huh?

Sometimes my students make so little sense I don't have the heart to tell them I have no idea what they are going on about. So, I sit, nod, make encouraging noises, and they ramble on until I can figure out how to shut them up / change the subject /focus them.

If they could read my thoughts they'd be getting:

"What the fuck are you going on about?" or
" I have NO idea, whatsoever, what you are trying to say to me." or
"Please get to the point. There must be a point, mustn't there? Can we just get there, please? This is painful. Oh ho hum [nod, make encouraging noise], what shall I have for supper? damn my room needs tidying. Must remember to blog about that funny thing I saw this morning." [nod, make encouraging noise].

Luckily, I don't have many students like this and they need to be a certain level to obtain this skill of pure waffleness.