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Tazz
Joined: 26 Sep 2013
Posts: 512
Location: Jakarta
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 Posted: Wed May 13, 2015 10:41 am Post subject: |
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| ESL, [English as a 2nd language] has little relevance in the Gulf as I see it-surely what we are teaching here is EFL, [English as a foreign language] -big difference....and therein maybe lies the reason that there is no demand for any native speakers to teach arts, literature, or culture. |
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Gamajorba
Joined: 03 May 2015
Posts: 357
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| Posted: Thu May 14, 2015 5:44 am Post subject: |
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| hash wrote: |
| Gamajorba wrote: |
| Mind you I deal with students who don't know what a vowel is after a year of telling them week in week out... |
That's because vowels aren't written in Arabic and they can't figure out what the big deal is in English. Thus "door" is written in Arabic as "DR" and the "context" is what determines whether it should be pronounced as "door" "dour" "deer" "dire" "dare" "doer" "odor" "dear", "adore" "udder!!" etc etc. I'm oversimplifying and somewhat exaggerating, but you get the picture. Have fun. |
Yes but I've TOLD them weekly for a year what they were, and some of them are not exactly stupid either...and they still can't remember 5 letters...it isn't even to do with pronounciation or anything, just a case of remembering what they are! |
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hash
Joined: 17 Dec 2014
Posts: 456
Location: Wadi Jinn
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| Posted: Fri May 15, 2015 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Gamajorba wrote: |
| Yes but I've TOLD them weekly for a year what they were, and some of them are not exactly stupid either...and they still can't remember 5 letters...it isn't even to do with pronounciation or anything, just a case of remembering what they are! |
I'd wager if you were to ask your average 19 year old "man in the street" in Cincinnati, Ohio what the vowels are in English you would more often than not get an incorrect answer. If you were to ask him what the differences are between a vowel and a consonant, he'd look at you blankly. If you asked him how many vowels there are in English, he'd probably start getting somewhat violent.
I don't know your circumstances.....but let's assume for arguments sake that you are in KSA (or the Gulf somewhere) and have been there for around 4 years teaching English. Since you're a LANGUAGE teacher, one would assume you're interested in languages in general. Yet I bet you haven't yet figured out how to read the Arabic alphabet even though you've been surrounded by visual Arabic in all this time. You likely can't even recognize a SINGLE Arabic letter.
(Your hypothetical case is the norm, by the way, in the Gulf).
My point is: the fact that your students can't really come to grasp with the concept of VOWELS in your class even after you've "taught" them the concept for a year should come as no surprise at all. I'm certainly not in the least bit surprised. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 8:04 am Post subject: |
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I wonder what Gamajorba has been teaching about English Phonology.
The mysteries of the 19 vowel sounds in some varieties of English ? |
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Gamajorba
Joined: 03 May 2015
Posts: 357
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| Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 9:44 am Post subject: |
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Well making use of the word 'vowel' frequently in classes like having a short VOWEL sound before a CONSONANT which needs to be doubled when going from present to past tense for example.
Anyway, lets not get into this. The point is, Saudis are pathetic and a waste of time and energy. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 10:17 am Post subject: |
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"Saudis are pathetic and a waste of time and energy"
And you let them see how you feel. Then you are surprised that you have problems teaching them ?. Time for you to leave. |
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Gamajorba
Joined: 03 May 2015
Posts: 357
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| Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 11:13 am Post subject: |
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| scot47 wrote: |
"Saudis are pathetic and a waste of time and energy"
And you let them see how you feel. Then you are surprised that you have problems teaching them ?. Time for you to leave. |
I know. I AM leaving in like 4 weeks. Besides, there are several factors that influences the ease of teaching them:
1) their motivation i.e. none
2) my feelings which I think I've summed up already
3) incredibly long classes set by management (9 hours a day in 1 place, of which I teach 6, and 4 in another)
4) cultural issues such as obligation to pray and do things with family etc
5) travel time, I've known students to travel from as far as Tabuk to Riyadh for class, god knows why!
and so on... |
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