Fender Bender

I have been meeting with my student for a few weeks now. For one of our lessons I had cut out photos from magazines. I chose things that I thought might interest her, or that I thought would help introduce American culture topics.

One of the photos was of a giant pick-up truck from a car advertisement. The discussion went in a direction I was not anticipating. She started asking me about car parts.

What is the compartment called between the two seats?

I don't know.

What is the space that some cars have in the back of the car between the window and the back seat?

I am not sure that has a name. I just call it "the very back."

She asked about stuff under the hood, in the interior, and along the outside. I wasn't much help.

Then she asked something I could answer. She pointed to a thing on the front of the truck.

What is that called?


The bumper.

Finally, something I knew! This encouraged me to keep going.

Do you know what it is called when one car bumper hits another car bumper?

No.


A fender bender.

Laughter. Confusion. Spelling. Attempts at pronunciation. Then...

I hope I never have one of those.


More laughter.

just Sheri, questioning my value as a tutor