[quote=“Whole Lotta Lotta”][quote=“heimuoshu”][quote=“Whole Lotta Lotta”][quote]My God, try to raise the standards and the whole system will fall apart.
Sometimes the rust is all that is holding the old banger together.[/quote]
Actually, I disagree with this statement. There is the old saying ‘If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.’ But what if it is broken.
And now I may have to eat some crow. Today I asked a Chinese teacher at my school how an ex-pat’s child’s Chinese is. Her reply was that it wasn’t actually all that good. Then, I asked how his English is and she said that it is even worse.
There may be some cultural misunderstandings in my interaction with that Chinese teacher. I have spoken to the child in English on many occasions and his English ability seemed fine to me. Maybe she was only talking about his scores on test and his ability to write. But it would be normal for a seven year old to write English at only a seven year old level. And maybe his ability to write Chinese is better because he is practicing writing Chinese everyday.
Maybe, in trying to get children to read, write, andcommunicate verbally in foreign languages, we are asking too much of them. But I have never seen this kid make a mistake in English, so I wonder what the Chinese teacher is talking about. And my supervisor said his spoken English is fluent, so he doesn’t need to be in my English class.
All that said, I would still ask do any of the people defending the law as it stands if they know for sure that the people who made this law have advanced degrees in education? If they do, have they been in a classroom in the past twenty years, if at all?
As for people who repsonded to my post about research, much teaching theory and practice is made up of two things: one is the research. But the other part is the field practice. Most teaching materials are dreamed up in an office somewhere, but later on they are field tested. And the field testing is the most important part. It is much more important than the ‘research’ done in a lab somewhere at the institute for survey studies.
About all this other stuff about TPR vs TPRS, I think people would do well to read Howard Gardner and his work on different kinds of intelligences. People who are strong in bodily kinesthetic learning may do well with TPR. Personally I consider myself more of a spatial/visual learner. I might do well with a teacher who sets up clear logical steps that I can see on a whiteboard (I wish my Chinese teacher would do this). Maybe people who would do best with TPRS would do better are better at learning by listening.
The problem I have with research and studying is that it doesn’t take into account the individual.[/quote]
How long is this crap going to continue for. I have read and read Gardner over and over. Have you read any of the criticism of his theory. You should because maybe then you’ll understand it better.
Language research isn’t done in a lab. It observes people in real life (the individuals you talk about) and then analyses what happens based on certain variables. You would do much better of you actaully understood what you were talking about. Give us a break here. You clearly are clueless and then you question the qualificatins of people working for the Taiwanese ministry of education. Yes you are right. They are idiots cause they haven’t read Gardner and they’re not white. No complain all you want about how I say things. I don’t care. Get a book and read. Try a research journal first so the next time you complain about research, your opinion wasn’t thought up in starbucks or dante’s with a bunch of other illegal kindy teachers. It is insulting to us who spend hours on research when some guy comes along with an opinion and when we tell them they have no idea what they are talking about everyone gets all excited and tells us to clam down. If you want to crit research, understand it first.[/quote]
You complain that people have insulted you (particularly Big Duke) and then you use the language that you have above. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. First of all, I am not truly questioning the qualifications of people working in the Taiwanese Ministry of Education. I was asking if they have advanced degrees in education. This is something I do not know. Do they have degrees in education? How much time have they spent in the classroom? I don’t know. Can you give me the answer? I have read some research journals and they don’t all reach the same conclusions that you do. Also, one of the first things I was taught about reading research was to always read it critically. I never said they are idiots because they haven’t read Gardner. I said he is a good person to read for a different opinion of intelligence. I was saying that it sounds like TPR and TPRS both have their advantages.
You don’t know me and know nothing of my qualifications. For the record, I do not work in a kindergarten because I don’t have time (I work many different jobs. All legal. All in the afternoon). My how you race to conclusions. I spend my mornings working on a Master’s Degree at the moment at a reasonable uni here in Taiwan. No CELTA yet, but that is coming this summer. I have done some prepreratory research for it, just to be ready when I really get to work on it. Were you also implying that I am a racist, because the people I was criticizing are non-white? WOW 
! You really have no idea how to control yourself. It has nothing to do with what race they are. Otherwise, why am I over here. I really think you read too much into-and mis-understand what I am saying.
You also seem to think that just because you have an advanced degree means that anyone who disagrees with you is absolutely wrong. Your DELTA seems to have made you hair-trigger sensitive. There are alternative ways of seeing things you know.
And you also seem to have missed the top part of my post were I was actually questioning some of what I said earlier about children acquiring a language at an early age (actually I am shocked you missed it). I hope that when I finish my Master’s Degree and CELTA that I will never use that as an excuse to think that I know everything.
BTW, did you see that part at the top were I did disagree with something Big Duke said? Nope. You missed that part. You miss all of the areas were people might possibly disagree with you because you are so sensitive.
I really think you should reconsider Xanax. That other drug you mentioned doesn’t seem to be working.[/quote]
You disagreed with me. :fume:
I now declare you my sworn enemy and call you an asshole for disagreeing with my obviously correct view of this situation and the world in general. Delta, Celta, Shmelta!!!
BTW, I feel a Xanax enema would be a better choice.
had I gone to them, and the girlfriend would be of no help, because she would blame herself for the abuse and his 
. You are right. I need to get some fresh mountain air… and a hug 
.
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