Job Discussion Forums

batman · Joined: 12 Oct 2003 Posts: 319 Location: china

you sound like an idiot laurent. i correct enough people's grammar at work, i shouldn't have to correct a so called teacher's grammar when i'm relaxing at home. that's not why i come here. nor do i come here to trade insults with half wits like you. if thats a real picture of you, and you live in beijing, i would watch your back if i were you.

anthyp · Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 1320 Location: Chicago, IL USA

Well we've all met plenty of bad teachers who can speak English perfectly. They just can't teach it. This is at least as severe a problem as having non - native speakers with imperfect pronunciation, enunciation, etc., teaching. Let's be honest, if you're objecting to the presence of FEs who can't even speak the language perfectly, it's because you don't think them capable of teaching oral English ... so I think any test for FEs would have to measure teaching ability as well. Unless your objections to these non - native FEs are founded on other reasons?

yaco · Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 473

LETS LOOK AT FACTS REGARDING LITERACY LEVELS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

AMERICA 67 %
AUSTRALIA 78 %

IF YOU BREAK THE FIGURES DOWN, YOU GET THE FOLLOWING RESULTS

AUSTRALIA

ABOUT 20 % OF PEOPLE WHO PASS SCORE OVER 80 % IN A STANDARD LITERACY TEST.

ABOUT 60 % OF PEOPLE WHO PASS SCORE BETWEEN 65 TO 80 % IN A STANDARD LITERACY TEST.

THE REST SCORE BETWEEN 50 TO 65 % IN A STANDARD LITERACY TEST.

IF YOU SCORE OVER 65% IN A STANDARD LITERACY TEST THIS ENABLES YOU TO DO MOST JOBS IN SOCIETY.

I WILL LEAVE IT TO THE IELTS EXPERTS TO PROVIDE FURTHER INFORMATION.

gingermeggs · Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 162

Laurent..........

batman · Joined: 12 Oct 2003 Posts: 319 Location: china

laurents english seems to deteriorate pretty quickly when he's agitated. the last post was was so poor as to be funny. im really shakin in my boots. and he has the gall to tell me to learn how to write? you wouldnt last one class here in china without your electronic dictionary. i thought this was a forum for english teachers, not for poor students who didnt pass. c'mon punk, what other stupid phrases does your e-dictionary have? i was very amused by 'baby menaces' and 'contrarily' and 'give me this favour', not to mention all the other BS your were spouting. you waste everyones time. go home.

gingermeggs · Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 162

gingermeggs · Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 162

Hmmmmmmm.....a PM from laurent

william wallace · Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 2869 Location: in between

nothing to say

anthyp · Joined: 16 Apr 2004 Posts: 1320 Location: Chicago, IL USA

There isn't any point, William Wallace. Some people are just idiots. Regarding the future of TEFL in China I think it makes perfect sense to question how long our good fortune will last here. I imagine in (Eastern) Europe when the floodgates opened after the fall of the Soviet Union TEFLers were in high demand, everybody who could speak English could get jobs anywhere, life was good. Then native speakers wanted to go there, and now there are so many, it's impossible to find high or even mid - paying jobs without very high credentials. Aside from the EU legality issues there are just too many more or less qualified individuals in Europe. And maybe that is happening here. But nobody can predict the future. And until working conditions start plummeting I don't think we have anything to worry about here. Besides, we could always go to Qatar.

hesterprynne · Joined: 16 Sep 2003 Posts: 386

We ought to be able to judge whether or not another English teacher's English is intelligible. But I would take a student's comments about a teacher's intelligibility with a grain of salt. I had a student tell me that her teacher was very difficult to understand. He is from the U.S. and without any other regional distinctions in pronunciation. Could it be she just didn't like him?

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

I agree, we should not always consider what the student says as gospel. SOme of them are like children who will seek to divide mommy and daddy so she has more power over each.

But sometimes the students comments are right on target. I don't think you have to have great english to be a good teacher. But as I said recently on another post, I can not understand the english of many of my african friends, and I can understand almost not of my Malayasian friend who is a teacher.

As someone else said, this is more then just a case of a nonstandard accent.

Again, I said it on another post, Henan education bureau is warning the schools they should hire teachers from certain african countries who have gotten a bad rep here. I should post the resume of one of the recent applicants to my current school. Horrendous mistakes that show a lack of understanding of the basic english fundamentals that person would be teaching to the students.

There is a test for non-native english speakers. A friend of mine took it for the second time recently. I don't know the name of the test, but she had to go to Hong Kong. She was very worried, because the school was not going to keep her if sho could not pass this time, even though she has been working there for several years