Mistakes happen, it is how you respond to them that can make the difference

As you may or may not know, I am a teacher credentialing candidate about to start my last round of student teaching at Cal. State University San Marcos and as part of our program we are required to make weekly observations of other teachers. This week one of the things that caught my attention occurred at the beginning of a class when a student was reporting on a newspaper article that he read. This particular student is a Latino and although I don't know if he is an EL he does have a particularly strong Spanish accent. The article he was reporting on was about the opening of a new bridge allowing easier access to one of the other local high schools. This student used the word bridge a time or two, when he said it his accent made is sound vaguely like he said fridge. The teacher said, "They opened a fridge?" I am not sure if he was being condescending, I don't think so, but I could tell it had an instant affect on the student. His entire demeanor changed. His expression changed, his voice lowered a bit and he looked down for a moment. the teacher seemed a little uneasy as most of the students remarked about whether the student sounded like he said fridge or bridge, Which seemed to make the young man even more uncomfortable. My heart broke for this young man. He was dong his best and made some strong points about the article, and yet they were lost in the shuffle because of the comments about his pronunciation of a word. The thing about it is that I am sure that at some point, in what I hope is a long career in the education world, I will inadvertently  say something that is going to embarrass or otherwise make a student feel uncomfortable. The odds are simply stacked against anyone that works with students for a long period of time that they will either say something to embarrass or upset a student. There a few important things to remember though. The first thing is to apologize for the action, whatever it may have been. Secondly, do not repeat the offense, learn from the mistake and apply what you learn so you don't put another student in the same place.