out loud at my desk. But unfortunately, I haven't come up with a way to utilize the material yet as a marketing manager... in time. It's my favorite blog! Thanks!
That's so awesome :)
THAT IS TOTALLY AWESOME. :)
That is a good question- how DID we become a world power?
Oh my goodness - that is hilarious! What a great lesson!
Such a bitter sweet moment. On one hand congraTulations on the world wide recognition. On the other...a big DOH! and *face palm* for the U.S. bakeries who are exposed on a global scale.
That is the best lesson ever!!!! :)
Oh my gosh! What an amazing idea! I'm going to Seoul to teach English in August. Will definitely keep this in mind!
-Emily
Oh my goodness that is great!!!! I may have to use that next school year. :)
"Here the children are wondering how the U.S. ever became a world power."
That just killed me! And I really needed the laugh. Even my 6 month old son joined in in the laughter.
~Colleen
cyberrblue.wordpress.com
I am so going to steal this lesson plan. I teach introductory composition at the college level (sometimes remedial sections) and you'd be shocked at the lack of grammar and spelling skills. Just found the site yesterday - it's so fun!
Now that is awesome! *note to self: follow example should I ever be teaching a class and need to go over grammar*
Novice Writer from Novice Writer Anonymous
novicewriterchronicles.blogspot.com
Epic! Man, if I had that kind of lesson as a wee one, I'd love grammar EVEN MORE!!!!
that is a really cool story! I love it!
That's awesome!
Oh, my goodness, that is hilarious!
I hope they don't think all Americans are such poor spellers. I believe the people who misspell are foreigners whose first language isn't English. What English speaking person would slaughter such easy phrases?
that's too funny. my s-i-l told me about the site yesterday and i spent hours and hours going through it too (and then re-through w/ the hubs). it is a blast and i must say- my s-i-l rocks for telling me about your site. and you rock for having it!!! thanks for the great laughs!
i am a VERY beginner in the cake world. but have grown up with a mother who does cakes. because of MY new found love of decorating- all of this takes on a whole different meaning! keep up the great work!!!
As a former educator I love this blog post. What an awesome real world lesson.
I teach English in Korea too. I think my middle school students would get a kick out of such a lesson. Great idea Caroline!
A friend of mine is teaching English in South Korea right now. This is the kind of thing he would do. I love it! :)
That is a RIOT!!!!!!!!!!!
Way Cool story!!
Thanks for all you do Caroline.
And Jen -- World Domination is near.
Oh wait, uh, mithpellings kinda an issue, eh? Crap.
Love it! I'll definitely be incorporating Cake Wreaks into my grammar unit with my high school English classes this next year.
Generation Z (or is it AA already?) is going to conquer the world.. by correcting one Cake Wreck at a time. Love this story! :)