I enjoy teaching English

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Harry Smith

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Aug 23, 2006
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English Teacher
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Armenian
Home Country
Armenia
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Russian Federation
Teaching English is my hobby.You'd like to know why? Because I work seven days a week and every day I have one or two lessons. I never get tired and my students study English with pleasure. If you ask me about my day off I'll gladly tell you that I'm free every day till four o'clock p.m. Any ideas?
 

honey1977

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Sep 3, 2006
hi, im Abdo studying MA program in ELS in UKM Malaysia, i want to ask the following question:
As nonnative universities how we can can get good english language skills, because we know that the good skills acquired from real practice in native countries. As teachers how we can provide our students with good language skills without practice in native countries?
thank you
 

wuwei

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Sep 15, 2006
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Student or Learner
hi, im Abdo studying MA program in ELS in UKM Malaysia, i want to ask the following question:
As nonnative universities how we can can get good english language skills, because we know that the good skills acquired from real practice in native countries. As teachers how we can provide our students with good language skills without practice in native countries?
thank you

Yes, this question is that I want to ask, too, I am in China, I do not have many opportunities to practise English, languange environment is so important for us.
I really do not know how to speak English well and I do not know why I can not use the words I learned both in writting and speaking, could you tell us some effective way to improve our English level, Thanks.
 

Tdol

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Japan
Through forums like this. Through people like Harry.

There are some sites like mixxer.com where you can try to find people to talk to, but there are not many chances to speak over the internet because it requires chunks of dedicated time, so it normally comes with a price tag. ;-)
 

Harry Smith

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Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Armenian
Home Country
Armenia
Current Location
Russian Federation
So you ask me where to practice English. I think it's so easy to practice your English if you are not shy. And of course you must be sociable. First of all you can get a part-time job in a tourist company or just find a foreigner. Is it a problem in your country? Maybe it's a good idea to buy an educational course on CD-s and practise yourself. Remember if you wanna speak English fluently you should speak either with somebody or just speak to yourself. Good luck!
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2005
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Wuwei, you can do language exchange as tdol and Harry Smith have
suggested. I don't know where you are in China, but you could
search for people on craigslist.com under the link "activity partners".
Here is the link - http://beijing.craigslist.org/act for Beijing.
You may find foreigners who may want to learn/practice Chinese.

Similarly, you can look for postings in other cities such as Shanghai.
If you don't find people looking for language exchange there,
you could search for them in other cities. You can see all the
cities in the world that craigslist.org serves by going to the
homepage. The cities are listed on the far right side.
The advantage of finding people in the US/UK is that
due to time difference, you may be able to practice with
people even if it is late at night in China and if you don't
find time during the day/evening. :)

Good luck to you. :)
 

wuwei

Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Member Type
Student or Learner
Wuwei, you can do language exchange as tdol and Harry Smith have
suggested. I don't know where you are in China, but you could
search for people on craigslist.com under the link "activity partners".
Here is the link - http://beijing.craigslist.org/act for Beijing.
You may find foreigners who may want to learn/practice Chinese.

Similarly, you can look for postings in other cities such as Shanghai.
If you don't find people looking for language exchange there,
you could search for them in other cities. You can see all the
cities in the world that craigslist.org serves by going to the
homepage. The cities are listed on the far right side.
The advantage of finding people in the US/UK is that
due to time difference, you may be able to practice with
people even if it is late at night in China and if you don't
find time during the day/evening. :)

Good luck to you. :)

Thanks, guys,
Sure, it is a good website and I can do more there. But you know till now I can not well express my feeling and opinion, so I come here to do more construction to improve my expression level, these days I do feel that I have made a good progress, I can write down something without any more thinking, and maybe next month I could find some guys to practise both in my tongue and listenning.
If there are some mistake in my writting, pls feel free to tell me.
Thanks!
Ian:up:
Thanks!
 

Tdol

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Simply posting and reading replies from native speakersm will help you to express yourself more freely and see how native speakers actually speak and write, which can be very different from the language used in coursebooks, etc. ;-)
 

Harry Smith

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Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Armenian
Home Country
Armenia
Current Location
Russian Federation
Teaching English is very interesting but it's more intersting learning English. I mean we teachers have been working for many years and we never stop learning ourselves. While teaching we find something new, something more intersting. So when we stop teaching we stop learning. But when we stop learning we just cant teach any more. Such is the process of teaching....
 

Nguyen Tuyet

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
Current Location
Vietnam
Teaching English is very interesting but it's more intersting learning English. I mean we teachers have been working for many years and we never stop learning ourselves. While teaching we find something new, something more intersting. So when we stop teaching we stop learning. But when we stop learning we just cant teach any more. Such is the process of teaching....
sure, it is the process of teaching. we can learn from our colleagues even our students. it is no doubt to say that everyday questions or student's troubles are the motive for us to learn ourselves and to improve our knowleged. So I think you can learn english from everywhere, speaking also, you can creat a chance to speak english for yourself, not neccessary to go abroad or native countries:)
 

Nguyen Tuyet

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Sep 25, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
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Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
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Vietnam
Teaching English is my hobby.You'd like to know why? Because I work seven days a week and every day I have one or two lessons. I never get tired and my students study English with pleasure. If you ask me about my day off I'll gladly tell you that I'm free every day till four o'clock p.m. Any ideas?
uhm...you are a happy teacher, I envy you.:) and a little admire you:roll:
 

Harry Smith

Key Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Armenian
Home Country
Armenia
Current Location
Russian Federation
uhm...you are a happy teacher, I envy you.:) and a little admire you:roll:

I hope you enjoy teaching too. Those who don't love their profession simply waste time. It is very bad not only for themselves but also for the others. In this case teachers have no right to work only for money.
 

Nguyen Tuyet

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Joined
Sep 25, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
Current Location
Vietnam
I hope you enjoy teaching too. Those who don't love their profession simply waste time. It is very bad not only for themselves but also for the others. In this case teachers have no right to work only for money.
There is no doubt about my love for my teaching career. There are many night I have to think how to find a best way, or suitable lesson plan, and material for my students. I also try to improve my knowleged as well as the method of teaching. Learn from everywhere, even from my students:) . without their suppost I can't get what I have today.
you said right, for some cases teachers have no right to work only for money. but for hobby, for duty of teacher, real teacher.....So I also enjoy teaching english. I am confident to say that.:)
 
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Tdol

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British English
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UK
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Japan
One thing that always surprises me on forums like this is just how many teachers spend their time outside work on doing things related to their work. Obviously, there are many teachers who shouldn't be in the profession, but the dedication and professionalism shown here and elsewhere is truly pleasing. ;-)
 

Harry Smith

Key Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Armenian
Home Country
Armenia
Current Location
Russian Federation
One thing that always surprises me on forums like this is just how many teachers spend their time outside work on doing things related to their work. Obviously, there are many teachers who shouldn't be in the profession, but the dedication and professionalism shown here and elsewhere is truly pleasing. ;-)

Well, I'm trying to understand why many good teachers leave schools.
 

Tdol

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British English
Home Country
UK
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One thing that had reached epidemic proportions when I was teaching in the UK was the mindless paperwork- teachers were being ground down by the nunber of pieces of paper that needed to be filled in, and this was a major factor in discontent in the profession. I must say that I was very glad to leave that behind.
 

Nguyen Tuyet

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
Current Location
Vietnam
Well, I'm trying to understand why many good teachers leave schools.
There are so many reasons that alot of good teachers leave school. As in our country the main reason is that the salary of teacher is so low. moreover work condition is too poor.........short of material, equipments..etc.....so they can't concentrate on their work....can't invole all their mind for teaching carreer:-(
 

Harry Smith

Key Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Armenian
Home Country
Armenia
Current Location
Russian Federation
There are so many reasons that alot of good teachers leave school. As in our country the main reason is that the salary of teacher is so low. moreover work condition is too poor.........short of material, equipments..etc.....so they can't concentrate on their work....can't invole all their mind for teaching carreer:-(

The salary in our country is very low too. But it's not the main reason. I think working at school is not intersting. The textbooks are old fashioned. Sometimes teachers are given the right to chosse this or that textbook but the school programme isn't suitable for such a textbook. They are for private teaching. There are so many ploblems in nowadays schools. Nobody thinks about schools seriously. Neither government nor parents help school.
 
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Nguyen Tuyet

Junior Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
Current Location
Vietnam
The salary in our country is very low too. But it's not the main reason. I think working at school is not intersting. The textbooks are old fashioned. Sometimes teachers are given the right to chosse this or that textbook but the school programme isn't suitable for such a textbook. They are for private teaching. There are so many ploblems in nowadays schools. Nobody thinks about schools seriously. Neither government nor parents help school.
It is also right in our country. The textbook is out of date. the programes that make by ministry of education are not suitable. every year we update the textbook, and renovate material but they still old fastioned with neighbour coutries such as china, singapoor...etc...and one thing that make teacher feel that school is not interesting is that we don't allow to teach by own material.it is nesessary to follow the text that publiced by ministry of education.....even when the teacher suppose that they are not active and reflecable:-(
 
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Harry Smith

Key Member
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Armenian
Home Country
Armenia
Current Location
Russian Federation
It is also right in our country. The textbook is out of date. the programes that make by ministry of education are not suitable. every year we update the textbook, and renovate material but they still old fastioned with neighbour coutries such as china, singapoor...etc...and one thing that make teacher feel that school is not interesting is that we don't allow to teach by own material.it is nesessary to follow the text that publiced by ministry of education.....even when the teacher suppose that they are not active and reflecable:-(

I have been teaching since 1977 and as you see I started teaching in the former Soviet Union. It was very strict to follow the programme adopted by the ministry of education. I, maybe the only teacher in the whole country was doing what he wanted. I was giving tests very much alike those we give today. I mean multiple choice. Why I could do it. Because I was a teacher and the inspector who was in charge of it. I was writing my reports according to the programme. The door of classroom has always been open for everybody. They could come and listen to my lessons and even study with little schoolchildren. I have always been independent in teaching and I will always be. Nobody can stop me teach my students who like the lessons I give them. My critics are my students. They can change the process if they want.
 
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