- Thread starter Marianopolita
- Start date
Dominican Republic's ranking in English
We do teach English and French at our school but do not to the extent that would make us a bilingual school. We would have to hire bilingual teachers, pay them more, and increase tuition and lose many of our poorer clients. This would nullify the whole point of the school, which is to provide a better education than the public schools do at an affordable cost.
As I said, the public school where we live teaches English, but I’m afraid it’s a lot of parroting back words. If I had a dollar for every time one of the boys asked me “Que significa..........?” They could pronounce the words, even short sentences, in English, but didn’t have a clue what they meant. The youngest wanted to know what “Good morning teacher” meant, and he said it clearly. It’s a start.
That’s okay religious dogma or not. At least they are getting exposure to English which is a valuable asset.
-MP.
The kids are lost clearly because of incompetence. From what I have witnessed in the DR from teachers who call themselves English teachers is scary. One is a good friend of mine. She has been teaching English in SD since I have known her twenty years and counting. Her English is absolutely rudimentary and she has yet to speak to me in English. I always tell her you should speak to me in English to practice. No way. That tells me something.
Teaching a language is not easy. I have a student that I teach privately and he started from scratch. The only word he knew when he started with me was ‘uno’. Well, after a year of lessons with me he has jumped 4 levels in Spanish at school. His Spanish teacher at school asked him ‘who is teaching you? It’s unbelievable’
-MP.
i taught english to kids in POP for a few months, then quit, because the guy who owned the joint did not believe in the concept known as 'payday', and he had his idea how it should be taught, which collided with mine.
i did not see his kids appearing to have learnt anything.
No I have never been there which is strange,,Have seen his monument in Westminster Abbey. I like most of the works of Kipling but the reason I chose some of his works to teach at several schools here in the DR was because of strong sense of values he wrote of .
Chirimoya . I beg to differ. I tend to agree more with Marianopolita . I have only seen a very few people from private schools speaking english. The text books they use are appallingly bad .English grammar is so much easier than Spanish grammar but the big problem is the many exceptions in the pronunciation of words for example in the word Abraham .in spanish the letter a is the same three times but in english it is pronounced differently 3 times ,especially by Americans . The only way to learn a language well is to speak it regularly and to have a very good text book at hand. Like Marianopolita , I am a very good teacher of english although I have never been a teacher before in my life . With some of my younger spanish friends,well nearly all are younger , I speak to them in english and they reply in spanish and then we reverse the roles.
My comments are based my own experience of bilingual school students and graduates so this is also anecdote and not evidence.
My son is in 12th grade in a bilingual school in Punta Cana. Most of his classmates as well as his friends from other bilingual schools in the country have mastered English to a high level, including those from 100% Spanish-speaking backgrounds. Some have gone/will go on to study in US and UK universities.
Many of the Dominican adults we know went to good bilingual schools in Santo Domingo, Bonao and La Romana. They can hold a conversation and express themselves well in English. Some are almost indistinguishable from native US English speakers.
One of my husband's nieces and two of his nephews - with no English whatsoever in the family background - went to good bilingual schools in the capital (New Horizons and MC School). Their spoken and written English is so good that in the US they would probably not stand out as foreigners.
I also know several Dominican adults who did not go to bilingual schools but learnt English in evening classes/are self taught. Their written and spoken English is better than many native English speakers. For example: when my son was in kindergarten the teaching assistant was a young Dominican woman who spoke fluent English. I assumed she had grown up in the US. Turned out she had never been out of the DR and her self-effacing explanation was "Disney Channel". Another example is former DR1er Pib whose English is so good that she occasionally introduces me to new words. In fact, as with the teaching assistant, when I first met Pib I automatically assumed she'd lived in an English-speaking country but her answer was "Nope - MTV."
Of these friends and relations, most if not all of those who read have a preference for reading in English. I belong to a book club for English-speaking women and three of our members are Dominican; they also prefer reading in English. This is why some educated Dominicans are opposed to sending their children to bilingual schools - they fear that the Spanish language and Dominican culture are being displaced by the English language and US culture.
My son is in 12th grade in a bilingual school in Punta Cana. Most of his classmates as well as his friends from other bilingual schools in the country have mastered English to a high level, including those from 100% Spanish-speaking backgrounds. Some have gone/will go on to study in US and UK universities.
Many of the Dominican adults we know went to good bilingual schools in Santo Domingo, Bonao and La Romana. They can hold a conversation and express themselves well in English. Some are almost indistinguishable from native US English speakers.
One of my husband's nieces and two of his nephews - with no English whatsoever in the family background - went to good bilingual schools in the capital (New Horizons and MC School). Their spoken and written English is so good that in the US they would probably not stand out as foreigners.
I also know several Dominican adults who did not go to bilingual schools but learnt English in evening classes/are self taught. Their written and spoken English is better than many native English speakers. For example: when my son was in kindergarten the teaching assistant was a young Dominican woman who spoke fluent English. I assumed she had grown up in the US. Turned out she had never been out of the DR and her self-effacing explanation was "Disney Channel". Another example is former DR1er Pib whose English is so good that she occasionally introduces me to new words. In fact, as with the teaching assistant, when I first met Pib I automatically assumed she'd lived in an English-speaking country but her answer was "Nope - MTV."
Of these friends and relations, most if not all of those who read have a preference for reading in English. I belong to a book club for English-speaking women and three of our members are Dominican; they also prefer reading in English. This is why some educated Dominicans are opposed to sending their children to bilingual schools - they fear that the Spanish language and Dominican culture are being displaced by the English language and US culture.
Chirimoya .Well I am very glad that Punta Cana has a bilingual school and I see that Brunhilde is also . There is one bilingual school in La Romana that caters for less than 2 % of students in la Romana and many of these are not Dominicans In fact as nearly all the teachers are english ,most of the lessons are in english .In the other 50 plus schools in La Romana ,english is not taught or is taught poorly. english is taught outside regular school hours to a small minority of the 250,000 people living in la Romana . In the capital , the other place where I taught ,of the hundreds of schools that are there , I doubt if any but the most expensive schools teach english well ..this of course is reflected in the low percentage of Dominicans who ,after leaving school,speak english well .But, still I am glad that you have so many english speaking Dominican friends if that is what you like ...
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The Punta Cana-Bavaro area has at least four bilingual schools. Three are good, the other(s) not so much. The one you refer to in La Romana (Lincoln) has the reputation of being among the best in the country.
I am not disputing that in the private educational sector, which is already catering for a minority (~20%), the schools that turn out good English speakers are a subset. Maybe a majority within that 20%, maybe not - it's difficult to quantify.
My point was that based on my experience there is a significant number of excellent English speakers in the country, mainly but not exclusively the product of the better bilingual schools. This shows that with the right resources, teaching skills and student motivation, teaching and learning of English can be effective.
As I'm bilingual it's natural for me to have both English and Spanish-speaking friends. The language we use will depend on which language most people in the conversation feel comfortable speaking. Sometimes it's one or the other, often it's a combination. This usually happens intuitively, based on respect for the monolinguals.
This is a non-controversial subject that can be discussed respectfully and constructively based on our differing experiences and viewpoints. Isn't it?
I am not disputing that in the private educational sector, which is already catering for a minority (~20%), the schools that turn out good English speakers are a subset. Maybe a majority within that 20%, maybe not - it's difficult to quantify.
My point was that based on my experience there is a significant number of excellent English speakers in the country, mainly but not exclusively the product of the better bilingual schools. This shows that with the right resources, teaching skills and student motivation, teaching and learning of English can be effective.
As I'm bilingual it's natural for me to have both English and Spanish-speaking friends. The language we use will depend on which language most people in the conversation feel comfortable speaking. Sometimes it's one or the other, often it's a combination. This usually happens intuitively, based on respect for the monolinguals.
This is a non-controversial subject that can be discussed respectfully and constructively based on our differing experiences and viewpoints. Isn't it?
I edited your post #30. Quite the misogynist comment at the end. ‘As you are a woman... etc.’
I am a woman too who moderates this forum. What is the issue?
Don’t reply. Your post will get deleted and possible infractions handed out.
You are welcome to post in the Spanish forum just like anyone else. Please abide by the rules of said forum and respect your fellow posters.
-MP.
You ain't kidding: the first time I came across 'repartee' was by way of Pib, as she moderated one of the forums a few years ago.
And I've also met several Dominicans who are very, very fluent. A young lady who once asked me for a copy of Pride and Prejudice, told me she learned a lot by looking up lyrics to Coldplay tunes. I think she dreams in English now.
Pib is also a killer Words With Friends player in English. It’s been awhile since we had a game, I think I’ve recovered sufficiently to try again. :rambo:
There was a time when I fancied myself a Scrabble killer, but I'm glad she never challenged me. The more I played, the less I knew.