Job Discussion Forums

[shaner]

I have been teaching for about 6 years now and I have realized that even though I have learned a lot about English and think I speak it better than before, there are some things that I have a hard time teaching.

I hate writing. I have never been able to write well. I can admit that I often have trouble with spelling. I usually need a dictionary with me in class. I dread the classes when there is a formal business letter to write. I can do it, but it is a pain in the butt.

So, if there are no Super Teachers out there, my question is......

What area do you have problems teaching?????

[Linda T.]

Non-Action/Stative (also called non-progressive) verbs: As I'm standing in front of my class explaining, as my texts do, why certain verbs can be used in the progressive tense while others can not, I'm thinking of all the verbs which fall into these categories I have just established which do NOT follow these rules. So then, I just start listing the specific verbs from the texts and explaining how you can NOT use certain ones progressively and, as I'm doing this . . . I'm thinking how frequently we use these very verbs in the progressive tense. Then I begin arguing with myself out loud: "wait a minute . . . that's not right . . . ." FINALLY, I have to tell my students that I need to continue this lesson the next day because I am NOT AT ALL satisfied with the explanations and rules I am giving them. "There must be a better way," I say.

So . . . during break . . . I query all the SUPER teachers and they seem to be as confused as I am about this one.

So, the next day, I do my best to offer a better explanation which includes the fact that, if they are "seeing" and "hearing" native English speakers use "see" or "hear" in the progressive tense (which is supposedly NOT allowed) it is because we don't understand this structure any better than they do. The most difficult things for me to teach are grammar structures which are in the process of changing because native speakers could never quite get the hang of them. When we find ourselves needing to teach a structure that is no longer in use . . . TO WHOM do we turn for advise???

[TheLongWayHome]

Good thread, I think if you know where you need to improve then you're on your way to becoming a better if not SUPER teacher.

For me it's the passive voice I think. Not the structure too much but the application of it and trying to make it interesting without talking about stolen cars for an hour.

[GueroPaz]

I used to be great at spelling, until I learned Spanish. Now I am embarrassed to spell harrassed, when it is occurring in Mississippi. Also, I learned recently there is some l-l-l rule about double letters, or maybe it is a 1-1-1 rule, but I cannot ask my 7th grade student to tell me what it is.

I recently interviewed at a school where the interviewer asked me to name the four language skills, and say which is my best skill. I said speaking, and luckily spelling is not one of the main four.

I teach the passive by assassination, quoting Yoko Ono. She said the man who killed John Lennon is the man whose name should never be mentioned. John was killed. Likewise, Lincoln, Gandhi, and the Kennedys. At least Spanish has a passive, more or less. I like to say that in the passive voice, the subject is also the object. Is that a wrong way to say it?

[TheLongWayHome]

[sarliz]

[Linda T.]

I like to teach the passive voice as a great way for escaping blame: People get hit, cups get broken, cars get damaged, tests get flunked, and words get misspelled (ESPECIALLY when I'm around them for any length of time). As I understand it, the subject in a passive sentence is the receiver of the action rather than the doer of the action. By way of example, I usually start the lesson by slamming my fist on the table (not TOO hard) and explain that I, the doer of the action, am hitting the table (active), but . . . should I happen to break it . . . then the table got hit.

[sarliz]

I'll second the spelling. I'm especially bad at knowing what the spelling exception rules are - somehow I think we just internalize them without actually knowing what they are. So why it's hopping but not rainning. Blech.

I had to prepare a sample class to teach on the passive voice for a job I didn't end up taking. I took the newspaper reporting slant - lots of headlines use the passive voice - and we rewrote popular stories as if we were newspaper reporters. My take is it's primarily used when the receiver of the action is more important than the doer, or if the doer is unknown. So Goldilocks looks like: The house of the Three Bears was entered yesterday; porridge was eaten, chairs were sat in, and a small girl was discovered in one of the beds. Or whatever. It seemed to be a good time for all.

[sweeney66]

I do some really nit-picky stuff in a TOEFL class, sentence diagraming and that. I seem to remember looking out the window and thinking about lunch during that class in 8th grade. Not my choice of materials, obviously. My motto: Well, I'm not sure, but I know how to find out! I had to knock a couple of grammar-nerd points off of myself. Fortunately my non-native co-workers do know, so I just ask one of them! and I now spell badly in two languages. Aren't dictionaries great?

[GueroPaz]

For the passive voice, how about
The PRI candidate for presidente in 2000 was killed. Trotsky was killed in Mexico, after Freida Kahlo was crippled in a bus wreck. The martires de Acteal were slaughtered by military weapons. The words were either misspelled or misspelted.

[jillford64]

I love sarliz's Goldilocks in the passive.

[hlamb]

I used to be a great speller until I started to learn Spanish. Now I get confused all the time, but rarely in class.

I find I have difficulty getting students to use articles correctly. I know lots of rules and exceptions but they seem to really struggle and need months of correction before they start to understand. Any ideas?

[MO39]

[notamiss]

For the passive, do you find it helpful or confusing to students if you point out that Spanish has other constructions that are more readily used to convey meanings for which English generally uses the passive?

Me dieron un regalo.
I was given a gift.

Se habla ingl�s por todas partes.
English is spoken everywhere.

[MO39]