I have been teaching ESL to children and adults whose mother tongue is Kannada( state language of Karnataka, India) for almost 15 years. Most of the ESL issues that are discussed on many international forums/ websites/ blogs, keep English language learners( ESL students) in English speaking countries as the focus. We have a situation wherein English is recognised as a second language by our constitution but there is absolutely no proper research and training in ESL, here. On the other extreme, we have Booker Prize winners in India. We are also proud that Indian English is a recognised form of English. But, we have a special situation where the TESL has hit the bottom in public schools for many years now, and there are some elite Englsih medium schools where it is flourishing very well.TESL in non Englsih speaking countries pose a special challenge. I am interested in knowing what should be the primary education policy of public schools with respect to TESL. Our Govt.,'s policy is to focus only on Listening and Speaking skills rather than Reading and Writing skills for the first four years in primary schools. As the children are not trained to read and write in Englsih from grade I to grade IV, how can we expect them to read and write from grade V? As we are talking of academic skills rather than social skills in a school setting I think reading and writing should be given top priority. Do you agree?Suren
hello, sir . I'm 20 year old. My mother tongue is Vietnamese. Certainly , i love my mother tonger, and i 'm very good in it.However, In my country , the most common misstake in pronuciation E is flat pronunciation , stressless. It make difficulty for me to learning E. Thankyou for comment for me. You are a very devoted teacher . I think I will study useful things from you. If you please , i 'll be happy to become your pupil .
Hello, sir . I have read your text . I'm ha. I 'm a student of the Acedamy of Finance . I learn my subjecs in my Unvetsity very well , but it's difficult to learn E . I actualy like E and also try to learn it hard . I have leant E for 8 years .My problem is reading and speaking , listening E , specially listening E . Could you give me some advice about learning E . Thankyou very much .
Probably, even God can not solve this problem !!! For, it is so complicated that we do not know where to begin. Every word of what you have written I endorse and feel disgusted because we are asking half backed teachers to teach children who can only turn out to be still worse when they become graduates.
Even if the Govts., want to improve the quality of teachers they can not do it over night. It takes many many years. And during this period thousands of children are taught trash. So, you have generation of graduates who have half knowledge and claim that they know everything . Here in India, we have double graduates ( BA + BEd.,) who are the so called "qualified" teachers and majority of them are half backed. Imagine the plight of students and their future. I would like to elicit this by an example: An ill-trained English teacher taught his pupils to use "an" in front of all words which begin with a 'vowel letter'. Later, when I was called to train the in-service English teachers( about 120 of them) I was shocked to know that almost all of them did not know that it was not the 'vowel letter' but the 'vowel sound' that mattered. At the end of the training programme some of them openly told me, " we were not taught all this and I have been teaching Englsih for the past 17 years and I will continue to do what I was doing". Look at their brashness!!?? One experienced teacher asked what is wrong if we use "an" in front of "university". There are thousands of such examples. And now, you must tell me how to solve this problem? Ha! Ha!
I really appreciate you for continuing this topic on this blog.
Thanks,
Suren
The process of teaching is consisted of the four skills.
Listening , speaking , reading and writing.
Those four skills should be applied side by side.
Successful teachers have to accomplish them step by step according to a well planned method.
In the countries of the third world, some of the governments concentrate on quintity.
They need teachers ! They neglect the quality of teachers. So they provide their govenment schools with ill trained teachers. However , at the end of the day, they gain half-cultivated graduates . Their government motivate those to work for their schools, of course as teachers. These graduates find themselves know nothing about the language. Some of these teachers find themselves obliged to arrange trips to the U.S.A or Britian in order to attend classes in these countries. Some of these teachers find themselves lower than their students who have attended International Schools.
So , how can we solve this problem?
One of the problems we face in Mexico is that in primary school, children didn't study English because our government didn't care that children learn English in this level. Since a few years ago, children in primary schools have English classes payed by the parents society at schools and just a few schools in few states of the Mexican Republic, have English classes payed by Federal government.
So, children only learned English as a Second Language in Secondary level and in private schools.
In secondary level they only have three fifty minutes-classes a week, this way they are limited to learn and we are also limited to teach them what they need to learn
but I don't give up, & I'm doing my best...
The age old schools of teaching do not understand the importance of Reading and Writing. This is unfortuanate. This is the reason why in many developing countries children who are attending English medium schools or those who study English from grade I find it difficult to comprehend English. The results are different if an ESL student studies in an Englsih speaking country. There, because of immersion, their progress is good. If English reading and writing are not taught in non- English speaking countries, then the teacher would be doing a disservice to the ESL student as he/she will not be empowering the ESL student. It is very bad in case of public schools as the quality of teaching usually not up to the mark. Be it a private or public school they need to empower students to read and write rather than on listen and speak. This is important because we are trying to develop academic skills and not social skill of English.
SUREN.
I do fully agree with you. It is the same as in Indonesia where I do come from. Most of the Government school don't teach the English subject from
the beginning. The students will start to learn English when they are in grade VII or the Junior High School. in fact, it is so difficult for them to addapt themselves with the English subject and sometimes they avoid to attend the English Class. However, there are some National Plus' schools which have the English subject started from the first grade even from the kindergarden. These national Plus' schools produced a better English skills for their students if compare with the Government's schools. Those who joined the National Palus' school are very confidence with their English knowledge skills while those who passed the government's schools are not confidence at all because their English skill are very very poor.
I also noticed from the National Plus' schools, although they are very convidence with their English in general but a bit difficult with their "reading and writing skill". most of them found a bit difficult because the teachers don't pay much attention to the reading and writng subjects.
Comments
What is your age?
What's your mother tongue?
How good are you in your mother tongue?
Probably, even God can not solve this problem !!! For, it is so complicated that we do not know where to begin. Every word of what you have written I endorse and feel disgusted because we are asking half backed teachers to teach children who can only turn out to be still worse when they become graduates.
Even if the Govts., want to improve the quality of teachers they can not do it over night. It takes many many years. And during this period thousands of children are taught trash. So, you have generation of graduates who have half knowledge and claim that they know everything . Here in India, we have double graduates ( BA + BEd.,) who are the so called "qualified" teachers and majority of them are half backed. Imagine the plight of students and their future. I would like to elicit this by an example: An ill-trained English teacher taught his pupils to use "an" in front of all words which begin with a 'vowel letter'. Later, when I was called to train the in-service English teachers( about 120 of them) I was shocked to know that almost all of them did not know that it was not the 'vowel letter' but the 'vowel sound' that mattered. At the end of the training programme some of them openly told me, " we were not taught all this and I have been teaching Englsih for the past 17 years and I will continue to do what I was doing". Look at their brashness!!?? One experienced teacher asked what is wrong if we use "an" in front of "university". There are thousands of such examples. And now, you must tell me how to solve this problem? Ha! Ha!
I really appreciate you for continuing this topic on this blog.
Thanks,
Suren
The process of teaching is consisted of the four skills.
Listening , speaking , reading and writing.
Those four skills should be applied side by side.
Successful teachers have to accomplish them step by step according to a well planned method.
In the countries of the third world, some of the governments concentrate on quintity.
They need teachers ! They neglect the quality of teachers. So they provide their govenment schools with ill trained teachers. However , at the end of the day, they gain half-cultivated graduates . Their government motivate those to work for their schools, of course as teachers. These graduates find themselves know nothing about the language. Some of these teachers find themselves obliged to arrange trips to the U.S.A or Britian in order to attend classes in these countries. Some of these teachers find themselves lower than their students who have attended International Schools.
So , how can we solve this problem?
Kamil M Darwish
So, children only learned English as a Second Language in Secondary level and in private schools.
In secondary level they only have three fifty minutes-classes a week, this way they are limited to learn and we are also limited to teach them what they need to learn
but I don't give up, & I'm doing my best...
What is your mother tongue? whare are you situated in the world?
I will help you to learn English.
Suren
The age old schools of teaching do not understand the importance of Reading and Writing. This is unfortuanate. This is the reason why in many developing countries children who are attending English medium schools or those who study English from grade I find it difficult to comprehend English. The results are different if an ESL student studies in an Englsih speaking country. There, because of immersion, their progress is good. If English reading and writing are not taught in non- English speaking countries, then the teacher would be doing a disservice to the ESL student as he/she will not be empowering the ESL student. It is very bad in case of public schools as the quality of teaching usually not up to the mark. Be it a private or public school they need to empower students to read and write rather than on listen and speak. This is important because we are trying to develop academic skills and not social skill of English.
SUREN.
I do fully agree with you. It is the same as in Indonesia where I do come from. Most of the Government school don't teach the English subject from
the beginning. The students will start to learn English when they are in grade VII or the Junior High School. in fact, it is so difficult for them to addapt themselves with the English subject and sometimes they avoid to attend the English Class. However, there are some National Plus' schools which have the English subject started from the first grade even from the kindergarden. These national Plus' schools produced a better English skills for their students if compare with the Government's schools. Those who joined the National Palus' school are very confidence with their English knowledge skills while those who passed the government's schools are not confidence at all because their English skill are very very poor.
I also noticed from the National Plus' schools, although they are very convidence with their English in general but a bit difficult with their "reading and writing skill". most of them found a bit difficult because the teachers don't pay much attention to the reading and writng subjects.