My wife (L1 Vietnamese) asked me the difference between a crocodile and an alligator, and I thought, "How many times over the years have I been asked this question?"
Which lead to this tweet:
Sure, the information is there if you google it....ESL teachers: how many times have you been asked to explain the difference between alligators and crocodiles? How many of you actually know the difference without googling it?
— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) April 3, 2022
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...but how useful is that to ESL students?
I thought what ESL students actually need to know is that nobody actually knows the difference between an alligator and a crocodile.
I googled "nobody knows the difference between alligators and crocodiles" hoping to find a useful explanatory website, but unfortunately there was nothing.
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Addendum: In all the countries I've taught in (Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam), there's been no distinction between crocodiles and alligators in the native language. How many other languages is this true for? Do any other languages besides English maintain this distinction?
It doesn't exist in any of the countries I've taught in (Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam). I wonder about European languages?
— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) April 3, 2022
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