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valley_girl
Joined: 22 Sep 2004
Posts: 272
Location: Somewhere in Canada
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 Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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| sallycat wrote: |
my studnets don't understand that "can you use chopsticks?" is a really *beep* dumb question.
my current answer is "no, and after six years in japan i'm really quite hungry". |
Tell me about it! What's so incredibly difficult about eating with chopsticks?  |
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Cdaniels
Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 663
Location: Dunwich, Massachusetts
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| Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:02 pm Post subject: Can you use chopsticks? |
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Well, I can't say that American tourists give Asians a high opinion of our abilities in this area. Often "I can't use chopsticks" from an American really means the person doesn't want to bother to learn. 
Can you really blame Asians for underestimating us?
Even forks are a relatively new invention for Westerners. Most of us just aren't very culturally sophisticated.  |
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Deconstructor
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 775
Location: Montreal
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| Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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What I want students to understand is that I am not a teacher but a simple guide, in a sense that I am not someone who will readily give answers to every stupid question. I want them to understand that they must try to answer their own questions themselves and I am there only to help them learn skills and strategies as to how to deal with a new language. Don't ask me "What does this word mean?" I taught you already that there are number of ways of dealing with new vocab and unless you have applied all of them and failed, don't come to me! I teach them to be critical. I help them to discover their own special way of learning.
I am not Mr Spock! I will not put my fingers on your temple and upload English into your brain simply by saying, �my thoughts to your thoughts�.
Be your own teachers. |
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valley_girl
Joined: 22 Sep 2004
Posts: 272
Location: Somewhere in Canada
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| Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 11:43 pm Post subject: |
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@Deconstructor - It appears as though we have very similar teaching styles. Ditto everything you said!  |
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Deconstructor
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 775
Location: Montreal
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| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 7:28 pm Post subject: |
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| valley_girl wrote: |
| @Deconstructor - It appears as though we have very similar teaching styles. Ditto everything you said! |
I'm glad there is at least one person out there who agrees. After all, what most teachers really do in class is chew the food and cram it down the students' throats, the same food that is often regurgitated right back on to the teachers' faces. |
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Jizzo T. Clown
Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 668
Location: performing in a classroom near you!
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| Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Deconstructor wrote: |
| I want them to understand that they must try to answer their own questions themselves and I am there only to help them learn skills and strategies as to how to deal with a new language. Don't ask me "What does this word mean?" I taught you already that there are number of ways of dealing with new vocab and unless you have applied all of them and failed, don't come to me! I teach them to be critical. I help them to discover their own special way of learning. |
I heartily agree. It seems that in the West we learn to learn. Most Eastern cultures tend to equate learning with memorizing. |
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ls650
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 3484
Location: British Columbia
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| Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 3:19 am Post subject: Re: Can you use chopsticks? |
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| Cdaniels wrote: |
| Often "I can't use chopsticks" from an American really means the person doesn't want to bother to learn. |
Or is just plain clumsy... |
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dyak
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 630
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| Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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| valley_girl wrote: |
| - that my job is to teach them the skills to succeed in their language goals, *not* to pour English into a funnel at the top of their heads. |
I second that. If only there were schools offering English through osmosis! We'd be printing money. Learn English for the mere physical exertion of warming up a room!
My current pet peeve is students copying things down wrongly from the board. I mean, what happens during the (less that 2ft) journey from board to pen? |
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Dragonlady
Joined: 10 May 2004
Posts: 720
Location: Chillinfernow, Canada
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| Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:43 am Post subject: |
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deleted
Last edited by Dragonlady on Sun Sep 26, 2010 7:36 am; edited 1 time in total |
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hlamb
Joined: 09 Dec 2003
Posts: 431
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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I wish my students understood that I don't always know all the answers. I wish they realized that I am not a human translation dictionary. I wish the school understood it's not my job to translate everything. I wish my students knew that learning a language isn't easy and they need to work at it to succeed.
I love my job, but there are some days....! |
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sickbag
Joined: 10 Jan 2005
Posts: 155
Location: Blighty
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| Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Jizzo T. Clown wrote: |
| Deconstructor wrote: |
| I want them to understand that they must try to answer their own questions themselves and I am there only to help them learn skills and strategies as to how to deal with a new language. Don't ask me "What does this word mean?" I taught you already that there are number of ways of dealing with new vocab and unless you have applied all of them and failed, don't come to me! I teach them to be critical. I help them to discover their own special way of learning. |
I heartily agree. It seems that in the West we learn to learn. Most Eastern cultures tend to equate learning with memorizing. |
My experience in Mexico so far leads me to believe that most Mexican children equate learning with cheating. |
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dyak
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 630
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| Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:03 am Post subject: |
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| sickbag wrote: |
| My experience in Mexico so far leads me to believe that most Mexican children equate learning with cheating. |
Mine too unfortunately... or the surprised laughter when I suggest that copying is also cheating. |
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hlamb
Joined: 09 Dec 2003
Posts: 431
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 4:48 am Post subject: |
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| dyak wrote: |
| Mine too unfortunately... or the surprised laughter when I suggest that copying is also cheating. |
Yeah, what's with that? Is there some kind of cultural thing going on here that I'm not aware of? In Canada cheating is not only frowned on, it's actively prevented. Here it seems to be completely normal. |
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