ESL teacher Tim Torkildson of the Nomen Global Language Center was fired for writing an educational blog post about homophones, which his boss Clarke Woodger incorrectly associated with homosexuality. "Homophones" are words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Some examples are weather/weather, know/no, and cymbal/symbol. Students typically learn about homophones in grade school, and the concept is unrelated to any kind of sexuality or sexual act.
Woodger reportedly told Torkildson, "I had to look up the word because I didn't know what the hell you were talking about. We don't teach this kind of advanced stuff to our students, and it's extremely inappropriate." If Woodger read the definition of "homophone," he knows it is unrelated to sexuality, but he still chose to fire Torkildson, believing others have the same Beavis and Butthead mentality as him. "Now our school is going to be associated with homosexuality," Woodger said.
It is ridiculous to fire someone just because he used a word with the prefix "homo." Woodger's actions were extremely ignorant. Please sign the petition to urge Woodger to apologize to Torkildson and offer him his job back.
We, the undersigned, are concerned with your deicision to fire ESL teacher Tim Torkildson for writing an educational blog post about homophones. "Homophones" are words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Some examples are weather/weather, know/no, and cymbal/symbol. Students typically learn about homophones in grade school, and the concept is unrelated to any kind of sexuality or sexual act.
If you looked up the word "homophone," you know it is unrelated to sexuality. If you and others associate the word with homosexuality and related sex acts, it isn't Torkildson's fault. Look at it as an opportunity to expand your vocabulary: "homo" is a legitimate root word used in other words unrelated to sexuality, such as "homogenous." Would you fire a science teacher for teaching about homogenous mixtures?
We believe your decision to fire Torkildson was unreasonable. His lesson had an innocent intent, and he did not connect the word homophone to homosexuality in any way. We urge you to compare notes with other English teachers to see how normal and common it is to teach children about homophones. We respectfully urge you to apologize to Torkildson and offer him his job back.
