That was certainly an interesting list of American-British words. But Vivian's personal favourite will always be diaper and nappy. Her inner immature self was still amused by such terms, to be honest. She was fourteen years old, sure, but probably still mentally five. Anyway... moving on.

... What exactly were those papers? Vivian looked at the Professor and then at the sheets that were being passed around. And they weren't even allowed to flip it on the printed side, either? Was this a test on their knowledge of grammar? Because clearly she wasn't aware that Muggle Studies equated to such a lesson. The Slytherin pouted when she heard the instructions and reluctantly took the papers before taking one for her own and passing it to the next person.

Cue more pouting.

Eh, two points? Sorry, Professor Stewart, but Olivia didn't really mind that. In her eyes, the points loss was worth it to keep her hands warm against her body...considering she couldn't seem to get warm in this classroom today. "Okay, Professor."...was all the blonde said, as she frowned at another loud GROWL from her stomach.

Points loss, she didn't care about...but she WAS probably about to shed some tears over how hungry she felt. Merlin, let her eat something.

Glancing at the face-down parchment pages being passed around the classroom, Olivia sighed. What was all this, then? A pop quiz?....A topic for a project? They hadn't done the main activity yet and these lessons always had one. For several moment, the blonde allowed her mind to wander, as she slowly tried to piece together what it might be today?...

Gurgle, gurgle.

If theres one thing he noticed about that list on the board, is that the American way of spelling things is a lot more efficient, none too many unnecessary letters. Some words also makes more sense to be called a certain way versus the British way.Or maybe thats just him.

He stared at the stack of papers for a split second before grabbing one and passing the rest on. And he nearly flipped it over too before stopping short just as the Professor mentioned. Whoops. Hasty McHasty strikes again. This wasnt some quiz was it? Or maybe its an activity....

SPOILER!!: More information from the kiddos! <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChanceCoeur

Truth be told, this wasn't one of the more exciting classes of Muggle Studies. Some people were curious and excited about the American students. Noelle just was indifferent about them. So comparing American words and slang with our words and slang didn't seem to perk up Noelle in this class.

"I hear awesome a lot. We don't necessarily use that a lot. [/b]" Noelle said and continued to write what was on the board.

Noelle took one of the sheets and laid it face down on her desk and then proceeded to pass the rest of the sheets on. She was curious as to what they were about to do.

SPOILER!!: Zoryn! <3 lol!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Huh?

Zoryn's daydreams were RUDELY interrupted by the sound of the Professor calling her name. Don't you hate it when someone tries to have a lesson in the middle of your 'me time'? So inconsiderate.

"To never live in America," she replied matter-of-factly. "They make words way too complicated." Maybe it wasn't the exact answer Professor Stewart was looking for but it was the truth? She nodded loads.

What a GREAT answer. Zoryn deserved house points for that, ma'am. Especially considering how only moments ago her head was way up in space.

How come they had to sit in a boring lesson about American English anyways? The ILVERMORNY students should be the ones FORCED to learn about BRITISH ENGLISH. It was our language first.

She took one of the sheets and passed the rest of the stack along.

Kay blinked. In all honesty, she had been expecting a sassy reply but still, she wasn’t expecting that reply. “This is not what I had in mind when the lesson was planned but not wanting to live there is your opinion and I respect that.’’ At least Zoryn was going to take part in the activity which the woman knew for sure it was one she would enjoy. "However, three points for not paying full attention to the lesson and for not taking notes.''

SPOILER!!: Little Newt! <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

MUGGLE STUDIES!

Was not the second year's favorite class (read Care of Magical Creatures) but it wasn't his least favorite either (read Herbology), so he arrived in the classroom with the usual amount of Hufflepuff enthuasism AT THE BUZZER and only had time to offer the professor a hurried wave before sliding into his seat. His robes were in a bit of a disarray and his face was smudged with dirt. There was also copious amounts of dirt underneath his fingernails...but he had TRIED to get them as clean as possible. Hence why they were also still kinda sorta dripping with water. He hadn't had time to dry them properly before class...save for some quick patting on his trousers.

Setting his things out haphazardly on his desk, he looked up expectantly as class began.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand his eyes were already glazing over. So, uh, no it wasn't all that exciting. The mini history portion basically went in one ear and out the other while he thought on this whole topic of having an entire class dedicated to grammar. Mum and dad had done workbooks and stuff when he was little to help learn things but that had only been a few minutes a day. He couldn't imagine learning this stuff for 45 minutes or so EVERY day. PLUS...it was still English. It wasn't like they were learning Mermish - which would have been WAY cooler but alas, Muggle Studies and those did not mix unless it was in literature or movies. So like...sentence structures and stuff were still the same...just a few words. SO...wasn't this TECHNICALLY more of a vocabulary lesson than a grammar one?

Oh wait...people were talking and answering...about spelling? Uh...he still wasn't so good with that unless he had his dictionary sooooooooo he was going to just keep quiet.

While continuing to wonder about this topic...and wishing they had actual Ilvermorny students in class with them because THAT would be interesting. Learning FROM them and stuff - which was what he was doing with a fair few. Because wasn't that what this competition was all about? International magical cooperation and stuff? Why learn in isolation?!

OH OKAY LISTS! He could totally copy those down!

Pencil and notebook out, the Hufflepuff set to doing just that and only sort of half paid attention to what all was being said by others and the professor herself. He was having a hard time chewing gum and walking at the same time these days with his thoughts distracted by a bunch of things. Like why Abey and him felt WEIRD these days - ever since the cruise party - and thoughts about chapstick.

When it came to his slang term, well, he knew of TWO because of Brent and Kane. So he wrote those on his parchment in big BLOCK letters and then set his quill down.



MORE LISTS!

Hand flying furiously - kinda - over his notebook to try and keep up with all the slang, Derf was reminded of one he had heard one of their visiting students say that WASN'T on the list...so his hand went up...because he didn't know what it meant.

"PROFESS-SSOR!" he chirped. "What does-s-s keener mean? I heard one of the Ilvermorny s-students-s-s s-saying it the other day! OH OH!
And I think I heard someone calling s-s-shoes RUNNERS-S...but then what do they call a pers-son who runs-s?"

Oh, parchment. Yes. He took one of those and set it face down on his desk like everyone else and then passed it along.

Newt had been quiet thus far but Kay was very pleased to see him faithfully making his notes. Really, he was one of those dedicated students and she adored that about him. Her gaze found him as he asked a question. “Keener,’’ she began and already moving back to the whiteboard to make adjustments, "is both an American and Canadian term. It refers to a person who is eager to show their knowledge and are more than ready to participate in school.’’ The professor smiled broadly. Derf’s reactions were always so cute. But she had another question to answer. “That’s right. Shoes or trainers as we call them, can be referred to as runners. As for the persons who take part in races, they can be called runners, marathoners or athletes.’’

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whiteboard

Spelling:
Honour= Honor
Favour= Favor
Colour= Color
Favourite= Favorite
Grey= Gray
Mum= Mom
Cheque= Check (can also refer to the signed paper used to obtain cash)
Centre= Center
Fibre= Fiber
Apologise= Apologize
Organise= Organize
Analyse= Analyze
Paralyse= Paralyze
Travelled= Traveled
Fuelling= Fueling
Leukaemia= Leukemia
Defence= Defense
Analogue= Analog

Word Variation:
Jumper= Sweater
Crisps= Potato Chips
Chips= French Fries
Fizzy/ Soft Drink= Soda
Biscuit= Cookie
Trousers= Pants
Fringe= Bangs
Candy Floss= Cotton Candy
Polo necks= Turtlenecks
Bangers and Mash= Sausages and Mashed potatoes
Lift= Elevator
Nappy= Diaper
Shoes, trainers= Runners, sneakers

Slangs:
“Going across the pond”= Travelling overseas
“Going to mail a package/ letter”= Going to post a package/ letter
“Dude!’’= referringt to a person/ calling out to someone
“Riding Shotgun’’= Riding beside the driver of a vehicle/ protecting coach from bandits
“Zonked”= Exhausted/ tired
"Bail'= Leave
"Going Dutch"= Paying for one's own meals
"In A New York minute''= Getting something done quickly
“Awesome”= Impressed/ In Awe
“Keener’’= eager to show knowledge and are more than ready to participate in school

Kay glanced at her watch. It was definitely time that they got started on the activity. Looking at the students, she noted that they’d all collected a sheet. “Very well, everyone! You may turn over the sheets.’’ When they did, they would be greeted with a word search complete with the list of hidden words. “Grab your pens or pencils to complete the wordsearch! That’s right. This is what you’ll be doing for today’s activity. The students that show me their complete work within twenty minutes will be given a treat. Just remember to place a little tick mark or some other form of check when you’ve found a word. Go ahead. Your time starts now!’’

OOC: You guys have until Friday 23rd June, 2:00 PM/ 14:00 HRS to complete this. You can actually edit the graphic to show your charrie’s completed (or incomplete) work or you can RP that they’ve found the words Kay and I’ll be lurking so if help’s needed, just title your header box with ‘Professor’!

She knew that professor only wanted their opinions. She was upset for whoever got points taken away. Duh-duh-duh!



Viv turned over her sheet and saw that it was a word search. She grabbed her quill and finished her word search in 5 minutes. She was so excited for today's activity. She went up got her chocolate frog and devoured it.

Zoryn wanted to point out that 'taking notes' wasn't something they were ever told they HAD to do. But she kept that comment to herself. Instead she shrugged off the point loss, "I take notes in my head," she wasn't even purposefully being sassy. These were all just genuine thoughts. Besides, points weren't really a big deal anyway. It's not like they got a real prize for winning the house cup. Plus, her Head of House didn't really come off as a real competitive guy.

So, eh.

Zoryn flipped over her paper when she was instructed to do so. Thankfully it wasn't an exam 'cause Zoryn would surely fail that (re: not paying any attention). She stared at it for a solid minute before deciding she wasn't actually going to do it.

"Professor," she shot her hand up in the air. "What's an.... anise?" Zoryn didn't see that word on the board. And she didn't understand what it was on the paper. New strategy: Ask a lot of questions to use up time and never actually have to do the search.

Brilliant.

Ok so they could finally flip this over and....

.... its a Word Search Puzzle. Well this could be fun isnt it? Specially with words he's pretty familiar with. He's just relieved its not a quiz.

He lay the paper out and started circling the words he spotted easily, marking the ones on the list he just finished. It was challenging in itself too because after a while it all got too crowded and it was hard to make out the words from each other.

But he was done. Made short work of that. He stood to hand the paper back to the Professor. With a smile as always.

SPOILER!!: Zoryn! <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

Zoryn wanted to point out that 'taking notes' wasn't something they were ever told they HAD to do. But she kept that comment to herself. Instead she shrugged off the point loss, "I take notes in my head," she wasn't even purposefully being sassy. These were all just genuine thoughts. Besides, points weren't really a big deal anyway. It's not like they got a real prize for winning the house cup. Plus, her Head of House didn't really come off as a real competitive guy.

So, eh.

Zoryn flipped over her paper when she was instructed to do so. Thankfully it wasn't an exam 'cause Zoryn would surely fail that (re: not paying any attention). She stared at it for a solid minute before deciding she wasn't actually going to do it.

"Professor," she shot her hand up in the air. "What's an.... anise?" Zoryn didn't see that word on the board. And she didn't understand what it was on the paper. New strategy: Ask a lot of questions to use up time and never actually have to do the search.

Brilliant.

Kay nodded but still had a word to say about that. “I’m sure you won’t remember everything taught in all your classes, Ms Spinnett. Please start taking notes in your very next lesson. I assure you, you’ll find it quite useful when your exams come around.’’ A question! She always welcomed those and was quite ready to answer it. “Anise or Aniseed as it’s called in Britain, is a plant similar to parsley. The seeds of the fruit are used for cooking and medicinal purposes.’’ Now that the question had been answered, she smiled encouragingly at Zoryn. “Go ahead, begin the wordsearch.’’

OOC: Hey, guys! So, Steely let me know that PB is still being silly and there’s a difficult time accessing images so I’m including the images under spoiler tags. You may PM your charrie’s wordsearch to me or you may link/ put it under a spoiler tag here You have about 29 hours left for this activity.

Daisy turned the piece of paper over and began her search. Her brow furrowed as she circled each word and put a tick next to the word in the word list.



When Daisy had finished finding the words which took her about seven minutes, she handed her work to the Professor. Had she completed it in enough time to earn herself a treat? She hoped so.

There was a fact Viv wouldn't remember anything that was taught to her. She loved taking notes. It would prepare her for her finals.

[TEXTCUT=Notes]Anise or Aniseed as it’s called in Britain is a plant similar to parsley. The seeds of the fruit are used for cooking and medicinal purposes.[TEXTCUT]

And Viv waited until her classmates were done the wordsearch.

Vivian was both really excited and nervous when they were told to finally flip over the paper. And what she saw? Well, she didn't know what to feel. In fact, the blonde and the piece of paper competed in a staring contest because what in the name of Merlin was that?

She didn't really suck at word search, really. She could always spot things fast with no problem, but it wasn't always her thing. Maybe she'd be more useful as a Quidditch player trying to spot the snitch. But did she have a choice to not answer the activity? Well, Vivian didn't. Hesitantly, Vivian took out pink pen -- the one she used to motivate herself to do things -- and began searching for the words. Just a couple of seconds, she had already found the first one on the list.

Hmm.. this would have been interesting if she was a Ravenclaw. This seemed to be a Claw thing to do, but oh well. It was nice to know that she was actually good at something, despite it not being as interesting as she would have hoped for.

... But what WERE these things? A pacifier? An anise? Lost Vivian was lost. Sorry, Americanos.

And once she was finished, the Slytherin looked at her paper and smiled. She had done well for someone who was so unmotivated with the activity. She felt this was something her mum would be proud of, definitely.

Shay updated her notes, inclusing the information that had just been added. Then the professor began to pass out some mystery papers. They were facedown, so what they contained was anyone's guess. When the papers made their way down to Shay, she took one and passed the rest on. Making sure not to peek, she waited for the signal to start. When they were given the go sign, Shay flipped over her paper. It was a word search puzzle. She loved those. This was going to be fun.

Shay took out her favorite pen and checked the list of words. They were all familiar to her, 'cause American. And so, Shay began her search. Some words were easy to find, some took her a minute or two. As she found words, she made sure to check the them off of the list. Finally, she found the last word and that was that. Shay put down her pen and looked around the classroom to see who else had finished.

Kitty shifted in her seat excitedly as Professor Stewart divided the stack of papers into two piles and handed them down. She was sitting halfway down the left side, so it took awhile until the papers came to her. Taking hers, she placed it down as instructed and passed the rest of the pile behind her.

Ooh crosswords! She was good at this. It was one of the few sports that opened her competitive spirit, as most sports she preferred to let the other players win. This one she wanted to win first!

"Aluminum..." she muttered, picking of the A on the second row from the bottom up and taking over the word. "Bangs, ooh bangs!" This was in the last row going down. Hair bangs was one of the words she'd listed, so she felt like she owned this one.

And then...

"Ooh Professor!" Kitty raised her hand. "I found a word that wasn't in the crossword search. 'Old' can be found six rows going across and then coming down. It's right here."

She held up her paper. "I guess it wasn't included since it's the same word in America as here."

American words. Stasya had figured she’d heard some this term with the Ilvermorny people being around, but she hadn’t actually known much about the topic which was why she’d been quiet since the lesson started. Quiet and taking notes, because the information was fascinating. It reminded her of the stories about Newt Scamander, going to America and releasing creatures back into the wild. She kind of wanted to see a thunderbird in the wild. She’d seen the one at the zoo last summer, but that wasn’t the same. That was a captured creature, not one living its life where it was supposed to be.

Even though she’d continued writing down what Professor Stewart had written on the board, she’d continued thinking about thunderbirds and other creatures all the way up til the papers had been passed out and she’d taken one without much hesitation at all. Maybe now she’d get to know what the professor had been looking at before. Maybe it was just as interesting as the rest of the lesson… except, as they’d been given permission to turn the paper over, all she’d seen was a word search. She didn’t mind puzzles, but this one just looked confusing, and not just because it was American words.

Either way, she began looking, circling a word when she found it although, as she’d found more of them, it just got even more confusing. All the crisscrossing lines and she hadn’t been as exact as she’d thought. Drawing circles wasn’t easy, although she didn’t thinks he was that bad at art before now. But somehow, as she continued searching, she found all the words on the list and set her pen down gratefully.

Photos!: finished wordsearch

Cassie scribbled down notes onto her papers as thinsg were said and stuff was written up on the board, jotting down what she felt was important to remember. A quick quotes quill? Really? Someone forgot the notice of NOT using magic in the Muggle Studies classroom. That was the entire point…learning about Muggles and their way of doing things which meant NO quills and definitely NO CHARMED quills. The Ravenclaw fought the urge to shake her head at the girl, instead focusing back as the activity portion of the class was begun. The girl taking a sheet as it was passed and handing the rest to the next person as directed.

Hmm…a word search. Fun.

The fifth year went to work trying to find each of the words and having a mix of success and a few words she couldn’t seem to find. She had started out with the blue pen she had been taking notes with, circling words as she found them. But soon she switched to first a black pen and then pencil as more and more letters and words were circled to try and differentiate stuff. As it was, Cass’ sheet was pretty messy and she still couldn’t find words like Anise, the one someone had asked a question on. And eggplant.

SPOILER!!: Word Search

A word search wasn't the most thrilling thing in the world but she'd be lying if she didn't admit there was some relief at realizing this was what the lesson would entail. Not only was it a great way to unwind but it meant not having to bust her brain over a quiz she was in no way prepared for.

Basically, today was working itself out and she had no complaints.

The Ravenclaw had turned the paper over when she'd been instructed to and found words jumping out at her almost immediately. Of course it was the simple ones like 'hood' and 'vest' but then her gaze began scanning the entire paper and soon she was picking out the bigger words like 'apartment' and stroller'.

There were a few tricky ones hiding which made her take longer than she'd intended for the exercise but in the end she had been done and went back through the list to ensure she hadn't missed any.

Hm......that one? Check. That one....? Yeah, check.

Seemed like she had everything in order. Jessa ticked them all off, confident now that she hadn't missed a single one before rising to her feet and heading for the woman. "Here you go, Professor. I'm done."

It wasn't before long that they flipped over their papers and it was revealed that they would be doing a word search! And Skylar felt grateful that she'd been working on her seeking skills in quidditch, because finding things would be a breeze, wouldn't it? At least she hoped so and even though she didn't recognize all these words, it wasn't as if she had to define them or use them in a sentence, so she was good with simply finding them.

Pulling out a green highlighter to work with in terms of finding the words, she set to work until finally... after what seemed like ages, although in truth had probably been like ten minutes, all the words were checked off her list.

She was done. Adding her name to the top of the paper, she followed suit of her classmates and handed her finished word search to the professor. "Here you are," she commented, out of politeness.

It was both? Hmmm...

But before Derf could properly think this over they were told to turn their papers over and....oh boy. Well...Derf was 100% confident in that he would get approximately 0% of this done during the allotted time. But he was going to try, okay? T R Y.

Maybe he should start with a small word first...like....HOOD! Scanning the rows for the letter H, the Hufflepuff got exactly to the 13th letter in the top row before he became sidetracked. B. Bowtruckle started with B. You know what other letter was in that row? P. For Picketta, HIS bowtruckle. It was clearly a sign, you know? So his pencil began moving totally on its own accord while happening to still be clutched in his hand, outlining the leaf shape "pig tails" of Picketta and then moving down a few rows - 10 or so - to draw her root legs. And then he spent the next few minutes drawing her slender body...and since he and her were tight now he was going to give her kissy lips and doodle some hearts around her as well. Yes. Perfect.

You know what ELSE started with P? Pygmypuff. So that got a doodle next just to the left of his sketch of Picketta. Right below his sketch of the pygmypuff was the letter N which CLEARLY was begging for him to sketch a niffler next, you know? And so that happened too.

What was he meant to be doing? OH RIGHT WORDSEARCH. Or, you know,
not...because he was doing a doodle of Newt Scamander next looking all sheepish. Probably the same sort of confused face he made mixing up British English and American English when he was in New York. Like asking for the loo and no one knowing what he was talking about. Or some confusion over chips.

Leaning back to take a look at his handy work - and toooootally forgetting all about the ACTUAL task - he eyed the remaining white space wondering what else he could maybe doodle in the margins.

.... Oh.

So that's what that meant. Zoryn immediately threw the definition out of head because when in the world would she need to talk about parsley with an American????? She didn't even talk about parsley with her fellow Brits.

Ugh. AND now that she knew she was being watched, Zoryn HAD no choice but to go ahead and took a look at the word search. After a few seconds, she was quickly able to find her first word. VEST. But the longer, and LONGER she sat staring at this paper... The more AND MORE she wanted to get out and DO something. This was soooooOoooOOOOOo boring and her attention span was quickly suffering.

She didn't want to sit here all day!!!! So instead, she began circling everything and everything she could. Some of them were real words, some of them were just jumbles of letters.... But eh, at least she had something to turn in now.

Was she done? Could she leave?

....It was a word search? That was the big surprise?

Well, as far as class activities went, it wasn't too strenuous. So, Olivia could appreciate that she wouldn't need to really exert a lot of mental effort. But...well, she'd been hoping for something more? Something she could maybe be artistic with? That seemed to be a reoccurring theme with most subjects these days. Not that she was complaining, but...you know? Actually, she didn't know what she was trying to say to herself.

Whatever.

Laying the word list separate, the blonde pulled one of her toasty hands free, digging into her bag for a pen. There was some grumbling...but not much as she began comparing the two separate bits. Word searches weren't new to her. She had a book of them at home that she liked to mess around with when there wasn't anything else to do...and when boredom was that real. Also, she was one of those people that liked to find the words in order...which made little sense, as they would all be found eventually, but she still liked the order of it. Something she'd probably learned from her mother...

Aluminum...Anise...Apartment... Strange American words. Apartment. Clearly, they meant "flat". Soccer was..."football" in the UK...and COOKIES WERE BISCUITS. How dare this word search?....Defile her favorite word. /dramatic. Instead of circling the words, Olivia very carefully drew lines through each of those she found. In red ink so that it was easy to distinguish against the black.

So far, everyone seemed to have made progress Kay observed as she randomly walked among the desks and kiddos. She peeked at them all as she passed. Word Searches were one of her favourite things ever and she thought that they’d rather enjoy this for an activity. Glancing at her watch, she noted that there was just under three minutes remaining but there was someone finishing already! Excellent! “Well done, Mr Salander.’’ Not long after, Daisy, Vivian, Shay, Stasya, Cassie, Jessa, Derf, Olivia, Skylar and Zoryn… who had done… something... were finished. “Wonderful job, all of you.’’ Yes, she checked their work as they were handed in. “Ms Spinnet, I’d like to speak with you after class. If you could kindly join me in my office then.’’

Upon hearing Kitty’s words, she looked up from Shay’s work. “Has it? I hadn’t realised. I used an online programme to help me create the word search. I simply had to enter the words I would have liked to have in the search and the programme did the rest. ‘Old’ was definitely not one of the words I added.’’ The woman winked before turning to Viv. “Ms Awning, are you finished? The time is up now.’’

She addressed the class. “That has brought us to the end of today’s lesson, everyone! Thank you for attending. If you’d each come up to my desk to collect your reward.’’ Kay returned to her desk where she opened the top drawer. Stashed in there, were small bags of cookies, each containing about five of the treat, which she neatly stacked on the desk. “You may take one on your way out.’’

OOC: That’s a wrap, dudes! THANKS A TON FOR ATTENDING! I’ll leave the thread open until I get home from work tonight, which is about 12:30 AM EST, for those of you who would like to catch up/ RP your charries’ leaving.

Vivienne was finished her word search like 1 hour ago. She had done a wonderful job. She handed it in. She was worried about Zoryn though.


She laughed at the fact that the puzzle was computer-generated. It made sense because it was Muggle Studies class after all! She handed the sheet to Professor Stewart so she would nag anymore. The time was up.

She was sad the lesson was over. It was fun. She went up to Professor Stewart's desk and she gave her a bag of cookies. Yummy! She left the class and sat in her dormitory in the tower and ate them before her next class.