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santi84 · Joined: 14 Mar 2008 Posts: 1317 Location: under da sea

Last night, I was the victim of the "dancing monkey". I signed up for a late night French conversation class.

The teacher's French knowledge was based on grade 12 French in an English school (I have one year university level French)

No French was spoken in the class (CONVERSATION class?). She said French phrases (for one hour) and asked us for the English translations.

The teacher openly stated she had a phobia of public speaking and needed to sit down to calm her nerves

The teacher did not know the phrases "allez-y", "� bient�t", etc.

After this - the CD player and songs broke out Shocked

Eek. Getting my refund today.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:22 pm Post subject:

Has she worked in the Far East?

fluffyhamster · Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 1:07 am Post subject:

Why would somebody who's useless at teaching French in Canada have necessarily worked in the Far East, Sasha? Incompetent language teachers can be found anywhere and everywhere, and it's not like they all went off to somewhere like Japan for a year or two to get supposedly "super useless" experience now is it!

jpvanderwerf2001 · Joined: 02 Oct 2003 Posts: 1117 Location: New York

The strangest part of the story, I think, is that someone who's teaching French in Canada doesn't know the language better. Aren't there tons of people proficient at the language there?

santi84 · Joined: 14 Mar 2008 Posts: 1317 Location: under da sea

Here's an example of a question from our written quiz (in a conversation class?):

1. Which phrase does not belong?
a) Bonjour
b) Bonsoir
c) Salut

Belong to what? Hello, good evening, hi?

Sashadroogie: She didn't say, but considering she was about 20 years old, I doubt it - but that never stopped anyone before, did it?

fluffyhamster: Unfortunately true about incompetent teachers. I was so used to my professional conversation instructor (at the local college) that my expectations were obviously too high for an adult education course!

jpvanderwerf2001: That's a strange thing too. This is British Columbia, so there aren't as many francophones, but there are enough people who are bilingual to apply for this job. I saw the advertisement for this job (I also work for the city) and it paid about $28/hr.

jpvanderwerf2001 · Joined: 02 Oct 2003 Posts: 1117 Location: New York

28 bones an hour?! I'm surprised they didn't get some professor for that kind of cash Shocked

santi84 · Joined: 14 Mar 2008 Posts: 1317 Location: under da sea

Sashadroogie · Posted: Wed Sep 29, 2010 5:43 am Post subject:

I asked because the Dancing Monkey is primarily an Eastern phenomenon, is it not. China, especially. Surprising to see it in N America, or am I being naive?

Ariadne · Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 960

I don't think the gal teaching French in Canada was entertaining enough to be called a 'dancing monkey'. Pejorative term, yes, but it usually suggests a certain amount of entertainment value.

.

cassava · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 175

Santi 84:

If you are serious about improving your French, you should take one of the many government-sponsored immersion French programs. They are available all across Canada. The Feds do a great job in this regard, and the courses offered by Laval University, for example, are excellent.

If you are a teacher and have the summer off, you might want to think about taking some of the courses available in St.Pierre/Miquelon. They might be slightly more expensive than the ones offered in Canada, but they are first rate.

santi84 · Joined: 14 Mar 2008 Posts: 1317 Location: under da sea