Korean Job Discussion Forums

[periwinkle]

My foreign language teachers were horrible, and I knew they were horrible even while I was in their classes. My French teacher was lazy. She had us do a lot of pair work, but she never came around to listen in on our conversations (there were about 14 of us in the class, btw). She gave us homework, but that was part of the curriculum. Her accent was horrid, and she never corrected any of us on our accents. She'd never even been to France, but whatever.

I took German in summer school (s.s was always voluntary for me 'cuz I got bored during summer break). The instructor was AWFUL. He used random hand-outs, and nothing ever built on previous lessons. He aimed more at teaching us vocab than anything else. He also never wrote anything on the board, so I had nothing to focus on and got easily bored. All he did was talk (in English)- he was trying lamely to be an edutainer, but he was just so boring. Also, none of the kids participated, and he didn't try to get us to, either.

So how were your teachers?

[elynnor]

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[formerflautist]

In my Spanish class we had Taco Day every year. We also got to watch Man of La Mancha (in English) and Footloose (in Spanish). We did a lot of pointless things like that. When I was in school the Spanish 4 class got busted for bringing in a porno video and watching it while the teacher was out of the class.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Can you imagine if all Canadian secondary students had to take six years of French, and they gave them native French speakers who knew next to no English? Pandemonium. We have it damn well with our students over here.

My first French teacher was OK and interesting, but knew very little French himself. My second was a Welsh woman whose English was difficult to understand and whose class was full of goofballs. She was always running around like a nutball yelling at kids and she even hit a kid (Canada in the late 80s - big no-no and potential huge liability, even if he was bigger than she was). After I failed her class they wanted me to take summer school but I said no way. I couldn't understand the stuff we were already learning and had no desire to advance. I couldn't think in French of thing of what to say for almost any situation. I was finished, and completely gave up on French, deciding I'd have no use of it whatsoever.

Apres quelques ans quand j'etais a l'universite je suis devenu plus interesse en Francais et j'ai pris un cours seulement pour mon amusement. Alors, plus tard, j'ai demenage a Montreal pour quelques ans ou il y a beaucoups des ocaisions parler francais. Puis, j'ai demenage a l'Amerique et j'ai trouve une petite amie francaise; bientot j'etais presque couramment. Depuis cette fois, j'ai oublie beaucoup de francais mais c'etais possible pour moi apprendre seulement parce que j'ai eu le desir. Mes prononciation, eppellation, grammaire et comprehension sont tres affreux, mais pour moi c'etais bien mieux apprendre moi-meme que ayant un anglephone professer de francais. Sans assez de desir c'est pas possible.

[periwinkle]

[pet lover]

I took German. My mother could not understand a thing the teacher said unless he was speaking in English. My mother was German. One of the students lived in Germany until she was a teenager. Needless to say, she was fluent. He rarely spoke when she was in the room because everyone knew she couldn't understand him and she'd sit there and mutter about all the mistakes he was making and how his accent was incomprehensible and his grammar sucked. He sent her on daily errands. Enough said on his German ability.

He hated the principal and would do anything he could to p*** him off. ONe year, for the yearbook pictures, he insisted on putting his hair in pigtails...rather like Pippi Longstocking. He always said that the school was a sinking submarine and the principal was Daffy Duck at the helm.

When he was rampaging, we had a lot of fun in class, but learned nothing. When he was depressed, we sat around in bored silence and learned nothing.

I think I mainly learned how NOT to teach from him.

[Woland]

I took four years of Spanish, two years of French (one of which I taught myself at home), and a year of Italian (through a program with the local university) in high school. All my teachers were good, but I have to give a special shout out here to Mrs. Piepke (Spanish) and Miss Angell (French), who were just exceptional teachers. I can't judge today whether their pronunciation or grammar was good or not, but I can say that they made me interested in learning what they were teaching and improving my command of the languages, which is what good teachers do. They were also indulgent of a fair amount of goofiness in class on my part when I finished work early, as long as I had my fun in the right language.

[canuck in Ansan]

I guess I've got it all backwards!

I went to French school (not emersion) until grade 9, so I guess my foreign language class was English (of which I was already fluent)...

Finally in high school I took one horrid year of french because they wouldn't let me challenge for credit until grade 10. The teacher wasn't bad but she was at a loss with what to do with me. I doubt that most of the students learned much in class though.
The same day I wrote my last grade 9 final exam I challenged for credit, and got my grade 12 French without ever having to take the class! woohoo!

Where I'm from, if you take 5 or more (I think) French classes (French social studies was offered as well), you can graduate with a "bilingual certificate". What a joke. 95% of those who got one couldn't hold up a conversation if they tried.

[heydelores]

I took three years of Spanish, six years of German, and one year of Hebrew with a total of nine different teachers/professors. My first Spanish teacher spoke almost no English. A lot of kids paid no attention to him whatsoever, but for those of us who cared to learn, it really challenged us to speak Spanish because we had no other way to communicate with him. I ended up skipping two who levels after that one year with him when I moved to a different school. He wasn�t a great teacher, but the experience with a native speaker was really good for me.

My second Spanish teacher was a native English speaker who had studied in Spain. I remember her as one of the most caring people I've ever met, and I still get a Christmas card from her every couple years. She always had challenging games and exercises for us to do, and we'd occasionally get to watch a movie in Spanish. She gave all her students a lot of personal attention and had office hours before and after school for anyone who needed extra help. My Spanish professor in college was a nice man but not very challenging or strict. It was easy to slide by in his class with very little effort.

Two of my high school German teachers were horrible. One was fired when it was discovered that she had vodka in her water bottle at school. She also taught French and would frequently come into our German class with the lesson she had prepared for her French class and then get mad at us when we didn't know the vocabulary. My other awful German teacher lost was fired after he got mad and threw a piece of chalk at a student, piercing her eye. You could smell alcohol on his breath at 7:30 AM. When he returned our tests and h