[etni] Fw: re: The Oral Bagrut

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "maxinetz" <maxinetz@xxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: The Oral Bagrut


Hi Leah.   I think the writer meant not that she's against teaching grammar,
but that she's against teaching English grammar in HEBREW, that she's
against using Hebrew in English classes.

All the best,

Maxine Tsvaigrach


Lea wrote:
> Dear Esther,
> I am afraid I have to disagree. Students of a foreign language need 
> Grammar
in order to speak and write correctly. As far as mother tongue is concerned,
Grammar is important, but far less important than concerning a foreign
language. As far as I know, this controversy has already been resolved and
there is almost unanimous agreement among experts that Grammar should,
actually, must be taught. The question is no longer IF, but HOW.

Esther wrote:
> A few points:
> I am adamantly against teaching grammar in any but the mother tongue.
> English grammar is  diametrically opposed to that of our pupils' native
> tongues, (primarily Hebrew and Arabic, which my husband speaks fluently. )
> Thus, it is hard enough for pupils to grasp the intricacies of the grammar
> we teach without having the language barrier make understanding it even
> more difficult.
> HOWEVER, even in the weakest classes, English should be spoken with a
> minimum of Hebrew sentence thrown in here and there only if absolutely
> necessary. (i.e. 1 pointers cannot follow a lesson given entirely in
> English! People who think otherwise have never taught in what we used to
> categorize as Masmar/ Masmam classes!)
> In NY state (in the Middle Ages, :) I studied Spanish for 7 years
> culminating in a regents exam, on which I got a very high grade. We were
> taught in English; had listening comprehensions and unseens galore, but
> were never called upon to speak in Spanish.  Hence, we could barely say a
> single
> complete sentence in that language! In college, thankfully, when required
> to speak entirely in  Spanish (in our Spanish Literature Classics lesson,)
> only then did the flood waters of Spanish come gushing out of my mouth!
> Moral of
> the story? In classes taught in the mother tongue, with virtually no
> communication in the language being studied, oral proficiency is zilch!
> So, despite the faults of our present oral exam, in my opinion some oral
> exam must remain an intrinsic part of the bagrut. That is, if we want
> pupils who can speak English, albeit peppered with mistakes, and not just
> pupils
> who can successfully  complete an unseen.



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