SiamSap
- 2005-05-20
I agree, Jo. One idea that will help 'make learning English easier' is a modern language lab. Think of the possibilites. CDs, CD-ROMs, Burners, interactive programs, et al. You'd probably hold your classes in the lab it'd be so popular.
JO 753
- 2005-05-19
One of the variables of peepl is how much effort they put into anything.
At the bottom end of the spectrum we have slackers, at the top are the workaholics. The individuals at both extreems are what we call 'crazy'.
The ultimate slacker will sit in front of the TV while the small fire in the kitchen grows. The effort of getting up, walking all that way (10 ft.)and splashing some water on it is just too great. He will only summon the fortitude to get up after taking into account that he will have to move anyway when the fire reaches the couch and that he can get another jug of Pepsi and a box of donuts while he's near the frij. This is after he remembers that he put a burger on half an hour ago, thinks 'its already ruined, so I dont need to bother with it.' and continues to watch Springer for another 10 minutes.
The ultimate workaholic will spend hours drilling & tapping holes to mount wire loops to keep extension cords in place. These functional facts do not deter him: 1. The cords are behind a cabinet, so are not in any danger of being tripped over or getting damaged by the vacuum cleaner. 2. Some of them go to devices that are moved regularly, thus requiring a big effort to unscrew the loop and then replace them. 3. easy access wire guides can be glued on in a fraction of the time. (sounds insane, but I actually knew someone like this!)
In between we have the general population, who will only make a reasonable effort to do something that is likely to have some benefit.
It comes down to a simple formula: The easier it is to do something + the greater potential benefit = increased likelyhood that someone will want to do it.
By this formula, its obvious that simplifying English, or more correctly, refining it to a more user friendly state, is the best way to get your students to learn it.
SiamSap
- 2005-05-18
Jo, I agree. However, I think my students CAN overcome problems such as lack of motivation on their own. Have you ever heard of the mormons? They're a religious cult in Utah, USA. They more or less dominate that state, and they're spreading all over the country. They're spreading all over the world, in fact. They're always sending missionaries to anywhere and everywhere (where there's money, that is). There's a problem with their efforts, however. Yeah, you guessed it. The problem is language.
The mormons have a special language study lab at their missionary training center to remedy this. When a mormon missionary is 'called' to go on a mission, he doesn't know where he'll be going. He may go someplace in the US that's close by or far away. He may go to another country, a country where he is unfamiliar with the culture and doesn't speak a word of its language. Using only motivation and effort, mormons go from not being able to speak a word of their target countries' languages to being able to speak them fairly well. They're not fluent, mind you, but they can get around just fine in those countries when they get there.
If the mormons can do it, so can TEFL students. ANY students. Asian, European, et. al.
With motivation and practice, anyone trying to learn English as his/her L2 can become fluent. He or she must practice, however. I KNOW what learners can do when they make up their minds to do it.
Convincing TEFL students that motivation and practice is the key to learning is 'where it's at' in this field. Super-teachers using fun and games in the classroom to charm their students, super-recruiters weeding out supposed 'losers' to protect classrooms from incompetents, and TEFL TESOL programs turning out 'superior' grads are all futile efforts if TEFL students aren't motivated enough to practice outside of class.
I'm NOT mormon. I don't like the mormons. I DO admire their efforts in learning L2s at the training center, however.
JO 753
- 2005-05-07
The employment situation will never improve because the entire profession is based on the flaws of the language.
Its a matter of efficiency.
People have limited resources of money, time and enthusiasm to devote to learning any particular subject. If English had a spelling system, simpler grammer and a well organized vocabulary, the amount of time needed to learn it would be greatly reduced and therefore a better investment of these resources.
The value of services provided by each teacher woud therefor be much greater.
If it took you only a year to get a class from 0 to 100% fluency, the schools woud be able to process more students and more students woud be able to afford to attend. The excellent results woud encourage even more students plunk down the cash. When a school has more money, they might possibly pay the teachers more.
English is riding the coat tails of our technological, cultural and military dominance. Its taking over the world. If it wasnt for the fact that one must learn the language in order to effectively access the bounty of culture and technology presented in English, NOBODY would bother.
BUT!
If Nooalf spelling supplanted the present tangled kaos and the vocabulary and grammer were simplified,
Less teachers woud be needed to do the same amount of work. Video and interactive computer tutorials woud be more effective and affordable option. So there woud be far less jobs available, but each teacher woud get more money.
Mic
- 2005-05-07
All teachers are not paid well. That is why the teachers in the United States for a huge union. They are strong because of their union, but they are still underpaid, ESL teachers included. In most countries, except Cuba, you will find that teachers are making hardly anything. Teachers come overseas for various reasons, some good, some not so good, but of course, because it is easier living in a country where the economy is much weaker so the US dollar or Euro goes alot further.... allowing them to live a middle-class lifestyle rather than near poverty in the USA.
The situation for ESL teachers is better in the UK because the market is stronger and the have many various supporters trying to populate the world with the English language as quickly as possible.
The United States prefers to fund it's ESL work through a government agency called the US Peace Corp Volunteers, in which, you must sign a two-year contract, and you don't have the freedom of choice of your location, but, they will support you 100% in good times and bad.
I realize that we here in the United States consider ourselves at the top rung of the educational ladder, if only for the fact that so many foreign language students are breaking their necks to come here to both study and live English. But, on second glance, we should not deceive ourselves. On this board, we read one teacher complaint after another pertaining to the impossible conditions of Asian ESL schools, while we fail to remember or, perhaps, admit that right here in the good old US of A, ESL instructors are pretty much in the same leaky boat! In fact, was it not this very realization that originally induced so many of us to leave our country to seek better professional pastures elsewhere? On these shores, after having met the oft-times rigid academic and certification standards of most US ESL institutions, for the mere sake of gaining employment experience, weve often found ourselves accepting as little as $12 per hour for part-time and $15 per hour for full-time employment. That, I would guess, is not that far above the national poverty level for say a family of two. But, provided one is willing to accept the all-too-often shoddy living standards of an underdeveloped foreign land, not to mention the gross disregard of apathetic management sources (with a salary to match), theres ALWAYS employment to be had that is, until which time one finally decides enough is enough!
In the interim, we fans of the eslteachersboard.com are literally besieged by critiques which become sadder and more desperate by the day. We KNOW all too well what you are suffering, folks. Its not exactly been a picnic here on this side of the tracks, you know. What I have trouble figuring is WHERE one might locate any regard for an ESL instructor as a professional, let alone his/her financial needs as a human being. And if we residents of this more sanctified side of the Pacific are forced to utter such concerns, HOW in hell can we dare sit in condemnation of the lesser-developed ESL situations in Asia? After all, is it not WE whom they are attempting to emulate? WHY, in fact, should we cringe at the discovery of dishonesty and misrepresentation over there when right here its so often identical? Once you've realized its pretty much the same on either side of the Great Ocean, it's a small wonder WHY teachers flit between continents in search of their educational Mecca and, in many cases, eventually wind up frustrated enough to seek other careers.
I, for one, love the theory of English as a foreign language especially the preparation of students for entry into American universities for pursuit of advanced degrees. However, its the reality of it all that serves to disillusion me no end. There can be no denial that ESL is a business. However, when such an ambition becomes the sole purpose of a schools existence, and academic and even human values seem scarcer to come by, its high time to rise up and reform the bloody system or leave it! I pray that Ill not eventually be forced to opt for the latter choice. Amen.
Love to all,
The Arrogant One