鈥淟it,鈥� 鈥渄a bomb,鈥� 鈥渂ruh,鈥� and 鈥測eet鈥� are terms many of us might have casually said during our formative years. With time鈥攁nd age鈥攖hese popular sayings get replaced with the next generation鈥檚 preferred innovative vocab, which leaves the aged-out among us scrambling to keep up or reserved to accepting our newfound 鈥渟enior status.鈥�
For teachers, this language gap can be an occupational hazard, as they may have a hard time following the conversations in their classrooms from day to day when they aren鈥檛 up to speed on evolving slang. But some are doing their best to stay on top of the latest entries to the . Nearly 40 percent of teachers
Here are a few ways that teachers are asking questions, quietly observing-and-learning, piecing together context clues, and sharing 鈥渁s told to鈥� lessons from their students on social media, all in the name of getting hip.
A Q&A helps anyone learn fast
Asked and answered is a classic format that can help anyone make progress in any subject. This interviewer asked teachers around their school what slang words were the most challenging to figure out, then followed up by enlisting a willing student to get teachers up-to-speed.
Another example comes from a teacher on TikTok, who asked her students what was in or out when it comes to older slang words.
鈥楲ow key鈥� taking notes
Some teachers preferred an observe and report back approach. This middle school teacher gave some insight to his TikTok audience on words he鈥檚 been learning from his students.
This special education teacher took the more methodical approach, writing down every 鈥渘ew鈥� word he heard from students for a week. His dedication added a few more words to this ever-growing list that the masses are trying to keep up with.
New slang dropping all the time
Some teachers take to X (most definitely better known as Twitter by us older folks) to share their successes at using the latest slang, interesting ways they鈥檝e discovered new entries, and even the surprising places that these words have shown up. A few highlights:
Flipping the script
A few educators decided to match their students鈥� energy, with one teacher (and comedian) making up his own words to add to Gen Z slang. Spoiler alert, a few have caught on nationally.
Finally, for those wanting to completely Uno reverse their students, Here are a few of the especially niche entries:
ChopperDefinition: chopper = helicopter (parents) Use in a sentence: Josh鈥檚 parents are total 鈥渃hoppers鈥�, it all makes so much sense now. |
Gray-grayDefinition: Spending all night or all weekend grading papers. Use in a sentence: My weekend was 鈥済ray-gray鈥�! |
SWAYDefinition: Summer, Where Are You? Use in a sentence: Today was a rough day鈥� 鈥淪WAY鈥�! |
