student-teach: "early" ex.

[Charles Doyle]

I don't know about the actual history, but I myself learned the curricular term "practice teaching" ("practice teacher," "practice teach") before I did the synonymous "student teaching" (etc.).  The grammar of the "practice-" phrases is different from the grammar of the "student-" phrases, but perhaps the naturalness and transparency of "practice teach" (which itself may not even be a back-formation) facilitated the seemingly-parallel "student teach."

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2007 17:01:20 -0800
>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject: student-teach: "early" ex.
>
>Incredibly, this compound backformation isn't in OED.
>
>  No reason to believe this ex. is truly "early," but it's a start:
>
>  1967 in Bill Frey _Letters from 'Nam_ (N.Y.: Warner, 1992) 19: Who knows maybe I'll student teach at Duquesne High, HA!
>
>  JL

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