Korean Job Discussion Forums

[the_beaver]

[The Gipkik]

[The Gipkik]

[WoBW]

[thegadfly]

Summa dem schools wouldn't notice....

[noraebang]

[edwardcatflap]

There are different types of language learner and I don't think it's the teacher's role to tell people they shouldn't be asking 'useless' questions. Generally adults do not learn foreign languages in the same way as babies learn their mother tongue. Some bright students, like yourself, can be guided towards self-discovery of grammar rules but some may get incredibly frustrated if they don't get answers to specific questions. I think we should be accommodating both types.

[air76]

While I already stated that you don't "need" a Master's degree to be able to teach grammar, I think that it is pretty ignorant to think that an acceptable way to teach grammar is simply to say "that's just the way it is" or "hey, just emulate me."

Some verb tenses don't even exist in different languages, so clearly the purpose and usage of such tenses will need to be explained properly, as would dozens of other grammar idiosyncrasies. Pretty much by saying "you don't need to teach grammar" you're saying "I don't know how to teach grammar."

I would argue that you are learning Korean at a pretty rudimentary level if you don't feel the need to ask complex grammar questions....and hey, I am not criticizing you, my level of Korean is certainly well below the point where I would need to ask where I put direct or indirect objects in a sentence, but if you want to ever be able to use a language beyond the conversational level you will certainly need to have a more complex knowledge of grammatical rules and structures and how those structures differ from your language.

There are some things about a language that you can't just "pick up" or "learn by example"...which is precisely why we spend years and years studying grammar in our own language. So clearly we can't just learn by example when we live in a country where everyone speaks English and we still need to have grammar lessons for nearly a decade in our standard education system.

[noraebang]

[edwardcatflap]

As I said before, there are different types of language learners. We don't tend to meet the ones you're talking about as they don't need the discipline of lessons. Immersion probably is the best way to learn a language but try telling that to a 30 something Korean salaryman working 12 hours a day and trying to fit in a hour lesson some time before midnight.

I can guarantee you that if I went to an hour's Korean lesson tonight I would learn more than if I sat down and watched an hour of a Korean drama. In fact I can pretty much guarantee you that i could sit in a locked room from now till eternity watching Korean dramas and probably come out knowing as many words of Korean as I know now (about 10 - and I've been semi-immersed here for seven years.) On the very few occasions when I went to korean lessons I felt like I was making progress however, but that's just me. I'm a different kind of learner to your grandmother obviously.

[Fox]

[air76]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[noraebang]

Sorry, it's hard to quote on my iPod but this is in response to air.

We already have a command of the language and an intuitive grasp of grammar when we begin learning grammar in school. Children, or anyone, can use a gerund without knowing what one is.

Fox, there are millions of people who mastered all the grammar you mentioned through absorbtion via real language, not explicit grammar education. Take the 40 million people living in Korea for example. You think my illiterate mother in law in the countryside can explain any of those grammar rules? No. According to you it must be impossible for her to speak Korean. She must be at an elementary level.

You useless English teachers are just trying to justify your existence and horrible results. Everyone, even you know and quietly admit that a massive amount of target language input is what it takes to succeed.

[air76]