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Giving English Lessons?


Fi
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Thanks for the thoughts.  "oral confidence" is a good way to describe what we had discussed. 

I am paying a neighbouring student 10 euros an hour (5 hours/week) during the holidays to try and instil some confidence in my two (9 & 6).  It's all in their heads, but they don't speak - we (me, teachers etc) feel at something of an impasse, so this girl is going to do a mixture of fun stuff (playing with the horses, roaming around the countryside) mixed with some more formal language teaching - hopefully this will give them push they need. 

I don't imagine I would charge more than that - I would feel a bit of a fraud anyway!

Now if one or two of the local ladies fancied brushing up their English, I would gladly do it for free if someone did the ironing for me (one of my greatest hates after rhubarb)!

Have a great weekend.  Don't know what it's like in the Jura, but here in the Vosges it's a bit grey at the moment - but it's stunning even  when it's grey and the cloud descends so who cares!

Fi

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et voilà, mon secret is 'out'!!! LOL

I am in the UK Fi as little granddaughter Cara born on Thursday, and babysitting 3 year old grandson. Drizzling here tonight - 14C this afternoon. My neighbour in the Jura told me on phone weather rubbish in Jura since we left!

Gerardmer! Memories of my teenagehood - had a boyfriend from Gerardmer when I was about 14! Can't even remember his name - LOL - his parents had a scierie at the entrance to the village. That WAS a long time ago.

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Was his surname Cuny?  There is a huge scierie with that name in Gerardmer. By the way you are my second friend who had a boyfriend from Gerardmer (she gave him a terrible time poor boy, and she can't remember his name either!) - what is about les Geromois?

Congratulations on the birth of Cara (what a lovely name) - I am sure she is very beautiful.

Have a great weekend.

Fi

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I just cannot remember! Isn't that terrible! Nice boy and very nice family. Shame on me! I remember swimming in the Lake and the water temp was 11C.

Cara IS sooooooooo cute, despite a tad of jaundice today, but not serious. Looks exactly like her mum did when when was born.

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Fi  -  I have just read the whole thread with interest and some amusement and it sounds to me that you are an ideal person to teach English here.  You are grammar school educated.  You have a knowledge of Latin.  You can speak French.  You have a sense of humour.  You know how to deal with Forum bullies.  Need I continue...

Do take a look at going on a TEFL courses on offer throughout the UK.

http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/teaching-awards/celta.html

 

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[quote user="Cathy"]

Fi  -  I have just read the whole thread with interest and some amusement and it sounds to me that you are an ideal person to teach English here.  You are grammar school educated.  You have a knowledge of Latin.  You can speak French.  You have a sense of humour.  You know how to deal with Forum bullies.  Need I continue...

Do take a look at going on a TEFL courses on offer throughout the UK.

http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/teaching-awards/celta.html

 

[/quote]

You have an interesting idea of the 'ideal person to teach English here'

In her own words:

"
I have no teaching qualifications at all"

is this your ideal, given that there are many well qualified teachers around?

"I could do with the income during the low season, and it would fit in well with family commitments."

A passionate vocation for teaching then!

"It can be quite entertaining to get a French person to try and pronounce Woolwich."

I have already commented on this..the idea that you can give someone 'oral confidence' by setting a task you think is impossible and then laughing at their attempts seems to me very strange.

You also say

"You have a sense of humour"

but at no point has Fi shown this..she has simply claimed it on the basis of the grotesque example of laughing at her students

"
You know how to deal with Forum bullies"

What has a posting on this Forum got to do with anyone's suitability to teach?

The real bullies are those who gang up against an unpopular point of view,; the person who expresses it is simply refusing to be the 'dead fish that is the only thing that doesn't swim against the current'

I am clearly in a minority of one in deploring the OP's intention to enter teaching as someone with no training, no motivation except to gain a bit of cash when things are quiet, and a definition of 'humour' that involves being 'entertained' by her students' efforts.

I hope your children don't find themselves with a teacher with those characteristics.

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I think I have finally arrived on the forum [:D][:D]

I have undergone the rite of passage of a wholesale character assassination by NormanH on two threads in the last three days. (Thought there were rules about this kind of thing on the forum -

maybe some people consider themselves above the normal rules of

civilised behaviour?) Fortunately I am old enough, confident enough and dare I say ugly enough to find these rantings mildly amusing.  In the words of Catherine Tate "am I bovvered?".

Many thanks to Cathy for those kind words - I shall do some research into ESL courses - I think some formal training would be useful.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Sunday - I'm going to finish off my gravel garden. (And sheep-proof the terrace).

Fi

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[quote user="Iceni"]

English phone boxes sometimes display adverts for "French lessons" with no evidence of formal teaching qualifications. Perhaps there are reciprocal arrangements in France ?

John

[/quote]

Steady tiger!

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[quote user="Frenchie"]

Fi, are you really going to teach ot be what we call " a language assistant ? "

Students really like having natives in the class , it is " exotic " [:)]

[/quote]

Never been called exotic before!  [:)] 

Initially at least as an assistante rather full on teaching per se.  However, I do intend to get myself qualified to teach ESL properly, then I may extend into small groups/individuals either at my home or theirs.  It's been a long time since I did any academic study - I'm quite looking forward to it - see if my brain still functions in any useful way.

Fi

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I am a teacher in a high school, we 've already had adult language assistants , what you have to do is  mainly  organize conversation groups, the teacher will give you hints , so you can prepare .

Best of luck .

I'd like to go back to Uni to prepare l'agrégation , my job would not change, just the number of hours/week, and the salary .

I love studying, it would be a challenge. But I don't know if I can do it now, it requires total investment..

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[quote user="Frenchie"]

I am a teacher in a high school, we 've already had adult language assistants , what you have to do is  mainly  organize conversation groups, the teacher will give you hints , so you can prepare .

Best of luck .

I'd like to go back to Uni to prepare l'agrégation , my job would not change, just the number of hours/week, and the salary .

I love studying, it would be a challenge. But I don't know if I can do it now, it requires total investment..

[/quote]

I need to do something for me (from September youngest boy who is autistic starts in a CLIS TED class) so I will finally, after goodness knows how long, have some time to do something for myself.  Not on any major scale, but I should be able to spare a few hours a week.  And I like young adults (teenagers?  not sure of the correct terminology) - they interest me, so this would seem a good route for me to follow.  (I await howls of horror from some quarters[:)])

Fi

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One needs to have an interest in young people to do this job, or else it could be hell..

If you respect them, and you are fair, they will trust you and there should be a good atmosphere in the group.

Teaching is a good way to stay young at heart !! [:)]

I understand what you say about needing some time for you..

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When I was studying french as a foreign language at Uni in France the teacher took the pee non stop out of the accents of the students and had us prononcing all sorts of very difficult phrases, it broke the ice and we had a great time.  There were circa 14 different nationalities in the class (Japanese, Thai, Brazillian to name a few), I was the only Brit and so the accents were very, very different.

He always 'picked'on me to read a passage to the rest of the class because of my 'cute (yuk)' gloucestershire/french accent!  I never took offence and we remain good friends as I was nearer his age than most of the other students who were of course around 18.

There's always room for humour....

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We won't agree, that is certain.

I would like to ask ( or re-ask) a few specific questions

1) I would just defend myself against the recurrent idea that I don't believe in humour in English lessons. Where did I say that (please cite)

2) You evaded with a "Whatever" my question "If you have a lesson plan what was the objective, and how do you think

you particular strategy of laughing at your students helped you to

achieve it?."..Have you an answer, or  are you just avoiding admitting that it isnt a good idea.

3) You say that I am responsible for a 'character assassination' when in my opinion all I have done is draw attention to some of the inevitable weaknesses that accompany a over-confident, but unqualified  and under aware person's foray into the specialist area of TEFL.

Please quote examples where  I have been personal against "Fi" as opposed to analysing or deploring your own statemants.

4) You have never explained why the word "Woolwich" would be in a lesson to "to try and instil some confidence in my two (9 & 6)."

Have you thought about the difference between pronunciation ( problems with which in most cases in France comes about because the teacher precedes the pronunciation with a written text  so that the student is blocked by trying to interpret the interference of the written. As a simple example the word 'answer' is only difficult for a French learner if they see it and don't know that the 'w' and 'r' are silent and that the nasal sound 'an' in French isn't the same in English..If you begin by asking to them to  imitate there is rarely a problem ) and oral fluency, which in most cases would be impeded by too great an insistence on perfect pronunciation.?

one or two links for you to consider:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/vietnam-english-teaching-tips-teach-pronunciation.htm

http://www.pronunciationtips.com/

http://www.cambridge.org/elt/teacher-support/pdf/Gilbert-Teaching-Pronunciation.pdf

http://www.eslgo.com/resources/sa.html

 

I continue to reply, not because  " I am  bovvered"..about your brash entry into the world of education simply because 'I could do with the income during the low season' but because I have had to pick up and cherish students who have suffered at the hands of amateurs.

Just as an aside.

Is your comment "Past historic anyone?" supposed to be an example of  your 'humour'?

1) It is called the Passé Simple in France

2) It is frequently employed, not only in literature, but in the daily Press,  and even in the speeches of better educated politicians such  as Bayrou so where does your 'ha ha' tone come from?

The whole point of this post is to elicit specific answers and to correct misimpressions.

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I think you sum him up rather well, Plod![:D]

I certainly endorse his point about pronunciation.  I speak reasonable French and many native speakers compliment me on my accent.  I learnt when I was young and heard and spoke the language long before I learnt it formally and saw it in text books.   When I hear English people speaking the language I'm often struck by how many of them cannot get around what they have seen written down and continue to pronounce words as they are written, not as they are spoken.  I often say to them "listen to the word, don't look at it!"

Overheard in a motorway service area:

Brit : unn caffay aveck...... (mutters)  I've forgotten the word for milk

French Server :  Lait

Brit : Oh, yes of course - Late.

She pronounced it perfectly but he didn't copy her and use a silent t, but pronounced it as he had seen it written down.  I hear this sort of thing a lot, from both Brits learning french and vice versa. 

I've been asked by one or two people if I'll do some English lessons with them but I always turn them down and refer them to my friend who is a qualified TEFL teacher.  But good luck to you Fi, I hope you succeed as I'm sure you will if you're determined enough.

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[quote user="NormanH"]We won't agree, that is certain.

I would like to ask ( or re-ask) a few specific questions

1) I would just defend myself against the recurrent idea that I don't believe in humour in English lessons. Where did I say that (please cite)

2) You evaded with a "Whatever" my question "If you have a lesson plan what was the objective, and how do you think

you particular strategy of laughing at your students helped you to

achieve it?."..Have you an answer, or  are you just avoiding admitting that it isnt a good idea.

3) You say that I am responsible for a 'character assassination' when in my opinion all I have done is draw attention to some of the inevitable weaknesses that accompany a over-confident, but unqualified  and under aware person's foray into the specialist area of TEFL.

Please quote examples where  I have been personal against "Fi" as opposed to analysing or deploring your own statemants.

4) You have never explained why the word "Woolwich" would be in a lesson to "to try and instil some confidence in my two (9 & 6)."

Have you thought about the difference between pronunciation ( problems with which in most cases in France comes about because the teacher precedes the pronunciation with a written text  so that the student is blocked by trying to interpret the interference of the written. As a simple example the word 'answer' is only difficult for a French learner if they see it and don't know that the 'w' and 'r' are silent and that the nasal sound 'an' in French isn't the same in English..If you begin by asking to them to  imitate there is rarely a problem ) and oral fluency, which in most cases would be impeded by too great an insistence on perfect pronunciation.?

one or two links for you to consider:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/vietnam-english-teaching-tips-teach-pronunciation.htm

http://www.pronunciationtips.com/

http://www.cambridge.org/elt/teacher-support/pdf/Gilbert-Teaching-Pronunciation.pdf

http://www.eslgo.com/resources/sa.html

 

I continue to reply, not because  " I am  bovvered"..about your brash entry into the world of education simply because 'I could do with the income during the low season' but because I have had to pick up and cherish students who have suffered at the hands of amateurs.

Just as an aside.

Is your comment "Past historic anyone?" supposed to be an example of  your 'humour'?

1) It is called the Passé Simple in France

2) It is frequently employed, not only in literature, but in the daily Press,  and even in the speeches of better educated politicians such  as Bayrou so where does your 'ha ha' tone come from?

The whole point of this post is to elicit specific answers and to correct misimpressions.

[/quote]

Norman

I'm sorry, I have no time to deal with all your questions.  Most of them could be answered with more careful reading of my posts, and accepting that maybe you have misconstrued my meaning once or twice.

However, I do not understand why you are so against my finding employment which fits in with my other commitments - or are you anti working mothers?    I have 3 small children, who, from September will all be in full-time education.  I will then be in a position to do something outside the home - is that really so bad?  I have several friends who work as teaching assistants because of their family commitments.  This is exactly the same thing!  Most people work to earn money - what is the problem there? 

I have never once said that I would take the p**s out of my students.  I said "My comment about www not vvv was supposed to be lighthearted  It can be quite entertaining to get a French person to try and pronounce Woolwich. "

You said   "Where is the humour in laughing at the attempts of your students? The main joke is your belief  that you can teach out of ignorance, and display contempt at their efforts. That is a real laugh." 

As many others have posted, gentle teasing and getting slightly tongue-tied are part and parcel of learning a foreign language.   This is the fun bit (or at least it was for me when learning French, German and Dutch!).  I think you take me too literally - it's called irony in English!

When did I say "woolwich" and teaching my two children in the same sentence?  The woolwich comment was a piece of throwaway humour which you have blown out of all proportion and used as the basis for personal attacks on me. 

Don't know what the others think, but to refer to a person you have never met as ignorant, contemptuous and brash, based on a few lines in a forum - is a personal insult. 

I was taught that the passe simple (translated as past historic at my school - maybe all those teachers were wrong) is only ever used in the written form and is viewed as slightly archaic nowadays.  Perhaps a proper French person could clear up this point?  Please!

Am going to ignore comments at haha tone and other snipes - anyone would think you were the greatest fan of France and the French - not demonstrated in many of your other posts - which I usually read with relish - however I have never seen such a persistent level of attack on another person - what is is that I have done to upset you so much? 

I have spoken to my friends, family and neighbours about the possibility of some language teaching (as a classroom assistant to initially, cf my conversation with Frenchie)  and, bearing in mind these are people who actually know me on the basis of a bit more than a few posts on a forum, think it would work and I do have something to offer.  We have all suffered at the hands of terrible teachers (mine was mathematics - an academic genius with the communication skills and charisma of a peanut - failed maths O level three times as a result!).

Thank you for comments and links about pronuciation - I will read them properly when it is a little quieter and I can concentrate properly.

I have things to do.  This is all getting rather repetitive now.  I do not see why I need to keep defending myself - you have completely misconstrued many of my points, and twisted  and spun the others in order to make your unfair and hectoring comments. 

I will continue to watch this thread because, apart from one exception, most posts have been constructive - I have no problem with criticism if it is well-founded - I am not conceited enough to think I know everything about everything.

Fi

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