Linda
Linda,
Okay I am glad you mentioned that students have been incorrectly taught by Dominican teachers thus exacerbating the problem. I have come to this conclusion on my own based on observation and how my own friends speak who are English teachers.
You are most correct in saying that students deserve the best but I am starting to believe that good English teachers in the DR are scarce. I am not sure I agree with the teaching methodology but then again it depends on the objective of program and the grade level of the students.
I was teacher for several years too and opted to get out of that profession but I still have an interest and I am called upon for private tutoring etc. and I will always do it but it's not easy. I think my situation was a little bit better since I was teaching Spanish to high school students, which is all grammar based. It's cut and dry. One either understands how conjugate verbs or not, or the parts of speech and how they work in a phrase or not so the ESL or EFL methodology did not apply and honestly I question the effectiveness. You are correct in saying that perfecting one's accent is not the objective but rather teaching vocabulary and sentence structure thus enabling the students to be able to express themselves. I also feel reading in the target language is key to ascertaining a strong vocabulary and it's not emphasized enough.
-Lesley D
Linda,
Okay I am glad you mentioned that students have been incorrectly taught by Dominican teachers thus exacerbating the problem. I have come to this conclusion on my own based on observation and how my own friends speak who are English teachers.
You are most correct in saying that students deserve the best but I am starting to believe that good English teachers in the DR are scarce. I am not sure I agree with the teaching methodology but then again it depends on the objective of program and the grade level of the students.
I was teacher for several years too and opted to get out of that profession but I still have an interest and I am called upon for private tutoring etc. and I will always do it but it's not easy. I think my situation was a little bit better since I was teaching Spanish to high school students, which is all grammar based. It's cut and dry. One either understands how conjugate verbs or not, or the parts of speech and how they work in a phrase or not so the ESL or EFL methodology did not apply and honestly I question the effectiveness. You are correct in saying that perfecting one's accent is not the objective but rather teaching vocabulary and sentence structure thus enabling the students to be able to express themselves. I also feel reading in the target language is key to ascertaining a strong vocabulary and it's not emphasized enough.
-Lesley D
Linda Stapleton said:Whilst I have been very impressed by the level of English some students have achieved, often with very little or no formal training, I am also frequently saddened to see how many mistakes are made by students who have been taught by Dominican teachers. As the same mistakes keep recurring, even when students have been taught by different teachers, I have to conclude that they are not all caused by student error. I am not referring to differences in pronunciation, and believe that comprehension and the ability to communicate are to be aimed for rather than a perfect replication of English or American accents. It is very difficult to eliminate the influence of one's native language on accent, as my very English Spanish exemplifies. In addition to this, whilst students may have a reasonable or good vocabulary, many find it very difficult to express themselves in English, which would tie in with the previous comments about learning by rote.