In school you can be influence both negatively and positively by teachers.  ..... In the new school, one day for a spelling test we had the word, "Of".  Now you would think that word would be pronounced the same most places here in the united states.  The teacher pronounced it nearly identical to the word "Off".  I could not distinguish the difference between how she was pronouncing the two words. Both 'Off' and 'Of' sounded the same because she didn't sound like a "Texan".

In school you can be influence both negatively and positively by teachers.  This is a tale of one of those defining moments. When I was young my family moved from town to town many times.  My father was an installer for Western Electric company where he helped to bring online new telephone offices.  That meant every time there was another new telephone office, they had to ship in people to install all the wiring, switches, relays, etc. that make the lines work.  My mom decided that she did not want to remain at home alone while dad traveled for work so instead we traveled with him in a trailer.  I was in numerous schools in the first and second grade. (The best we can tell around 10!).  Part of the second grade year we moved from Texas to Jonesboro, Arkansas.  Until that time, I had not experienced people with different accents.  In the new school, one day for a spelling test we had the word, "Of".  Now you would think that word would be pronounced the same most places here in the united states.  The teacher pronounced it nearly identical to the word "Off".  I could not distinguish the difference between how she was pronouncing the two words. Both 'Off' and 'Of' sounded the same because she didn't sound like a "Texan".  I became very upset over not understanding the difference.  I just knew I was going to miss the word. The teacher saw that I was becoming upset and embarrassed me in front of the class by asking what was wrong. Somehow I got out that I didn't understand which word on our list she was giving us to spell on the test. I forgot exactly what she said in response because all I can remember is that 30 something kids in that class were staring at me for being a dumb Texan!  I did get that word wrong on the test and then had to go home to explain to my parents.  They expected me to always be a fantastic student.  I expected a lecture for not studying hard enough but instead my mom told me stories of how she misunderstood people when she was living in Boston with her first husband's family. They "Pahk the Cah At Hahvad Yahd" instead of "Parking the Car at Harvard Yard" and instead of "I have no idea.", the say, "I have no idear." I felt better that I wasn't the only person that misunderstood other accents!