appropriate both for my students and for me

"The Learner’s Task"

Some say it isn’t any fun
to imitate another’s tongue;
while idioms and turns of phrase
can often baffle and amaze
the novice who must learn their ways.

Loquacious speakers seldom pause
to rest their ever moving jaws;
and so the learner simply gapes
as useless input fast escapes--
these speakers might as well be apes!

Nor can one recognize the words
that stampede forth in growing herds
arranged in patterns quite opaque
and grammar strange enough to make
it clear that there’s been some mistake.
(Such is the learner’s sorry stake!)

But lest the learner, in dismay
abandon hope, I haste to say
that there remains one certain way:

To learn a language, girls and guys,
you simply have to memorize.

~Keith Slater