Job Discussion Forums

[The Goblin Queen]

Hello...
I'm enrolled in the TEFL program at Vancouver Community College in BC, and I have this take-home exam for a Teaching/Tutoring Grammar class that's due on Jan. 17th and it's driving me nuts. I don't know grammar rules very well since I was raised speaking English and I never learned much grammar in school. I really need to pass this class because I've already taken it and failed previously, and I do not wish to take it again. I don't know the desired lingo that the teacher wants to hear, and I just really want to get this out the way because it's causing unecessary stress, especially between my family and I. If there is someone that lives in the Vancouver area, or if there is someone that has taken that course already, etc., and can help, that would be so awesome.
Please contact me at [email protected]

Thanks so much!

^_^

-Meghan

[Glenski]

You want people to help you pass a college test? Excuse me, but who is going to help you when you are teaching if you actually graduate?

Why don't you know the "desired lingo"? I presume the teacher taught you everything that you needed to know. A student's job should be to study it.

[The Goblin Queen]

I actually don't plan to teach. I'd rather let the people who have the passion to do so do it, but I'm getting a TEFL certificate just in case because it's good to have in case I need to look for that kind of job while in Japan.
And I didn't really pick up on anything in the class because I was working 2 jobs at the same time as attending that class and so I was so stressed out and exhausted to point of crying for 3 hours in class and falling asleep and so on.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[sigmoid]

***

[Gregor]

If it's a take-home test, then it's no doubt plenty difficult. Plus, the OP doesn't ask to be given the answers; just for help. I see nothing wrong with that.

But here's a good point - if there's any chance that you want to teach in Japan (or anywhere else in Asia, I dare say), you want to know as much grammar as possible, because the STUDENTS know quite a bit, and the teacher always looks like an incompetent boob if he/she doesn't know as much grammar as they do. Being raised as a native speaker is not only no excuse (at least to them, as well as to older native speakers like me), it's all the more reason that you should know the grammar - they learn the HELL out of their native grammar (as I did in American elementary and high schools in the 1970s), as well as the grammar of any other language the study - including (especially!) English.

[Glenski]

[ls650]

[Gordon]

Go to a library and look the stuff up. There are tons of resources at your fingertips. Ask the teacher for some help or another student that was listening.

[RyanS]

Since when does English have grammar laws?

[Justin Trullinger]

I didn't hear (read) anything about grammar laws...



But there are certain rules of English grammar, if you will. And the fact that the TEFL program you're doing expects you to know them sounds reasonable to me. If the course is a good one, they shouldn't expect you to know or do anything that wasn't covered in the course. If you really don't know the material that was covered on the course, then you need to find a way to learn it. Now. Use the library, the internet, your textbook, other students as study partners, or talk to the teacher. But if you don't know the material, you aren't supposed to pass. That's how a good course works. Sorry.

The fact that you don't plan to teach isn't really relevant. If they issue you a certificate, it's their way of saying that you have successfully completed coursework to a point that they are comfortable saying that you are able to teach. If I were a teacher trainer, I wouldn't want to say that about someone whose self evaluation is that he or she "didn't really pick up on anything in the class," for whatever reason.

As I keep telling my students, you can't have everything in life. If they are too stressed to keep up with the coursework, due to outside obligations, then this isn't the best time for them to be studying. It sounds like it isn't the best time for you to be doing a TEFL cert. Your external situation (two jobs, etc) may help explain the reasons WHY this is not a good time, but they don't change the situation; the situation is that you need to learn the material in order to deserve to pass.

Best of luck in Japan,
Justin

[Cdaniels]

I've heard you can make good money in Japan singing Madonna songs! That's only a rumor of course, but Courtney Love apparently worked in Japan previous to her music career... there's definitely work you can do in Japan other than teach English

[fluffyhamster]

What you could do is join the Teacher forums under a different name (you could even pretend you are a non-native student) and post some of the more tricky problems (you might not get much of a response though, if the queries are too banal). Or, you could just as easily sit down with a decent grammar guide and start educating yourself (surely you bought a book or two for your course?!). Lastly, there is the internet itself (personally, I prefer to begin with a book, unless I can find a quality pdf file, for example)...

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

Hello Meghan in Vancouver


I've looked over the learning resources on The Master Index

Thailand & found something that might help with your exam.


Here's a link to IGE from University College London:


http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/home.htm *