A Funny Thing Happened in My EFL Class in Malta

You do a lot more than teach English when you teach EFL. One common theme that comes up in every class is how the attitude about time differs from one culture to another.

The Germans are proud of being punctual. You've probably heard about that if you've ever visited Germany. And you've probably been driven crazy by the obsession with punctuality if you're married or partnered to a German-as I am.

If you ask a German student to describe his visit to a museum, he starts with what time he got there, how long he had to wait in line, how much the tickets cost and if they were worth it, how long he spent looking at the exhibit, etc. If you ask an Italian, Spanish or French student to describe his visit to a museum, he starts with what the architecture looked like and how many beautiful women were waiting outside. Then he will talk about the food he ate. He will cover everything-except the exhibit itself.

(Yes, I know these are stereotypes, but humor me, OK?)

So I had a nice German man in one of my classes a few weeks ago. He was pretty quiet but when he spoke, it was usually something clever and/or funny. We talked about the usual cultural time differences-and I said that in America, it was acceptable-even expected-that guests would be about five to ten minutes late. However, 20 minutes late for something was generally unacceptable.

The next day on my way to class, I had to stop for a minute or two at the school office. I had been in the class earlier and put down my things so that the students would know I was already there.

When I got to class, the German guy picked up my alarm clock that I keep on my desk and said, "You're 20 minutes late. I thought that's not acceptable."

I grabbed the clock from him and protested that it couldn't be that late. Could it? But that's what the clock said.

I asked a female student from Italy to see her watch and she said she didn't have one. So I apologized and started off the class very flustered and confused. I could see a tiny smile breaking out on this German guy's face.

So I snatched the wrist of an Italian student sitting near me-and looked at his watch. Sure enough, my clock had been turned ahead 20 minutes.

Well, the class was in an uproar and I really had to give them credit for tricking me like that.

Did I ever tell you that German guys are known for their quirky sense of humor?

Ilene Springer is author of An-American-in-Malta.com