Teacher Discussion Forums

You should really organise your thoughts, Xiu, instead of posting such disorganised messages and replying to yourself. (I subjectively decided to say that rather than "Stop !#$@ing talking to yourself you idiot *@%!sucker!" but the context remains the same, see? It's really that simple.)

Xui, do you (or anybody else) doubt that the language we decide to use is subjective?

One point that I'd add, that isn't particularly intelligent, is that a "dialect" (which is usually not used in a pejorative way among us) is an "variety" that has certain distinguishable charactaristics that we agree on : characteristics that are associated with a certain group or geographic area (I...

Don't worry Larry, about half of those 37 views were made by me while I was trying to reply behind my boss's back. I can honestly say that at one point, one of the reasons why I participated in these discussions was because I wanted to offer a different point of view for the students and teachers. H...

Although it may not be acceptable to your wife (I don't know why she'd be so judgemental about a native speaker's English :? ) and although it might conflict to what a textbook might say, I'd say that the structure "I haven't [action] yet." is almost standard compared to the much older structures su...

Not to cop out at all, but I find it really depends on the situation : are we referring to conversation outside of the classroom? Are we referring to discussion in class (in front of other students)? Also are we talking about phonetic problems or other more complicated ones? I'd say that I'm incredi...

Yeah, Sally. I now teach as a 'consultant' for a local (for profit) school in downtown Ottawa part time while I search for better opportunities. I took a few of his courses during my MA (the best of which was Language PLanning and Policy) and I also was forutnate to have him as the external in my MA...

Sally, this is just a hunch, but did you happen to attend Carleton University in Ottawa? :wink: Or do you just happen to have heard about how excellent their ESL teacher training is? Do you know Professor Ian Pringle? I happen to be an alumni member (of the French Linguistics program), just to expla...

Seriously guys, it's not fixed (picking up his tag team championship belt) I'll be waiting for our entrance music to come on again . I'll be waiting...

By the way, Shun, although I'm flattered that I might have taught you a new phrase, please do not overuse what you learned from me , or use it in the wrong context : you asked my opinion about something and I gave it. You decided to argue that my opinion was wrong so I stated "It's my opinion, take ...

well received, DP.

Shuntang.

It "expands fully" as teachers of 'English as a foreign language' (meaning the subject being taught is English as a foreign language to the students who are learning it).

"Convincing you" is not my job . I only answered your original question sincerely. Take it or leave it.

Shuntang, For some reason, I have no disbelief that this inconsistency in the examples you gave would confuse you. I have a suggestion: Instead of looking up "English as a First Language" on your search engine, look up "EFL" and see how many of the first 100 sites refer to what Revel and I are tryin...

Shuntang, I don't know why you're asking after Revel just answered your question, but here's another try. In the context : "I am an EFL teacher." or "I teach EFL." the 'f' will generally/usually stand for 'foreign' (although, you never know, somebody just might use the 'f' for something else one day...

Fascinating, Revel. How would you pronounce it? The Canadian (and perhaps the Northern US) version short 'e' (like in 'pet') diphtongued to 'y'. I'd use the phonetic alphabet but I can't seem to type the character for the vowel.