bob, bob, bob, have I taught you nothing over in “Learning Chinese”?
Adult learners must ALWAYS tell teachers what is expected. Otherwise they will get … whatever.
(No smilies, this is a serious communication.)
(Okay, just one for you, bob. 
)
bob, bob, bob, have I taught you nothing over in “Learning Chinese”?
Adult learners must ALWAYS tell teachers what is expected. Otherwise they will get … whatever.
(No smilies, this is a serious communication.)
(Okay, just one for you, bob. )[/quote]
Another point: the OP may want to send an e-mail in order to have an “e-paper trail” (so to speak) documenting that the tutor was told certain things, and what his response was.
It might seem very formal, but maybe one way to proceed would be to have a written plan for each lesson (the student can provide a draft or suggestion for this, and the student and teacher can discuss it and change it based on their discussion). The plan would include how long a composition the student will write after each class and how and when it will be corrected by the tutor and returned to the student.
One word about the “use shorter more simple sentences” idea – I’ve read a lot of writing by Taiwanese students of English in which the grammar was pretty good, but the writing was just “uncomfortable” because the student was getting too fancy. Try taking one of your old compositions and really simplifying it. Most of the time, we Westerners do not write with long GRE words or complicated sentences. If you can master short sentences and simple grammar – really master it – you will easily be able to expand later.
Just my NT$0.66 (about US$0.02), your mileage may vary.
[quote=“ironlady”] bob, bob, bob, have I taught you nothing over in “Learning Chinese”?
Adult learners must ALWAYS tell teachers what is expected. Otherwise they will get … whatever.
[/quote]
Yes, that is so true. The sound of one dog barking does not make for a very informative zen piece and zen should inform one’s every action, in teaching, as in life.
My teacher called me at noon today. He wondered if I posted here.
Though I denied, he continued to say that I should tell him directly instead of posting here.
Finally he wanted me to find a new teacher becuase he would not like to teach me anymore.
I accepted his “firing” without any hesitation and said good bye to him politely.
It is interesting that he read posts here and knew I was one of the posters.
In fact my English teacher does not come from America and I am not in Kaohsiung. Despite I concealed his and my identities, apparently I failed. I think the keys of his knowing are not only the content of my post, but also the user’s name, durham. He noticed my Durham T-shirt which I was wearing at our orientation and then we talked about the university in UK.
Anyway, I still want to thank my tutor for teaching me in past 2 weeks.
Thank you very much.
Well whatever else happens, you’ve learned a useful lesson.
Well, it was a fairly weird thing to do, to discuss a private relationship with an entire bulletin board. It was always a possibility if you posted here.
To be honest, these kind of threads make me cringe. They pop up every now and then ‘My foreigner is behaving badly, other foreigners, how do you think I should handle him?’
I wouldn’t dream of posting on a bulletin board, asking how to deal with my Chinese teacher, especially if the bulletin board was made up from people all over the world. You even changed his nationality, so it wasn’t even a cultural question.
I know I’m going to get told to lighten up over this one…
Why do that? Dude, if you’re trying to improve your English with the intention of communicating with foreigners then the content of your communications must also have meaning to the other person.
Correct answer: “Yes, I did, but I changed a few detail in order to protect your identity so why are you being defensive? Anyway, now that we’re talking about this, what do you have to say for yourself?”
Why on earth wouldn’t he want to teach you? You’ve tried hard to resolve a difficult situation without laying all the blame on him and made efforts to respect his feelings. He should be grateful, and address the issues you raised.
Do you know the meaning of this emoticon: :wanker: ? If not then treat yourself to a free English lesson care of forumosa and get someone to explain it to you. I think it sums your teacher up very nicely, and dude if you’re reading this, which I guess you are, this one’s for you: You are a :wanker: People like you give the rest of us a bad name. Go home!
Loretta, you are wrong. It was inappropriate to have discussed it on a public bulletin board.
How does discussing a business relationship ONLINE, show respect for someone’s feelings? Discussing it face to face to resolve the issue was the right thing to do.
[quote=“Buttercup”]Well, it was a fairly weird thing to do, to discuss a private relationship with an entire bulletin board. It was always a possibility if you posted here.
I know I’m going to get told to lighten up over this one…[/quote]
Lighten up, Buttercup.
People post questions about how to deal with difficult employers all the time. And ask for advice about dealing with students. It seems emminently sensible to ask other foreign teachers how to deal with a problematical teacher if you’re not sure of what to do.
OK, posting publicly runs the risk of him finding out but changing a few unimportant details to avoid inadvertantly ‘outing’ the guy is a fair solution.
So how would you feel and how would you react if your student did this?
I would be 
and turn up for my next class all prepared and ready, with all his compositions marked, and that would spare either of us the need to ever actually discuss the issue. And I would go read that thread about how to do 1-1s properly, and be grateful for the kick up the arse.
Or I would just make some polite excuse for not being able to teach the guy in future. No need to call him up and make a scene.
I wouldn’t dream of discussing a student or my private dealings with my boss online. It would be supremely unprofessional and grounds for immediate dismissal, I would think.
What would I do? Hmm, it would be creatively vindictive. Subtle. Unprovable. But that’s just this foreigner.
Dunno. Maybe I’m wrong. I wouldn’t even have bothered to call the guy if he were my student. But I suspect I would have figured out I disliked him before he posted about my work on a public forum of my peers…
Loretta, you are wrong. It was inappropriate to have discussed it on a public bulletin board.
How does discussing a business relationship ONLINE, show respect for someone’s feelings? Discussing it face to face to resolve the issue was the right thing to do.[/quote]
Any student could post details of their school’s syllabus here and ask for comment, or invite opinions about a textbook. Why is a freelance teacher any different?
Saying that <insert name of teacher, school, etc here> ripped you off by promising one thing and giving you another would be pretty harmful for the person named, but it happens anyway and if the person making the accusations is prepared to defend what they say then it’s generally accepted as fair comment. Doing it anonymously, even if the accused can figure it out, doesn’t name and shame, so where’s the harm?
Are you saying that nobody should ever ask for advice about how to deal with a difficult situation or gripe about their boss, just in case that person happens to read it and get upset? All those posts about girlfriend problems, all that discussion about persuading an employer to let you go or give you your salary, all those many comments about food and service in various restaurants and bars, all wrong? I don’t think so.
The teacher is running a business. He’s failing to deliver the goods, and this forum is not for the exclusive use of foreigners with grievances. If NY Bagels and Hess and Toe Save are robust enough to stand public attention then any teacher offering a service for money is fair game for a bit of anonymous analysis.
I don’t see the problem, and getting huffy about it shows a serious lack of professionalism on his part.
Fair enough. I don’t really agree. You should show good faith to anyone you are in a relationship of trust with. Blabbing on the net is not cool.
[quote=“Loretta”]People post questions about how to deal with difficult employers all the time. And ask for advice about dealing with students. It seems emminently sensible to ask other foreign teachers how to deal with a problematical teacher if you’re not sure of what to do.
OK, posting publicly runs the risk of him finding out but [color=darkred]changing a few unimportant details to avoid inadvertantly ‘outing’ the guy is a fair solution.[/color]
So how would you feel and how would you react if your student did this?
[color=red]I would be and turn up for my next class all prepared and ready, with all his compositions marked, [u]and that would spare either of us the need to ever actually discuss the issue.[/color] [/u]And I would go read that thread about how to do 1-1s properly, and be grateful for the kick up the arse.
Or I would just make some polite excuse for not being able to teach the guy in future. No need to call him up and make a scene.[/quote]
Agreed. Durham has no reason to be ashamed of his posts here. His intention to improve his relationship with his teacher was good and he made a solid effort to protect the teacher’s identity while asking for advice here.
I don’t know why his teacher felt the need to call him about it. It shows the teacher’s own insecurity to have believed that the posts were talking about him and that has nothing to do with Durham or his posts. The teacher should have either decided to improve himself or told Durham that he didn’t feel they were matched well; it happens. I’ve had plenty of language tutors myself that I liked a lot as people, but just didn’t find their methods suitable to my personality and learning style. That’s just life. No need to get defensive or melancholy about it. Honesty in this case saves both parties a lot of headaches. As a teacher, I respect and value students who know what they want and are capable of expressing their needs clearly and openly. It gives me an opportunity to learn from them and become a better, more flexible, teacher.
Well the good news is, because your teacher cancelled on you, you saved yourself the trouble of firing him later on, and some good $ too that you can spend on a better teacher.
I’m moving into the bob camp after seeing this ad in the taiwanted section.
So the OP wants to take the IELTS test in order to go and study in the UK, great. The OP has decided that the best way to go about this is to hire an American (not automatically a bad thing, but he’s unlikely to be familiar with the test) and ask him to correct her compositions.
Did he/she ask the teacher to assess her needs and assign her suitable tasks to develop her skills, or did she just decide that writing a pile of compositions and having the teacher correct them would be the best way? Where do the subjects for the compositions come from? Did some suitably qualified person make a recommendation about the source, and if so why is that person not guiding the OP in his/her efforts now?
For the benefit of the OP and any other IELTS student I would like to make the following observation, which is based on five years experience teaching IELTS and working with student-placement organisations:
The test is there to determine, as far as possible, whether you are able to function at the required level in an English-speaking environment and study to master’s level alongside students whose native language is English. Even if you manage to pass the test you will still be spending over NT$1,000,000 and spending a year or more away from your home and career. You want to obtain the maximum benefit from that, so you should prepare as effectively as possible. When you arrive in the UK you should be able to:
- get through immigration etc, deal with any loss or delay, and make your way independently through the airport and via public transport to a new city that may be many hours travel away.
- find a place to live, negotiate rents, deposits, housemates, etc. and figure out how to get to your place of study every day
- obtain banking facilities, phones, internet etc
- find your university, register, pay, get a receipt, deal with any administrative issues, buy lunch
- make new friends from all over the world and the UK
- attend lectures in English, at normal speed, which will communicate a lot of new information to you very quickly
- take notes summarizing what you hear
- use libraries and the internet to do further research, in English
- attend tutorials where you will be expected to give your opinions in English, to ask questions, and to answer the questions/criticisms of your classmates and tutor
- prepare written reports about what you have learnt
- do original research with other students and make written and verbal presentations, all in English
To function effectively and get the most out of your time overseas is not simply a matter of language ability. It’s also a question of how you go about things. If you can’t do all of the above then what’s the point in studying for the test? The test doesn’t prepare you for the real world, it merely indicates to the examiners that you may be able to cope. If you can do all of the above then the test is a piece of cake.
I should add that there are a lot of books out there and the quality/relevance of them varies. Taking practise tests is not a good way to develop real-life skills, it’s what you do after your abilities are good for your ambitions and it’s time to take the actual test.
Instead of simply deciding that teacher X should correct their compositions, the OP should be open to advice about what skills need to be improved, and how to best go about achieving that.
Personally I don’t see any point in correcting basic spelling mistakes for students. You learnt that shit in junior high school. I know this for a fact because I also teach in Taiwanese High Schools. If you still can’t get it right, after at least ten years of study, then the problem lies with the student and I’m not going to waste my time on it. What I can do is teach students how essays should be planned, and how to manage their time so that they have time to proofread and deal with the obvious stuff for themseles. After that, it’s up to them.
:fume: :fume: :fume: I get really annoyed by students who think they know best. IELTS students are a breed apart for sheer bloody-minded counter-productive stubborn stupidity. Your poor teacher didn’t measure up to your requirements because you were being unreasonable in your expectations by asking a newbie to help you study your way for a test he knows nothing about. He may have mishandled the situation, but you placed him in it.
The best advide I can give you is to contact Funk500, as he’s short of work at the moment but knows everything you need to know.
I’m moving into the bob camp after seeing this ad in the taiwanted section. [/quote]
I have found a teacher to correct my compositions and a British teacher to talk to me, so I have to delete the ad right now. As a result, the link would be invalid.
Therefore I paste the content of the ad as the following:
We deliver writing by email. My every writing is 150-300 words for IELTS test styles. Please tell me how you charge. Thanks.
Degree requirement Bachelor's
Getting into this one a bit late, but I see absolutely nothing wrong in talking about this “relationship” (as people are now calling it) on forumosa.com.
Hiring a tutor is not like getting married! There is an obligation not to name names, as Loretta has pointed out, but there is surely no confidentiality involved. If a tutor whose name and nationality are not even mentioned – and who had only been teaching the student for two weeks, for heaven’t sake – is so uncomfortable with his own performance (it seems) that he blows up and terminates the “relationship”, maybe he should think about another profession. Thinking that such a tutor is identifiable (if he or someone who knows him doesn’t out him) is on the same level as giving directions to your house in Taipei by saying “Our building is right across the street from the 7-11.” Good luck with that.
Durham, you are well out of this one. You’ll find someone else to teach you, and that new person may know more about what he’s doing. Sounds to me like the original tutor was not only unsure of himself as a teacher but also insecure, and you should be free to concentrate only on your language needs, not worry about how to get along with the tutor.
Of course, the most interesting thing would be for the tutor to chime in with his side of the story…hmm??
Lorrie, I’m not sure about this, but I’m betting that the vast majority of your average 23-year-old Canadian liberal arts graduates here looking for one-on-ones have little idea of what IELTS even is, so perhaps Durham wasn’t so out of line in making his desires known, even though he appears to have little idea of what he actually needs. His “teacher” evidently had even less idea.
Of course this is going to piss off any real IELTS-savvy teacher, but such a person I’m sure would have no problem gently pointing out the errors in the ad.
But why on earth don’t such people simply place an ad for an experienced IELTS trainer in the first place is beyond me. Maybe they’re more expensive or something?
Well, I expect they charge more per hour than someone who will just sit and chat. They’re probably going to charge more than many conscientious teachers with good intentions and no relevant experience too. But do they work out to be more expensive?
If I was going to spend more than NT$1,000,000 on my further education, with all the relevant implications for my future life, I would consider value for money to be more important than price per hour. If someone can advise you on the skills you need to avoid wasting your million, and provide an informed organised approach to passing that all-important exam then it probably works out cheaper than ‘saving’ a relatively inconsequential amount of money on tuition fees.
The OP complained about the teacher’s performance, fair enough. But instead of complaining because you hired the wrong person, perhaps the right approach would be to hire someone who can reasonably be expected to tell you what you need to do to achieve your goal. Telling the guy what you want, when you’re not really qualified to have an informed opinion, is not really very smart.
Correction, tell the guy what you want and pay whatever it takes to get it. But if your objective depends on what you learn then find someone who can tell you what you NEED!
I’m annoyed at the OP’s belief that she knows what she needs when the indications are that she doesn’t. She’s telling the teacher what she wants to learn, but it’ll be his fault when she doesn’t know what she needs to know to reach her goal.
For future reference, anybody out there wanting to hire a tutor should state WHY they are learning English, what their goal is, not WHAT they want to learn. You’re hiring an expert, and the expert’s job is to know what’s best.
My study-abroad partners had a guy a couple of years ago who thought he knew what he needed to learn. He was so totally out of his depth in the UK that he flunked and was too ashamed to return and face the family, who had invested a fortune they didn’t have to send him there. Last I heard he was working illegally in a Chinese restaurant in London, overstaying his visa, and basically fucked. All because he knew best.
[quote=“durham”]My teacher called me at noon today. He wondered if I posted here.
Though I denied, he continued to say that I should tell him directly instead of posting here.
Finally he wanted me to find a new teacher becuase he would not like to teach me anymore.
I accepted his “firing” without any hesitation and said good bye to him politely.
It is interesting that he read posts here and knew I was one of the posters.
In fact my English teacher does not come from America and I am not in Kaohsiung. Despite I concealed his and my identities, apparently I failed. I think the keys of his knowing are not only the content of my post, but also the user’s name, durham. He noticed my Durham T-shirt which I was wearing at our orientation and then we talked about the university in UK.
Anyway, I still want to thank my tutor for teaching me in past 2 weeks.
Thank you very much.[/quote]
To answer your original question: “Is it ok if I send this email to my English tutor?” I’d say yes, it’s OK to send such a letter to your teacher but, no, it isn’t OK to post the exact same letter on a large public expat forum where your teacher may find it.
I don’t think it’s a matter of your tutor feeling any feelings of inadequacy surrounding his/her teaching ability as raised by others. From what I read, you had some feedback on how your sessions were going and the manner in which your work was being corrected. This feedback could have been given more directly and appropriately. If some are trying to get into the head of your instructor, I’ll do likewise and posit that your tutor very likely feels publicly embarrassed that you posted a letter about your sessions on a site read by hundreds, if not thousands, of peers. It matters very little that s/he isn’t directly identified; enough was posted that your tutor knew you were posting about your sessions. That some of these peers subsequently took shots at his or her supposed shortcomings as a teacher could only exacerbate the insult your tutor would be feeling.
If I had a student who posted verbatim correspondences with me on internet forums, I’d drop him too.