Job Discussion Forums

bennyr81 · Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 45 Location: Poland

would you say that 'reckon' is redneck slang?????? Im from sunny manchester, england and we use reckon all the time...i rememebr when i was studying french our teacher taught us the french equivilant.
A question ive been thinking about lately (wrong post i know) is should i teach breakfast, lunch and dinner or breakfast,dinner and tea? i always use the latter and so do millions of others in england......so which is better????
(neither! i thinki is the correct answer, but each to their own with opinions Very Happy

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John ELS · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 61 Location: Genoa, Italy

I reckon I should start using reckon.
I also reckon that anyone who says reckon with a Manchester accent won't be reckoned as a redneck but you should hear some of the "reckoners" from the states.
Breakfast dinner and tea? That just reminds me that I'm hungry. Laughing

horse · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 37

Further to that comment, where I come from we always used to drink our tea, so not sure if it even constitutes a meal.

hollyjeanette · Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 23 Location: kansas city

Benny, yea reckon is totally redneck slang. And totally is bad california slang (sorry). How interesting are the differences between the "Queen's English" and the states. I remember watching the news when the horrendous bombing of the subway occurred in London. For a long time I was trying to figure out what happened because all the victims were referring to the bombing of a "carriage". I was trying to figure out what a baby carriage has to do with a terrorist attack. Needless to say, we use words differently. Cheers!

John ELS · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 61 Location: Genoa, Italy

John ELS · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 61 Location: Genoa, Italy

John Hamilton · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Posts: 45 Location: France

John ELS · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 61 Location: Genoa, Italy

horse · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 37

It's a strange logic that classifies non-native speaker teachers as 'better' than native speakers, an assumption that the previous contributor has made. Why? Because someone who has learned the language from scratch has a better grasp of the grammar? Perhaps, perhaps not and, in any case, anyone who does not have the capacity to understand and explain the peculiarities of the language shouldn't really be a language teacher, should they? Is it elitist to suggest that a native speaker might have an equally good grasp of English than someone wo has learned it? Perhaps it's because a non-native teacher has a better idea of what it is like to learn a language? Again, this tends to ignore the possibility that a native speaker of English might also learn a second language. I would agree with JohnELS in that, if a course is marketed as mother tongue then the students who enrol have every right to expect a mother tongue teacher.

Frontline · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 25

twopennorth

When I worked in Italy, I had an Italian colleague whose English was so good I'd have said she was born in Hounslow. Nevertheless, the school told her to tell her students she was English, because the students expected English English teachers. She hated lying to her students, but it was that or lose her job.

I'm sure you're as good an English teacher as I am, but these places are selling a dream. You may have trouble finding work in Italy for this reason. Good luck anyway.

/twopennorth