Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

From my own experience in studying Korean and trying to practice my writing skills in Korean I have seen the same phenomenon.

I was making the same mistakes over and over, and the reason was I would forget about the correction made in past writing assignments and thus make the same error over and over.

My teacher noticed this and she made me re-write every assignment, but with all the corrections made. This did seem to help me to remember how to make correct sentences.

Another solution would be to have the student practice making similar sentences that use the same form as the one they are having problems with.

The dog was big and scary.

The cow was old and feeble.

The cat was quick and agile.

etc.

I think the problem in Korea is that most if not all students are pushed ahead far too quickly. They still can't even make a sentence using present simple, but are asked to hand in two page writing assignments.
It is ridiculous.


One thing that always seems to be neglected is practice making different kinds of sentences and then recognizing the differences in meaning.

Declarative: I am simply the biggest fool on the planet.

Interrogative: Are you the biggest fool on the planet?

Emphatic: I most certainly am the biggest fool on the planet!

Negative: No you aren't the biggest fool on the planet, I am!


etc.

Feel free to correct my sentence classification errors.


One thing that teachers here seem to do far too much of is to have students who can't make a sentence start doing grammatical analysis.

Sub - verb - obj.

etc. and then have the students start memorizing gammatical terms.


Not that there isn't a time and place for that kind of thing, but I feel that it isn't the most helpful until the student has gained at least an intermediate level of proficiency.

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

It's baffling why students are allowed to take a foreign language* when they can't be bothered to look at their own native language for ten minutes to get to grips with basic concepts like 'subject and verb' ... and word forms ...

You don't look for a light on Mars ... you take one with you





* non-fee paying courses of course .. otherwise it's not in the slightest bit baffling

[sallycat]

[Stephen Jones]

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

[some waygug-in]

Well, here's a fine example.

Korean doesn't call adjectives an equivalent of what we call them.

In Korean, adjectives are called "descriptive verbs" and then you get all this wonderful confusion happening about the difference between verbs and adjectives.

That's why I say it's better just to leave the grammatical terms out of things until after they have mastered some basics.

It's far better to have them write sentences describing a picture and understand the meaning of what they are writing, than to have them worry about "is this a noun?" is this a verb?" etc.
I have had quite a few adult students who could piece together a passable sentence by just stringing together grammar terms.
They could tell me the grammatical name of each word, but they still couldn't understand the meaning of what they had written. What is the use of that?

I'm not saying they shouldn't study grammar, just that they should wait until after they can at least write a passable paragraph or two. (and more importantly, that their spoken English is at sufficient enough to be able to understand the explanations of grammatical terms)

[Sheikh Inal Ovar]

[some waygug-in]

OK. I understand what you are getting at. If they can't do a grammatical analysis of their own language and its structure, it is pointless to try and do one of a second language.

It's just that I see students and teachers get so hung up on grammar that they never learn the meaning of words....let alone sentences.

[Deconstructor]

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."

[some waygug-in]

I wish I had a few students that had attained even a pre-intermediate level.

Most of the students I teach are still learning phonics and the basics of spelling 3 - 5 letter words.

Nothing really works with students who don't want to learn, and that is the biggest problem I face.

I can play games with them, bring in pop songs, try to find interesting activities for them, try and "edutain" them a bit, but I can not make them want to learn.

[Hamish]

With all due respect, I think vast portions of our laboring over teaching methods are balderdash, pure and simple.

IMHO

We learn to cook by eating.

We learn to write by reading.

We learn to speak by listening.

Classroom lectures have little to do with the process beyond encouragement and support, both of which are crucial.

[Deconstructor]

[Atassi]

[TheLongWayHome]

[Deconstructor]