

Technically, no. In fact, if you want to be a stickler for details, it was actually 8 sentences, not five, and it was absolutely longer than a minute, but I encouraged the class to help him. It’s a 1-2 week ESL program in the Mediterranean, and he was an Italian 12 year old who likely signed up for girls on beaches than speak English. The Italian government is apparently paying students’ ways into programs like the one I teach at in order to improve general English proficiency across the country, so we end up with a lot of kids who just come to party.
This is a really good idea. Perhaps this is what should be happening in the first place rather than resorting to direct legal enforcement, which can be problematic and damaging, especially for children.