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View Thread · Previous · Next Return to Index › Re: Can non native speakers teach English better than Chinese English teachers? (Bartofink)
bartonfink - 2008-01-27

What would be the point of making them talk and talk if they're just going to do it incorrectly? I dont see how that would help them. If this really works, why even bother having a teacher around? They could talk till they all run out of breath but it still wouldn't make them better English speakers without proper grammar and pronunciation. It would be like a dentistry student playing around with his patient's teeth without proper instruction from his professors and hoping that he'll eventually just get it right on his own.

I agree that learning proper grammar is an arduous task, but it seems like your approach is to just not bother. Allow me to make another slightly off-topic analogy. Would you give up on a child with special needs just because you think he won't get it anyway? I hope not. I hope that you would do whatever you could to teach him. Take baby steps if necessary but keep trying.

Look, we know that none of these ESL students are going to be the next Hemingway, but that doesn't mean teachers should be giving sub par efforts. Teachers need to take more pride in their work. It doesn't help anyone if teachers are just going to ignore their students' deficiencies and continue to let them speak poor English. It'll only make things worse and makes both teachers and students look bad to other English speakers.

I do agree though that learning English is a two-way street and that students have to be willing to learn and make an effort. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Oftentimes students are just as much to blame as the teachers.

Messages In This Thread
Re: Can non native speakers teach English better than Chinese English teachers? (Bartofink) -- r_sphynx -- 2008-01-26
Re: Can non native speakers teach English better than Chinese English teachers? (Bartofink) -- bartonfink -- 2008-01-27
View Thread · Previous · Next Return to Index › Re: Can non native speakers teach English better than Chinese English teachers? (Bartofink)





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