Lost in Translation, Part Two

I think I'm going to turn "Lost in Translation" into a regular column on my blog because some things are just priceless.

It's standard for English grammar books to include complelling essay prompts like "who do you admire most and why" and pictures of things like the zoo to stimulate storytelling. But the grammar books we use here boarder on morbid. They're obsessed with accidents, death and destruction, especially in their use of pictures. They have essay topics like "describe in detail an accident you have witnessed" and "Write about when someone you know died." The books are full of drawings of people trying to wade out of floods, houses burning down and car accidents. One story prompt includes a picture of a girl getting taken out by a bus. Another shows a very grapic accident between a car and a semi with no survivors. One of the men is laying on the road in a completely unnatural position with his leg over his head.

My favorite, however, is a sequence of photos:

Photo One: Girl sitting on her bed reading.
Photo Two: Girl as spontaneously caught on fire.
Photo Three: Boy tackles girl to the ground with a blanket.
Photo Four: Girl admires boy as her hero.

Needless to say, I have been coming up with my own (positive) essay prompts and using other pictures for description.