Teacher Discussion Forums

Ethocentrism means feeling that one's own culture is more important than others, I would say. (Or adopting a foreign one and getting over excited about it, like Mr.Stalin or Hitler) While you may opppose this on principle, if you can take a truly even handed approach to the different cultures and t...

lolwhites wrote:Rooting = Aussie slang for sexual intercourse.

When in Australia, never say "I've been rooting around in the attic" or "I'm rooting for Manchester United" (unless you've been... OK, better not go there)

Exactly

Julia

Lolwhites, I'm with you here. The English spoken in any country where it is the first language definitely has its own influence. Australian English is very different from British, or Canadian or American etc, etc. It's not only accent, it's the different use and meaning of some words. For instance, ...

In Australia and in Canada it is called a "stove", gas or electric. I'm not sure what you mean by ceramic though. Most of the stoves here are metal covered with (usually white) enamel.
Julia

¡Feliz Navidad! ¡Zorionak! Nadolig Llawen! JuanTwoThree ( raises his virtual glass of Rioja Gran Reserva 1995) Thank you JuanTwoThree. I am likewise raising my (alas, also virtual) glass of Wolf Blass Cab Sav, and with a hearty "grog on!", wish everyone the very best of the holiday season. Cheers, ...

Hi Jose, (1) You mustn't do it! (2) You can't do it! What's the difference? I am aware that mustn't is something like "it is necessary not to", so could I say they are at least close in meaning? Can't depends on the context. It could mean that you don't have the ability to do something, or it could ...

Strider, Your post reminds me of the instructions on a new mop I bought once. They were carefully translated using, no doubt, one of those dictionaries that have incredibly obsolete words in them. Anyway, according to the directions, after I had mopped my floor it would be "resplendent". :lol: Julia

Hi Megan,
This is a little late, but the University of Saskatchewan offers an on-line TESL certificate that is recognised by TESL Canada.
Cheers,
Julia

I'm Australian - does that count? I am much more likely to say Do you have than Have you got , and while Hasn't he a book sounds quaintly formal and old-fashioned, I wouldn't say it's unacceptable. Slightly off the topic, but still related I think, is when I first started teaching in Canada, I came ...

I'm with lolwhites in the board cleaning issue - worse are the ignorant %&*$#s who use permanent marker. :!: All in all I count myself very lucky. I teach in a school where the students are (mostly) motivated, where the administration is at least in the 21st century, and where the union looks after ...

Actually ( a discussion point from some months back) many singular words can take a plural verb in modern colloquial English, depending on their interpretation: team The team (as a whole) was booed off The team (as a group of individual players) were put through their paces Harzer[/quote] Others th...

Ummm, does it mean that I really don't agree with you, and my disagreement could not be any less?

I guess if you think of the "wood" not as being timber, but as being an area where trees grow, (as in "if you go down to the woods tonight, you're in for a big surprise") it makes more sense. I have always said "the forest for the trees". I think the wood version might be English, but I could be wro...

In Australia, we always had breakfast (or brekkie), lunch and tea. Tea was the cooked meal in the evening when everyone was at home. On Sundays, we had "Sunday lunch" which was always a lamb roast. If we had anything after the meal it was pudding, even if that was only ice cream. At school, we had l...

"So, if Australian universities want to deliver 6 or 8 course work, non-research based Applied Linguistics progam, they should be called a Certificate of Applied Linguistics , not an Master Degree." But to enter a Masters degree in Australia, you MUST have an undergraduate degree with honours (usual...