THE Spoon

Who knew that my past would give me fuel for teaching English grammar?

I have two brothers and two sisters, and I am the second youngest of the bunch, which means that while I was in elementary school, my older siblings were moving out of my parents' house to live on their own. I remember visiting my sister's home every once in a while. It was fun, kind of an adventure. What will happen THIS time? She is the one that taught me to swim (my mother is afraid of water) and introduced me to the world of Piccadilly Cafeteria (a restaurant). Since she didn't exactly have to worry about my nutrition, I could eat ANYTHING when I went there. That of course means that my intake of such food groups as ice cream rose dramatically while I was in her care.

One Halloween, we were having a kind of party at her house. We ordered pizza and OF Course had ice cream for dessert. This wouldn't be interesting EXCEPT that at the time, she only owned one spoon. There were 6 of us there. We began to discuss who would get "the spoon." We all laughed about it, and some used forks and some waited their turn for the spoon. Crisis averted.

Now I am in Japan teaching English. I have no real grammar training, only that which we Americans are all privy to in elementary and middle school- in other words, I know next to nil. Good thing my livelihood doesn't depend on it...
Anyway, trying to explain the difference between "the" and "a" is very tricky. When do you use which? In the above story, to say that we were fighting over "a" spoon is technically correct, but it is better to say that we all wanted to use "the" spoon because it emphasizes a specific utensil.
Not only is this a good teaching tool, but it is also a cute little conversation topic as well. Thanks to God for my strange past.