Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Original poster

Just a moan: If you teach English, shouldn't you be able to write it?

29 replies

SSShakeTheChi · 17/03/2007 11:01

Get a bit tired of people I don't know wanting me to correct everything they write in English but this I find odd. A woman I met once 4 years ago asked me to correct a course description for a woman who is teaching evening classes in English. Surely a woman paid to teach English is able to write a course description and check it herself?

They are going to study "tenses of the English grammars" by the looks of things. She doesn't seem to have a clue about basic punctuation either.

Probably what annoys me really is that I don't know this woman from Adam and so I do wonder why they think I'll want to bother correcting it. Sigh..

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
berolina · 17/03/2007 11:03

Oh SSS, I know. I get this all the time, people wanting to use me as a free translation/correction service. Sometimes when I meet people for the first time and they work out where I'm from you can see the 'free English!' signs light up in their eyes.
And so many people over here think they know it all wrt English and make the most basic errors. Sigh indeed!

Original poster
SSShakeTheChi · 17/03/2007 11:15

I was tempted this time to just write back that if she runs a spell-check and corrects the punctuation, it should be ok.

OP posts:
Original poster
SSShakeTheChi · 17/03/2007 11:16

However I suppose my better side will triumph in the end!

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General parenting
admylin · 18/03/2007 16:17

Being able to speak it properly would also be good, ds told me about a mistake his english teacher always makes and the poor lad daren't correct her! Told him he should but he's the quiet type in school! He gets quite bored in english lessons as they usually gets put in pairs to work and they need him as they have odd numbers otherwise so the one who goes with ds is happy as he gets his work done quickly and correctly but it's boring for ds!

SenoraPostrophe · 18/03/2007 16:21

are you talking about an English woman or someone who speaks another language but will be teaching english?

admylin · 18/03/2007 16:24

Well, in our case she is the teacher at primary school in Berlin and she is a German woman so it isn't too bad, only hurts ds's ears as no one else would notice!

SenoraPostrophe · 18/03/2007 16:29

ime most german language teachers teach english better than a lot of native speakers would. a few mistakes are a small price to pay. Can't you get some english comics for your ds to read in the lessons? he could explain them to his partner after they've whizzed through the work.

admylin · 18/03/2007 16:35

It's not too bad, he has been given some year 6 work to do alone (he's in year 3)but when they need a partner he has to "help" which he doesn't really mind, he just can't bring himself to correct an adult yet!
I try not to complain because we've got the dc in state school so we can't expect them to make any special arrangements for them - they just have to make the most of those lessons and at apush I've told ds to just see it as a resting lesson. I suppose German or French kids would experience the same in school in the UK.

SenoraPostrophe · 18/03/2007 16:40

dd is in a state spanish school. she doen't have english lessons this year, but she did last year and she refused to say anything! I used to go and teach a bit of english to her class too, but haven't got time this year. must talk to the teacher...

admylin · 18/03/2007 16:43

So why does she not have lessons this year? Ds once said "mummy, it's really hard in english lessons to pronounce the words the way the teacher does", poor lad was obviously trying to repeat the accent from the teacher!

SenoraPostrophe · 18/03/2007 16:47

she's only 4 - last year they had a v enthusiastic teaching assistant at the school.

admylin · 18/03/2007 17:17

I see, they start early here too. Most kids get english at pre-school here in Berlin and from this year the year 1 kids get English.
Often thought of doing a TOEFL course myself as I wouldn't know where to start teaching, where did you get your ideas?

Original poster
SSShakeTheChi · 19/03/2007 07:46

Hmm well having had her on the phone yesterday, I see she can not only not write English, she can't speak it either Should be a fab course all round. She's a Volkhochschule teacher. Think she's an ok sort though. Just hope she won't be contacting me regularly now about every lesson she's going to teach...

OP posts:
Original poster
SSShakeTheChi · 19/03/2007 08:37

admylin, our school has English from year 3. Does yours teach English from year 1?

OP posts:
finknottle · 19/03/2007 08:51

Mornin' SSShake No surprise about the VHS teacher's English I once had a Gymnasium teacher pay me heaps of money to come once a fortnight and have me check and explain the mistakes in her pupils' essays.
At the primary here the English is very casually taught, fun, rhymes etc. and no "Noten" even in Y3/4. For a while I had ds1 work on an English workbook with the other bilingual boy in his class but then the teacher suggested & we mums agreed that both boys should work on their German instead. That fell by the wayside too I've just realised and now they just coast through the English lesson enjoying the easy hour. Not that bothered tbh, in secondary they'll have plenty of English lessons and finally learn to write it properly.
You may have to put your foot down with persistent askers - I used to tell people "If I do it for you I'd have to do it for so many others who ask and I wouldn't time to do all of it!" Rueful smile, leg it
BTW imo people don't mind if you've no TEFL when you're a native speaker.

admylin · 19/03/2007 08:54

Yes, in south Germany they had it from year 1,and this school here in Berlin has it since the start of this school year for 1st years. Different every where. Latest news here is that as from September all the classes will be mixed years, going to be great fun.

admylin · 19/03/2007 08:58

Morning finknottle. I know, plenty of people have asked me to teach them and I've helped a few of them but they already had quite a good basic standard of language so we mostly practised conversation and I corrected their translations and such like. Just thought a TEFL would help me to know how to explain grammar - nothing worse than the dreaded question "why do you say it like that" and my only answer is - you just do!

Original poster
SSShakeTheChi · 19/03/2007 09:00

Hi Fink , admylin Nice to "see" you both. Well I don't advertise the fact (for obvious reasons) but I taught English for years and I have that TOEFL certificate for what it's worth. If people knew that though, I'd get no peace. As it is, everyone with a child aged 8 and over seems to want me to help their dc with English. I don't think it can be very well taught at schools here if everyone feels the need to employ a tutor.

I was wondering if this teacher was an ex-Russian teacher from the GDR because I've heard they've been re-trained in crash courses to teach English. Not very successfully, if that is the case. Can't imagine how she got a job at the VHS though.

OP posts:
Original poster
SSShakeTheChi · 19/03/2007 09:07

I don't know anything about these mixed classes, admylin. What do you mean?

OP posts:
admylin · 19/03/2007 09:14

They are another experimental attempt to better the PISA results. The teacher said that they are following a method that has been successfull in Holland - so for some part of the day year 3 and 4 will have lessons together and year 1 and 2 will always be together - some things will be completely mixed so they could have year 3 and 4 with 5th year. Don't ask me how the teachers are planning to prepare their lessons though.
Heard from my sister that they also have this system in their school, infact I am going to ask on the primary section of MN about it!

Original poster
SSShakeTheChi · 19/03/2007 09:27

Our year 1 class has lessons with a year 2 class every week but I don't know what they do. I think it's just German, so a bit of reading and a worksheet or something. Dd doesn't mind it because she knows 3 of the dc in that class from kindergarten. The year 1's sit next to a year 2 dc and do the work together.

That seems ok, don't know that it helps much in any way though. I thought the basic idea was that if any dc were to have to repeat a year, they'd be with dc they at least partly knew and the same applied if any dc were to skip a year and go from year 1 -3.

Didn't know that year 1 and 2 were going to be together on a more intensive basis though.

OP posts:
finknottle · 19/03/2007 09:37

Admylin - "Because you do" is sometimes the only correct answer Look assured when you say it
Not heard of the mixed classes. Here in RP they started "Integrated English" in Y1 which meant that (if the teacher was able to) they'd have English tagged on to other topics. E.g. they did seasons in German and then did them in English and it was 15 mins here and there when the teacher wanted. If the teacher couldn't teach it they'd get 45 mins a week from another teacher.

Original poster
SSShakeTheChi · 19/03/2007 10:32

Interesting how different the approaches are in different schools and I always think of Germany as being so regulated.

Admylin, just a thought, has nothing to do with the thread title (as usual) but I was wondering whether your dd would like to come to ballet on Fridays at 3pm with mine. It's at UBahnhof Hohenzollerndamm which isn't very convenient for you, I know.

OP posts:
admylin · 19/03/2007 10:43

Thanks for offering but she doesn't want to do ballet, I've asked her a few times. Fridays would be a good day for another activity for us though, also wouldn't make it for 3pm as we have school 'till ten past two. Still looking for swimming lessons too.

Original poster
SSShakeTheChi · 19/03/2007 10:46

That's a shame. I thought it might be quite nice for her, it's right across from the State International so the girls who attend are all English speaking, half-American or Dutch or something. I only ever speak English with them there.

I find Friday a good day for activities generally because you don't have to worry about homework and being up early the next day.

Not having any luck with the swimming at weekends. Our problem is dd has art school at 11 on Saturdays and it's great so I can't do early Saturday mornings. There are plenty of schools that have lessons then though.

OP posts: