“I am a bad English teacher”

Cinnamoncat · Post by **Cinnamoncat** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:50 am

Khmu Nation wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2020 7:10 am
Cinnamoncat wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:53 pm a native speaker would be the best source of all, and NKOTB
New Kids On The Block? I don't think Marky Mark is the paragon of spoken English.

I speak and teach RP as I went to the poshest school in the world. But I don't think it matters unless the teacher has a thick regional accent. The students all speak in a se Asian English accent and its very rare to have a student mimic my accent perfectly. If they have been learning English for a while and say words with a US accent I don't correct them.

I am referring to the gentleman who wrote the original post (his moniker is "Newkidontheblock." He is his wife's "best" source for speaking and practicing English language. Refer back to the OP.

It would be interesting to know what you consider to be the "poshest school in the world." As RP is associated with money and power, you must have come from a privileged background. How nice for you.

starkmonster · Post by **starkmonster** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 11:16 am

To become proficient in a complex subject you start by learning the rules, you become advanced by understanding the exceptions to the rules. Learning a language (especially English) is no different.

Your girlfriend might have now reached the inflection point where it's time to let go of the rules and understand the exceptions, but she's not realised that yet. Therefore she wants an explanation that makes sense (to understand), when no such explanation exists and the teacher is too inexperienced to communicate that correctly.

phuketrichard · Post by **phuketrichard** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 11:19 am

i think by watching the entire Southpark series
she will have a firm grasp of not only America english, but America as well

Bitte_Kein_Lexus · Post by **Bitte_Kein_Lexus** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 11:19 am

Cinnamoncat wrote: In this day and age, the cell phone video could be used to expose an inadequate teacher.

I don't know, how about she (or he) tactfully talks to admin about the issue beforehand? We're talking about two grown adults here who apparently can't fathom talking to the school administrators in question, and instead KNOTB has deemed it more useful to bore us with a random gripe every few weeks for the past year. How does this help solve his issues? I'm sure they'd like to hear about potential teaching issues, and who knows, maybe the teacher would also be receptive to some constructive feedback. Somehow I find it difficult to believe the guy literally spent hours trying to clarify the answer to a question. Aren't classes like an hour and a half? Which campus is she studying at? I've heard some of them have the more experienced teachers, but not sure how much truth there is to that. They've expanded a lot in recent years, so maybe quality has gone down, but they wouldn't be successful unless people were seeing least some results. As I mentioned in on your previous posts, my girlfriend completed their 12th level and although there were some teachers she thought were better (obviously), her English got better.

Khmu Nation · Post by **Khmu Nation** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 12:00 pm

Cinnamoncat wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2020 10:50 am
Khmu Nation wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2020 7:10 am
Cinnamoncat wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:53 pm a native speaker would be the best source of all, and NKOTB
New Kids On The Block? I don't think Marky Mark is the paragon of spoken English.

I speak and teach RP as I went to the poshest school in the world. But I don't think it matters unless the teacher has a thick regional accent. The students all speak in a se Asian English accent and its very rare to have a student mimic my accent perfectly. If they have been learning English for a while and say words with a US accent I don't correct them.
I am referring to the gentleman who wrote the original post (his moniker is "Newkidontheblock." He is his wife's "best" source for speaking and practicing English language. Refer back to the OP.

It would be interesting to know what you consider to be the "poshest school in the world." As RP is associated with money and power, you must have come from a privileged background. How nice for you.

Oh okay I thought NKOTB was some acronym to do with language.

Eton.

John Bingham · Post by **John Bingham** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 12:10 pm

It's an incredibly shit band from about 30 years ago. Hang tough.

Electric Earth · Post by **Electric Earth** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 5:53 pm

Khmu Nation wrote: ↑Wed Feb 19, 2020 7:10 am The students all speak in a se Asian English accent...

I've always found this to be a fun fact. Once in a while I forget to spell something the English way, or I'll not think about the British pronunciation, and my students look at me weird.

j57 · Post by **j57** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 11:09 pm

school is where you learn the basics of whatever the subject matter... language is no different.
get out in the world and apply these fundamentals and make mistakes and learn.
you saying teachers should speak slowly and enunciate is all fine and dandy....and only use the Queen's English etc.
This does not prepare anybody for shit.
You will always run into speakers who speak too fast.. enunciate like shit...only use slang...
You learn...sink or swim..
I loved wandering around Buenos Aires conversing with the natives alone...
My years of Spanish in school and many years of being in Mexico or working with Mexicans was just a primer ....Argentos speak a whole other Spanish and I love it so much...It became so much easier...
I can speak Spanish from Spain, Mexico and Argentina...But, sure prefer Argentine ...
As far as teachers go...
There are shit teachers and great ones and everything in between.
What is the purpose of this accreditation?
Having some piece of paper from a school does not mean shit if you have no skill set.
Basic English is taught in schools is highly overrated.
Conversational English is where it is at.

AndyKK · Post by **AndyKK** » Thu Feb 20, 2020 1:07 am

Electric Earth wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 8:09 pm
Duncan wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 7:28 pm
Electric Earth wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 7:00 pm No. The US. Why do you ask?
You say US, but that's a big country. Even East Coast Americans cannot clearly understand Americans on the West coast or even from Texas. The same applies with Australians or people from different parts of England, ,, which is why I say speak slowly , at least until the person you are talking to ,, and that includes people in all walks of life, clicks on to the accent that you are using.
How many times have I heard someone here talking , then have asked, are you American, ? , only to be told , No I am Cambodian , but I had an American school teacher.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you're not from the US? I've never met anyone from the US who couldn't understand everyone else from the US. Sure, there are some different accents, but no where NEAR the craziness of the UK or Scotland... That's part of why, generally speaking, people tend to prefer English teachers from the US. It's a more neutral accent as long as you're not from the Deep south(which is still totally understandable, but not a great teaching accent) or some little pockets on the East coast near NY. But as I said, even those aren't nearly half of some parts of the UK where you can barely even tell the person is speaking English sometimes...

Probably the hardest of all English accents to understand and master would be that of a Glaswegian, even if he spoke slowly. I understand what is said about accent and what is the preferred in certain regions, but someone with a proper British Queens English must come at the top of most schools list, if the teacher had the back ground of Eton and full teaching credentials. But that kind of person would not waste his skills in a country like here.

Post by **Freightdog** » Thu Feb 20, 2020 3:15 am

AndyKK wrote: Probably the hardest of all English accents to understand and master would be that of a Glaswegian

Strictly speaking, Glaswegian is not an English accent. It’s a Scottish accent, but still largely unintelligible. Especially on a Friday/Saturday night.
I have many Glaswegian friends and associates, of all walks of life. Some in academia are actually very easily understood.
I’ve often thought that Received Pronunciation is unfairly associated with money and power. Maybe more accurate to say that money and power affords the better education opportunities, and by virtue of education, exposure to RP.

A very good friend of mine has a very broad Glaswegian accent, and on a night of beer, he can lapse into unintelligible. (Mainly after 2 pints.). But he’s also well regarded in education, and despite the accent is easily understood by his mainly Asian student groups.

In my line of work, I have managed to work with a great many nationalities, and in a great many places. English spoken too fast by someone who doesn’t speak English well (slang, pronunciation etc) is a common problem.
Try speaking to a well educated Indian when he’s excited.

Those best understood (native and non native speakers) are those who speak with a consistent cadence. It’s easy to speak too fast when one gets animated about something, and that is often where understanding breaks down.
I recall a particular FO from Asia who was far more easily understood at all times than his Australian counterpart. The Asian FO spoke Russian as a second native language, then English and a couple of other languages. The Australian spoke some sort of Sydney ghetto slang, often requiring someone to ask him to ‘say again’.

“I am a bad English teacher”

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