Tattle Telling

Tattling is one of my biggest pet peves!!  Oh no, someone broke a rule while the teacher wasn't looking?  What else is new, kids? 

Tattling knows no international boundaries, which is evident in my classroom every day.  I'm soo tired of hearing, "Teacher!  D. drew on her paper!" or "Teacher!  E. stuck out his tongue!" 


One of the first rules for English classes at my school is "No Speaking Korean," but sometimes they do anyway.  As the oldest classes, my students don't do it very often, so when I hear it I just give the offending student a look, point, and say "no Korean."  Easy enough. 

But, just as most 5-6 year olds do when they see or hear another kid breaking a rule, many of my students are quick to inform me that so-and-so broke this-or-that rule. 

I am sooo tired of hearing "Zara Teacher!  E. is speaking Korean!" "Teacher, D. speaking Korean!" "Teacher, K. is speaking Korean!"


One of the kids has gotten SO bad at this tattling nonsense that he's actually started tattling NONSENSE.  "Teacher, eraser speaking Korean!"  "Teacher, chair is speaking Korean!" 

My response to all this tattling is to confirm that we shouldn't be speaking Korean, but "if Zara Teacher doesn't hear it, don't tell on your friends.  You wouldn't like it if someone told on you.  No tattle-tale-ing.  [crosses fingers in an X to indicate 'no no']  'Tattle telling' is when you tell the teacher about something that someone else did that wasn't a big deal.  Don't be a tattle tale.  No tattle telling."  (I try to reenforce that telling important things and tattle-telling aren't the same thing - there are things that we need to tell adults, like when people could get hurt, etc.)

Next minute:  

"Teacher, D. speaking Korean!"  "Teacher, S. tattle taled!"

UGH!  

The IRONY!