|
Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
dmb
Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 3:09 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
| Quote: |
| Get your grammar book and dictionary. This is where everything starts and stops. |
then go down the pub and practice/annoy people. It's how I learned Turkish. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
squirrel12
Joined: 22 Sep 2006
Posts: 2
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:28 pm Post subject: Hello |
|
|
Interesting thread. I teach written English to multi-lingual adult students, and I have to agree that they tend to make the same mistakes time and again and take little (or no) notice of corrections. That's why I concentrate on grammar during the lessons, and insist that each student writes about 150 words on a specific topic for homework. After a while, things definitely start to improve. I think one of the biggest problems is that students write something out in their own languages and then translate it. Having learned a few foreign languages myself, I know this is not the way to go about things.
Anyway. I also like students to talk and discuss things throughout the lesson, and I ban the use of foreign languages - much to their annoyance! My classes are small, which makes it easier to ensure that each person contributes as much as the next one. Last year I had a particularly difficult Japanese student, who was not only determined not to speak, but also claimed to understand things which he obviously didn't. It took about a term before he realised that a) he would have to contribute and b) he didn't need to be afraid to say he didn't understand something. Incidentally, his written English was pretty good. His Korean pal, on the other hand, could understand absolutely everything and spoke very well, yet couldn't put a lucid sentence together on paper. One last thing: students often bring me essays which they have been writing for other courses in different subjects. They are not interested in learning about their mistakes in these, but just want the whole thing corrected before handing it in. And why do they invariably feign surprise and outrage when I highlight all the plagiarised paragraphs??????
Oh - and yes I agree TEFL teaching is one giant scam. Congratulations to the people who managed to get the whole certification thing going. Hope it made lots of money for them.   |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Atassi
Joined: 13 Sep 2004
Posts: 128
Location: 평택
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| No offence is taken. I believe that ESL industry is a scam because it does not employ the right methodology to teach. Students want easy answers and we peddle them. We use trite texts and teach in filtered classes where they listen to absurd listening materials and barely read a paragraph. I have advanced students who can't get through a simple paragraph. I have beginner students who have been studying English for a decade. This is not how one learns/teaches a language. |
Okay then, here you talk about the industry having problems related to teaching methodologies. I think everyone here can agree with you. I hope that it's not a total loss though, although I know the industry is in bad shape in many places. And I've seen problems everywhere I've been.
You know what we can do, besides discussing methodologies here on Dave's? We can refuse to work anywhere where we feel we are scamming the students. I mean, if we aren't able or allowed to create good language classes where we work, we can demand it. Difficult? It is sometimes...
| Quote: |
| Get your grammar book and dictionary. This is where everything starts and stops. |
Most language learners need quite a lot more than that. Start with a grammar book? Maybe start with TPR, but a grammar book is no place to start in my opinion.
| Quote: |
| then go down the pub and practice/annoy people. It's how I learned Turkish. |
Or use the beer money to get scammed by a language school  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
|
| Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2006 6:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Deconstructor wrote: |
| Many already mentioned this, but what really freaks me out is how often students invent English. My advice to them is to keep their sentences short and simple. "And remember, if you don't understand what you are writing, you guarantee I don't either." |
Yes, but there are native anglophones who do the same thing. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Deconstructor
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 775
Location: Montreal
|
| Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Chancellor wrote: |
| Deconstructor wrote: |
| Many already mentioned this, but what really freaks me out is how often students invent English. My advice to them is to keep their sentences short and simple. "And remember, if you don't understand what you are writing, you guarantee I don't either." |
Yes, but there are native anglophones who do the same thing. |
Yes, but what we do comes from cultural changes that are taking place all the time. They are not mistakes. Language is alive; for example, if I were to say, "Google this word". The verb Google is very new to the English lexicon. But when a student says, "He was a fire of job" instead of saying, "He was fired from his job, it is totally unacceptable. It is perfectly OK to make a mistake, but this type does not suggest that the student is in the process of learning and must make these mistakes. Rather it suggests pretension that s/he speaks English better than they actually do. This is why I tell them to keep their sentences short and simple. Don't go off the deep end if you don't know how to swim. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
