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TEAM_PAPUA
Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 1679
Location: HOLE
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 Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 8:36 am Post subject: * |
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| Never heard such crap in my life regarding getting a degree in an English University. YOU DO NOT NEED GOOD GRAMMAR, PRESENTATION SKILLS, OR GOOD WRITING SKILLS to get a degree in the UK. You can sit on your arse, get drunk all day and still come out with a BA. UK degrees are, quite frankly, a complete joke. I found my A-levels much more challenging than getting a degree. |
Yes, A-levels are more challenging due to the intensity of the A-level course, but to say that UK degrees are a joke is ridiculous. Even if you do sit on your arse and get drunk, at least you have made a 3-4 year commitment to get a higher education, rather than simply just sat on your arse and done nothing. Also, clearly you don't need the level of writing skill required to get a band '9' IELTS score, but you do need to have a decent level of writing ability. In fairness, we all know BA degrees don't really mean much in the real world as the subject matter is not studied at a specialized level; however, a person who has taken the decison to study A-levels for 2 years, then a degree for a further 3-4 years is in a much better position to be standing in the front of the classroom as opposed to someone who left school at 16 with no education.
IMO a 3 year degree could easily be completed in 2 years: and even though we sit on our arses to do it, at least we got off our arses in the first place.
Like I said before, experience and qualifications mean very little if you're clowning around at the front of the EF/ILP/SHINES etc. etc. classroom - but if you are preparing teenagers for a life in an overseas university, shouldn't you at least have the experience of actually being through the further/higher education system?
Also, if the government introduces such requirements for teachers then the market will turn in our favour, salaries and benefits will have to improve, and then I can go out and buy a CBR1000 & spend my weekends in the Hyatt  |
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guruengerish
Joined: 28 Mar 2004
Posts: 424
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:35 am Post subject: teaching is a talent. |
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hear hear! I thoroughly agree. I also agree with the comment about grammar and spelling etc in Universities. Ask a class to use all three spellings of 'weather/whether/wether' in a single sentence and see how many get through!
As for FUN in teaching English, it's essential. one school I was at, after two years at EF, amazed me. The DoS insisted that we used activities in EVERY lesson. At EF we hardly had room to move to the chairs. At the next school, we had large classrooms and room for fun. |
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TEAM_PAPUA
Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 1679
Location: HOLE
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| Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 7:59 am Post subject: * |
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Isn't wether a castrated goat  |
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guruengerish
Joined: 28 Mar 2004
Posts: 424
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 10:54 am Post subject: wether |
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| Yes, goat or sheep. |
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wailing_imam
Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 580
Location: Malaya
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| Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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When I describe UK degrees as a joke, that is comparing them to the degrees our brothers and sisters in Europe obtain and have to work that little bit harder to do so (A UK BA in humanities or social sciences currently involve around 6-8 hours a week classroom commitment and the rest is 'library' (lashed) time, and 8 essays a year). Even getting into university nowadays is no challenge as you can get 2 E grades at A'level and then go to the University of East London at get yourself a comfy BA (getting drunk all day and sitting on your arse!). When you mention commitment, most young people don't really think of going to university as a three year commitment, it is a logical continuation after school life, it's what people DO nowadays (check out the percentage of people going to university in the UK now versus 15 years ago) and is a great opportunity to party and learn to be independent without having to work and be fiscally responsible.
Whilst I think having a degree is a good thing for a teacher to have, and will ensure a greater amount of faith from the students, it isn't necessarily a truly decent gage of actual teaching quality (responsiveness, responsibility, subject knowledge etc etc).
E N G L A N D!!!! |
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TEAM_PAPUA
Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 1679
Location: HOLE
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| Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:05 am Post subject: * |
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I did my A-levels, Degree & CELTA as a mature student. In all honesty, I doubt that I would have appreciated it as a teen, but I do appreciate it now.
Judging by England's World Cup performance, I think they've been sitting on their arses getting drunk! |
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Zorobabel
Joined: 13 Feb 2006
Posts: 82
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| Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:17 pm Post subject: |
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| I graduated with a degree in English from an American university. At least in my experience I can say that vast amounts of people majoring in non-language related fields can graduate and have no solid grasp on the English language. I've heard people complain about having to write a three page essay before. I can't even imagine trying to teach with only a high school diploma. There will be exceptions--motivated individuals can do what they want with or without formal education--but for the most part people that are serious about teaching should get a decent education. |
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