**** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org **** -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Rivka's Report From: "byk" <byk@xxxxxxxxxxxx> After reading Rivka's letter on the list, this morning, words simply failed me. I am still at a loss for words. Let us disregard the fact that our students are not taught reading comprehension at this level in Hebrew, and that the only reading comprehension teaching they get, takes place in the English classroom. Much more important is the fact that for the vast majority of our students English is a FOREIGN language, not even a second language, much less their number one language. I teach in the centre of the country, and most of my students come from highly cultured and wealthy homes. They travel frequently and are constantly exposed to the language. For the most part they are also hard working students. Nonetheless, few of them manage to acquire, in high school, the abilities Judy describes. However I also teach adults preparing for psychometric-like tests, where reading comprehension is what is being tested. These mature and highly intelligent people are able to understand texts which my bright high schoolers cannot. So these adults speak read and write wonderful English and have enormous vocabularies? No! Their English is awful, but they have great reading comprehension skills. I thought we were teaching English. Obviously, this includes reading comprehension. But surely the emphasis should be on acquiring the language and being tested on that acquisition. I say nothing of the uneveness of the tests themselves. They will always remain so, as long as there are no clear guidelines. And the guidelines are far from clear, as can be seen from the tremendous differences that exist between schools teaching the same levels, I hope I haven't rambled, but I am so upset at what is happening to the teaching of English, and to the torture that so many teachers are suffering, as a result. Jennifer Byk ##### To send a message to the ETNI list email: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ##### ##### Send queries and questions to: ask@xxxxxxxx #####