"Can I please ask if John be removed from all of their subject classrooms?" Is it correct? I've just got an email with this question above, which made me frown. Since the author is undoubtedly literate, I am wondering if either the author simply missed "can" after "John" ("...if John can be...") or this is some polite way to ask things I'd never heard of yet.

My student Jamie Jamie has come back to his original behaviour. He acts like he's in a kindergarten. Once again, he sits wherever he wants, and immediately logs in the system to quickly look for his favourite online game and play. This is not extremely surprising in kids, but he would keep trying the second I lose control over him, even after my warnings. He often stands up, walks in the class as it was -again- a bar. Talks to anyone outloud, even from one side of the room to the other. Whatever the teacher tries to correct him about ("Go to your place", "Close the game", "Open MS Access", "Don't stand up", etc), he usually doesn't obey immediately, but instead asks "Why" repeatedly, which takes a precious amount of time and effort to make him follow instructions, and he knows it. All this behaviour can be understood (up to a point) giving his hyperactivity. However, lies and disrespect have nothing to do with hyperactivity, as it's explained next. About playing games in class, he actually lied 3 times on Thursday ("Ok, won't do it again"), for which he was sent out. Same thing on Friday. 3 warnings, and he was out. After 5-7 minutes I let him in and moved him close to me (right behind me, next to the screen). He continued interrupting the class when I was talking to the whole group. I turned around every time, staring at him in silence for 2 seconds, and he would say "What??", meaning "I did nothing". Then, after, meanwhile most of the students were already progressing with the assignment, he was doing little or none, plus I caught him playing games again and talking. Then I finally said "Ok, Jamie. Enough is enough. Stand up and step out of the classroom". He replied shouting "What? What did I do? Are you MENTAL?", which caused all the class go silent. He would've have a referral anyway (given that this behaviour is reincident, after three days out of class), but this crosses another red line. Disrespect, and in public. Furthermore, not only did he show this behaviour IN class, but also from the hallway. Once outside, he would enter the classroom anyway whenever he thought he needed to (twice). Every time, I had to stop class once again and ask him to leave. Or, instead, he would open the door and talk out loud from there as it were a pub. Overall, many minutes out of 50 we have were invested only in Jamie, and nothing was related to Computing Science.

"Enough internet to last you the month". Is this correct? I've just run into this piece of text and although I get what it tries to say, I struggled to recognise one of the structures in it ("to last you the month"). Here it is: "When organising your internet make sure you sign up for enough internet to last you the month as it's very expensive if you go over your allowance." I've never seen an expression like this, in 20 years. Is it good English?

I've been on it Quick question... We know that when we say "I'm on it" we mean that we either are in the middle of something that somebody asked us about, or we are about to start, imminently. At least that's the idea that I've always used it/heard it. Now, I've just written an email in which at one point I said "Regarding blablabla during this past week, blablaba. But I've been on it." Now I'm am re-reading it and it begs me the question...Hold on..Maybe "to be on it" loses its meaning if it's not in the present tense...But does it? So here I am...What can you guys tell me about it? By the way, any mistakes I made in my writting, please, by all means, let me know.

Answer to "Can you provide a brief outline of what you teach and what your preferred age is?" I’ve taught Mathematics and above all Information Technology to students of all ages. Now, although teaching in English wouldn't be something new for me, I do not disregard the fact that this would be my first time at teaching to native English speakers in an English speaking country. I consider myself highly qualified and experienced as for performing the task successfully and I have no doubt I would do a good job; nonetheless, I’d rather teach younger students than older ones. I actually prefer older boys and girls, generally speaking, but, in my experience, they are more demanding and tend to give teachers extra-curricular problems to take care of. So, as you see I am completely honest, I'm taking into consideration that the first year would be a phase of adjustment and adaptation that anyone in my position will have to go through. And from my perspective, this is the wise approach. Can you guys please correct anything odd or wrong?

Question tag in a subordinate sentence I was speaking out-loud and at one point I said: "I don't think you would laugh at me, wouldn't you?" And then I thought.. "Mmm, funny. According to what we are taught (at least in non-English-speaking countries), attending strictly to what rules dictate, this would be an incorrect question tag. It should be 'I don't think you would laugh at me, do I?" I am 99% positive the first one is the natural way of saying what one means, but how to explain the reason if we need to? Do you think there is a flaw in how the rule is expressed, as it stands?

Fail and pass In Spanish, we can say either "Suspendí el examen" or "La profesora me suspendió". Similarly, we can say either "Aprobé/pasé el examen" or "La profesora me aprobó la asignatura/el examen". How would you say the second form ("The teacher...") with both aprobar o suspender? Is it possible to get that nuance? Cheers! PS: (I am not implying t that "Suspendí el examen" and "La profesora me suspendió" have exactly the same meaning. Same results, same event, but slightly different meaning. Obviously, if you failed the exam, it was because your teacher "sentenced" you. But in this case she is not the protagonist of the sentence. In the other one, though, she is the central subject of the action.)

Efficient in / efficient at Which one is correct? Why? a) "My goal is to provide evidence about their lack of efficiency AT studying or practising." b) "My goal is to provide evidence about their lack of efficiency IN studying or practising." Note: "They" refers to "the students".

Academic answer to a colleague Dear Maite: I have the impression that you may be thinking that the method proposed by my research is about the classroom. Rather, it is about home. It's about how to students study, practise or rehearse on their own. Active learning implies a way of teaching, which endevours to incorporate a more direct participation of the students in the process. Practising under exam conditions is referring to the strategy that students should adopt when trying to consolidate new knowledge. When we re-read "Columbus discovered America" we are actually reviewing the fact, so it does count as a rehearsal, and it does help us remember next time. However, this rehearsal can be performed differently: if (after the first time) we face the question "Who discovered America?", we are actually pushing our brain to find the path to the right answer. It is a different process whereby, as a matter of fact, we are training our brain in the act of recalling, as opposed to just reading the answer. This happens even if our brain is unable to remember at all, and finally we give up and see the solution. This is called "active recall", whereas the first tactic is called "passive recall". Active recall has been proven to be massively more effective than passive memory. Practising under exam conditions means utilizing active recall permanently. If you have a look at the theoretical framework of my document, I tried to focus on how learners study and to provide evidence about their lack of efficiency at studying or practising. Your comments and questions are being really valuable. I appreciate it. I will definitely review my documents with new light and clarify certain areas a bit more. Regards, Pablo