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Native Speakers Must Be THOROUGHLY Examined?
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Mr. Pink



Joined: 21 Oct 2003
Location: China

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wishmaster wrote:
Yes, I think it is a safe bet to say that standardized testing of teachers will never occur here. Why? As another poster said, nobody would come here. I mean, of all the countries that you could go to, Korea would be pretty far down on the totem pole. The only reason that people come here is because it is sooooooooo easy to get a job. Free airfare. Free apartment. Put it this way: Would you come to Korea if you had to go through the hassle of being tested, had to pay your airfare and had to pay for your apartment. Didn't think so.


If I had to be tested and pay, pay, pay...I'd have gone to Europe.
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Skarp



Joined: 22 Aug 2003

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When Koreans bitch and whine about bad English Teachers - I just say to them - who hired them? Who pays them xmillion won a month to do a bad job? Who attends their lessons and puts up with bad teaching?


Koreans, Koreans, Koreans.....


Skarp
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crazylemongirl



Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Location: almost there...

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr. Pink wrote:
I'd say 90% of native speakers are crap at explaining grammar. If it was required to be an expert in all things grammar, very few of us would be here....


I agree my grammar is not the best. But I make an effort to study it, however I would rather leave grammar teaching up to the korean teachers they are way better at it . Getting the kids to talk is my big thing. I don't care if it's perfect english but rather that they can understand and be understood. These kids have amazing written vocab but it saddens me that they spend so much time worrying about formulating one perfect sentence when 5 bad ones would be way better (I have a pet peeve today).
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Ody



Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: over here

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

crazylemongirl wrote:
Mr. Pink wrote:
I'd say 90% of native speakers are crap at explaining grammar. If it was required to be an expert in all things grammar, very few of us would be here....


I agree my grammar is not the best. But I make an effort to study it, however I would rather leave grammar teaching up to the korean teachers they are way better at it .....


i recently discovered that a great many Korean teachers use Korean grammar terms rather than English grammar terms when they explain English grammar. this further complicates the task of teaching grammar for native speakers not fluent in Korean.

last night, one of my students asked me to explain when one should pause (phrase grouping) when delivering a speech. she was not interested in the grammar explanation that our textbook provides, but wanted the more intuitive formula that i (a native speaker with an arts education) was able to give her.

just call me professor Wink .
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Zed



Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Shakedown Street

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

crazylemongirl wrote:
. These kids have amazing written vocab but it saddens me that they spend so much time worrying about formulating one perfect sentence when 5 bad ones would be way better (I have a pet peeve today).
5 Konglish sentences? No wonder they can't speak properly. Far too many teachers think this way I think.
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shawner88



Joined: 01 Feb 2003

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 1:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr. Pink wrote:

My degree is in English Lit. I know how to write. I sometimes know how to spell. However, when I stepped off the plane, I couldn't tell you was an independent clause or dependent clause was. I probaby couldn't give much besides verb/adjective/noun and even that was sketchy.



No offense Pinky, but that's pretty sad seeing as what your degree is in. Where did you graduate from? Bob's Online College?
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Pyongshin Sangja



Joined: 20 Apr 2003
Location: I love baby!

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 1:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thoroughly examined? Wake me for the body cavity search!
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matthewwoodford



Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Location: Location, location, location.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 6:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If Mr Genius had his way I should indeed be quavering at the thought of being asked to distinguish a noun from a verb or explain to someone when to use 'Me, either' instead of 'Me, too'. If only I could do that I would truly be worthy of adulation and indeed reverence from students and staff at any hagwan. I'm sure the wonjangnim would vastly prefer to hire someone soooo qualified rather than a recent graduate here to party and pay off student loans. If only the government would recognise the genius in the humble author of this article and adopt his enlightened suggestions, Korea would be rid of the nuisance of rather poorly educated foreign dross who are not qualified teachers whatsoever. It is a matter of sadness that Korea must waste national wealth on people who would be jobless persons in their own countries.

Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad Rolling Eyes Confused Confused Confused Confused Confused Confused Confused Confused Rolling Eyes Evil or Very Mad Evil or Very Mad
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ryleeys



Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Location: Columbia, MD

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 6:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was... umm... thoroughly examined... upon entering the country at the airport.
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crazylemongirl



Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Location: almost there...

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 3:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Zed wrote:
5 Konglish sentences? No wonder they can't speak properly. Far too many teachers think this way I think.


I don't mind a little konglish esp. where there is no english equivlant. I am not fussed about articles and perfect grammar every single time. I just want to hear them talking. The problem is that for the most part these kids are taught to read and write english in school but there is very little spoken english, unless it is stuff memorised for an english speech contest. I try and help build the confidence and encourage risk taking so that they can start talking and correct mistakes as they become more confident.
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Badmojo



Joined: 07 Mar 2004
Location: I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 3:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

shawner88 wrote:
Mr. Pink wrote:

My degree is in English Lit. I know how to write. I sometimes know how to spell. However, when I stepped off the plane, I couldn't tell you was an independent clause or dependent clause was. I probaby couldn't give much besides verb/adjective/noun and even that was sketchy.



No offense Pinky, but that's pretty sad seeing as what your degree is in. Where did you graduate from? Bob's Online College?


I'm English Lit as well, and what Mr. Pink said is true. The last grammar instruction I received in school was around Grade 7 and 8. This is an adjective, noun, adverb, verb. I was taught zero grammar in high school, and zero grammar in university. That's no reflection on me or Mr. Pink as English majors. You don't need to know grammatical terms to speak or write correctly.
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Badmojo



Joined: 07 Mar 2004
Location: I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 3:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Listen, Koreans, you get what you pay for. You get what your country has to offer. How many of us said, "It is a dream of mine to work in Korea. I can't wait to finish school so I can go there." Ha!

The reason why there are so many unprofessionals in Korea is because professionals have better places to be. So live with it, because that's not going to change until the pay does.

So you can keep writing your articles dumping on stupid foreigners who you've hired.
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sheeon



Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Location: korea

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 3:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Back to that article written by that pompous Korean who basically blasted the foreigners for not knowing the difference between voiced/ voiceless sounds and about the technical names for the parts of speech. I believe koreans mostly think that usefulness of a foreign teacher is mainly in English conversation. If a Korean wants to learn grammar, there are tons of grammar books readily available written by very good teachers writeen in native korean which is much easier to understand.
Koreans need contact with a foreigner to just get the shyness and the fear off of them. Picking up English is a different matter, since English is used so little outside of the classrooms, but I think generally, teachers try hard.
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Ody



Joined: 27 Jan 2003
Location: over here

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 4:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

you mean when i taught my class the difference between voiced and voiceless sound, it wasn't new information?
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some waygug-in



Joined: 25 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 5:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Duh? What's an article? Shocked


But seriously, my first job here was a conversation teacher. I was specifically told to stay away from teaching grammar in class. Later I was asked to teach a writing class, where some grammar was part of the lesson. (mostly collocation and sentence structure)
Most of them couldn't make a sentence if their life depended on it.
Koreans think they know a lot more than they do, for the most part, and they refused to believe me when I corrected them for things like

"a dozen of roses"

"according with"

"I asked to my sister"

They claimed that I didn't know what I was talking about, and that what they had said was in fact correct. Rolling Eyes

I found out later, as I looked through some of the Korean/English grammar books, that they may well have seen these structures being listed as correct. Korean books on English grammar are notoriously bad,
with numerous mistakes and idiomatic phrases used in the wrong context.

So they can whine all they want, and they will. But the fact is, a lot of the time they don't have a clue what they are whining about. Shocked

Cheers
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