Place two counters on a table and add two more. You have four counters. Place the written digit 2 beside another written digit 2 and you have written 22. These actions answer different instructions.
One combines quantities. The other joins characters. Understanding the difference helps a learner connect symbols with their meaning instead of treating every string of digits as the same kind of object.
Name the operation
Use number cards and counters. Ask the learner to model adding 3 and 4, then to place the two digit cards beside each other. Have them explain why 7 and 34 answer different questions. Keep the wording of each instruction visible.
In ordinary arithmetic, the plus sign specifies addition. If a task introduces an operation that joins text, its meaning needs to be stated. Changing the operation changes the task; it does not overturn the arithmetic.
Ask the learner to write two unambiguous questions using the same digits but producing different answers. Give the questions to someone else and compare their interpretations. Any confusion becomes a reason to improve the wording.
This also provides a useful way to discuss a joke or a fictional classroom scene. Satire may illustrate a tension, but a scene written to make a point is not evidence of what happens in ordinary schools. A claim about real teaching requires evidence from real teaching.
Respecting a learner includes taking their reasoning seriously enough to examine it. Ask what they understood, identify the operation and test it with objects or another example. A correction should make both the answer and the instruction clearer.