From Jesus Saves to Jesus Shaves: Essay Sample on Unraveling Traditions

Introduction

The traditions of a community or an entire country can be hard to understand by generations of later days. Many people are likely to question the integrity of every culture they indulge in every day. Nonetheless, they are prompted to follow them to the later since most of these questions go unanswered. A good example is a piece of literature by David Sedaris, "Jesus Shaves." This title is supposed to be "Jesus Saves." However, in a class of students with linguistic impairments, most vocabularies are wrongly used, and this deters the meaning of the intended message. A linguistics class that has students from different cultures may be difficult to deal with, especially when using a religious concept to teach language. In this paper, we discuss how to teach grammar and religion through humour.

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The piece begins in a class setting in Paris, France, whose natives speak in the French language. It is written in two parts, an ongoing lesson and the author's point of view. In this French class, the teacher hopes to help students understand English since most students have varied backgrounds. The teacher's approach is from a religious view where students give their opinions on the religious ceremonies held in their country. The teacher hopes to ensure students understand the use of personal pronouns such as "does one?" However, her approach is questionable. She asks the class what one would do on the fourteenth of July. Could one celebrate Bastille Day, or what activity takes place on this day? The students have access to photos of French holidays and can easily match each holiday with the celebratory event (Particelli, 35). However, David thinks the pronoun to fit this question is, they. In agreement with Davis, the pictures show several people celebrating the holidays in various ways. Therefore, it does not add up to use the personal pronoun, does one? Nonetheless, his opinion could be juiced with the pronoun does one fitting the question part while, they, is appropriate the answer part.

Davis points out the conflict of his idea, and that of the teacher made him wish that he would rather be home cleaning up than listen to what the teacher had to say. Nevertheless, the teacher's approach this day made him relax and listen to what the few active students had to say. On this day, the teacher allowed voluntary participation rather than pick pointing on individuals. In disagreement with the teacher's approach this day, it is ineffective to enable the involvement of a few students. Whereas David is comfortable, the content does not reach all students. Learning by participation is the best way to teach. The teacher should stick to the usual method, where he ensures all students take part in the class. Such an approach ensures that all students are covered during the lesson and understand the concept. The educator will also decipher what points the students failed to understand and reteach.

When the teacher asks, "What does one do on Easter?" The author takes us back to a time when he was growing up. The religious part of the story chimes in and is quite impressive. The author states he was raised by a Protestant mother while his family was Greek (Particelli, 38). As a norm, the Protestants and the Orthodox believers differed in traditions. For the author, they would have a different date for the Easter activities characterized by prayer and fasting.

On the contrary, the Americans, often thought to be non-Orthodox, celebrated the event with boxes of chocolate, candies, and cigarettes. The Greeks would push their activities at a later date after the American celebrations to lower prices of commodities such as plastic grass and marshmallow chicks. As his mother would say (Sujono, 54), "If they had their way, we'd be celebrating Christmas in the middle of goddam February." The author also mentions that her mother being a Protestant, made them celebrate Easter in a combination of Greek and American traditions. The author says other things that would take place during Easter. However, what matters are the answers that his colleagues given since they gave a clear understanding of the misuse of grammar.

In a class full of students from various countries, and Italian nanny would attempt to answer the question, but a Moroccan woman would beat her to it. Surprisingly, the Muslim Moroccan woman had no idea what Easter meant. The teacher then allows the students to answer what Easter means, and this is where language incapabilities are discovered. For instance, one of the Pole's students replies, "It is a party for the little boy of God who calls his self Jesus and...oh shit." The sentence is wrong as the pronoun his has been used instead off him. Also, the students prove to be unfamiliar with religious vocabularies such as the Son of God. The answers give afterwards have grammatical faults showing that the students have language issues. The teacher's approach to providing students to participate at free will helps gather information on language mistakes that arise. The question stirs participation from various students as each has their own beliefs about Easter. In the end, the teacher also discovers the traditional differences that arise from one community to another.

As it came out, many communities failed to understand the essence of Christianity and would celebrate the events by eating foods of all design. When one student answered that people celebrate Easter by eating food and chocolates, varied ideas occurred. As the teacher questions who brought the chocolates, the author responds that an Easter Rabbit brought them. However, the teacher sighs in frustration, answering that the Roman Bell brought the chocolates in France. The author, however, sighs in disagreement as it does not make sense ho a Roman bell would travel to France to bring Easter Chocolates, Rabbits quite applicable since they have legs to move around and eyes to see where to deliver the goodies. A bell can only move if pushed, and neither does it have eyes to know which door to stop.

At the end of the lesson, the dejected Moroccan woman had not gained any vital information as all the answers given were contradicting. However, the author thought of the eradication of language barriers and how this could be an essential point in teaching Christianity. In his view, learning Christianity requires more than language and vocabularies to understand (Sujono, 56). Religion needs faith to follow. For starters, they have to believe in the omnipresent existence of a Supreme Being that rules the world. In agreement with David's view, having faith pushes one to understand relevant vocabularies related to what they believe. For instance, if you think that miracles happen, it will be easier for you to understand the underlying theories of what you believe.

Conclusion

Convincingly, language and religion are dependent on each other. However, one may need faith to understand his religion. After believing, one will have the urge to follow the vocabularies and language associated with religion. Teaching language to foreigners can be cumbersome but requires the right approach. Whereas the author's work reflects the activities of his French class, the underlying aspects of religion come out with relevance. It is simple to understand the contradicting religious beliefs of fellow students as well as their teacher. A consensus is then drawn to understand that religion can be taught through faith and language. Additionally, the personal pronoun does one is used for questions while they is used when giving responses.

References

Sujono, Sujono. "Dissecting Humor on David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day by Applying General Theory of Verbal Humor." 2nd International Conference on Educational Management and Administration (CoEMA, 2017). Atlantis Press, 2017.

Particelli, Brice. "Teaching with Dave Chappelle: Exploring Critical Understandings of Culture through Comedy." Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture 16.3 (2016): 551-562.