Job Discussion Forums

[J.]

Not to belabour the point, but we all make mistakes. Not sure when "in replace of" became good English either. I'm a qualified teacher too, but seems to me the students will vote with their feet when they find incompetent teachers and even in the language schools they won't last long without good teaching skills.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I was wondering when people would pick up on that.

[J.]

my non-education. Understatement is always best, don't you think?

[Sam Adams]

To Great Wall and all the other "qualified" teachers on this post who constantly feel the need to belittle others-if you care so much about the quality of English education in Japan, why don't you quit your cushy 500,000 yen a month university job and work in a public school or even a big chain English school? Isn't that where you can do the most good?
I am not denying your ability to provide quality English lessons. That doesn't mean that because some of us in Japan are not as certified and educated as you, that we will not be able to do the same. I wouldn't even begin to say that I would be able to succeed at a University position. What I do know is that I am a very good A.L.T. That might not mean much to you, but it means a lot to me. If everyone that came to Japan needed to be as qualified as you think one should be, then the fact is that Japan would have a serious problem filling all of its positions.
Now go ahead and rip apart my English mistakes. I really don't care. I have to go to class now and do what I am paid to do. That is to assist these kids in the best way possible with their English. Not only that, but to broaden their cultural understanding and let them see that there is a big world out there, and to do my best to introduce what I know of it to them.

So in the famous words of my friend Mike..."You need to reeeeelaaaaaxxxxxx!!"

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I live in China and earn peanuts.

Like I said, I take my job very seriously and I am not working so I can earn big wads of money.

I am teaching to become the best teacher I can be.

Like I said earlier, if you want to teach English, at least learn how to use the language properly first. Otherwise you do your students a great disservice.

[T-Bone]

I get annoyed with grammar and syntax mistakes on the internet, too. But it is just the internet. And yes, I agree that people with poor grammar skills do other, more professional teachers a disservice. (And that it's grammatically incorrect to begin a sentence with "and".)

But you could be a little more nice! This guy is just asking for advice, and you tore him a new one. Now maybe he doesn't want to travel at all because he thinks all the other teachers will be mean.

I don't know what the scene is like in China, but in Japan a lot of gigs are for westerners to entertain more than educate. Often the outgoing person with little grammar knowledge is more effective at that than a doctor of English with a frowny face.

I don't know, China Dude, maybe you were having a bad day. Hey, I get tempted to do a line-by-line analysis of why someone's post is gramatically unacceptable at times, too. But other people have feelings, too.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Okay, I get the picture. I'll give him a big hug and a great big sloppy kiss next time I see him in the hopes that his feeling were not hurt so badly.

But seriously:

When someone makes a few mistakes, I couldn't give a rat's arse. But when every line is peppered with them, I have to question the person's teaching potential.

[T-Bone]

Yeah, I hear ya, man.

I'm glad you replied with sarcasm about the touchy-feely stuff. I deserved that. It was pretty wanky.

I guess I really didn't need to throw my two cents in, anyway. Everyone else already ripped on you.

Yeah, keep playing. English teachers should know English![/quote]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I've been at Dave's on this board, the Korean board, and the old board for I don't know how many years.

I have never attacked someone's spelling (this was my first time).

I didn't do it to "belittle" someone as Sam Adams suggested. If anything, the OP will be a little more careful in the future when he posts.

Thats all, folks. I'm spent on this topic.