[etni] Re: etni Digest V7 #68

Like you, Batya, I am also out of the classroom now and following all the 
discussions on ETNI.
The comments on the pupils' lack of background in Hebrew sentence structure 
and parts of speech is something that I was also constantly battling against 
while trying to teach writing skills.
On the subject of "express teacher training" may I add my experience as a 
graduate of London University in a field not connected with teaching of 
related skills. My prrofessional experience in regional planning and 
cartography was no real basis for teaching English! I  did retraining here 
first at a training college over a period of
2 years studying part-time with teaching practice and observation, later 
completing requirements for a high school license via the Open University. 
There is no question that nothing  in the theory really prepares you for the 
difficulties met in the classroom, and experience is what makes the 
difference. But the training is a must .
iIt took me a good while, with the help and guidance of experienced 
colleagues and the school's  English merakezet, until I was able to cope 
with confidence in the classroom. There is no way the ministry can expect to 
produce good teachers by taking  short cuts.

Returning to the topic of writing skills, during my training course which 
included courses in Hebrew as well, one of the assignments involved writing 
a paper in Hebrew. My Hebrew was fairly good but I wanted some advice. 
Before completing my assignment I asked a young colleague how she had 
organised her work -(she was studying to be a teacher of Hebrew subjects - a 
graduate of the Israeli school system). She showed me her work and I was 
astounded to see the way it was NOT organised. This just showed me how high 
school kids are not taught writing skills in their mother tongue. Just for 
the record the event described took place well before computers, SMS and 
emails became part of our lives.

Yehudit

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Batya" <shilohmuse@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 9:58 PM
Subject: [etni] Re: etni Digest V7 #68


> I'm out of the classroom now and happy about it. But I'm having a tougher 
> time leaving ETNI. All this talk about how to teach literature, now that 
> it is returning to the Bagrut, reminds me of how frustrated I was 
> teaching.
> When I taught a 4 point class, and they kept ignoring assignments to write 
> compositions, I was furious. Then I discovered that the kids hadn't been 
> taught in Hebrew. And when they had to find the main idea of a paragraph 
> and summarize, they didn't know what I was talking about. And when I asked 
> seniors what part of the sentence, which type of words, showed "time," 
> past prestent future, it was beyond them. And if I had a shekel for every 
> kid who claimed tha there was no "passive" in Hebrew...
> Too many Israeli kids don't have a minimal knowledge of basic language 
> skills in Hebrew, and I'm not talking about olim. It's not the job of the 
> English teacher to teach basic language skills. Get into the Hebrew 
> system, work on the school curriculum. Get involved with the unions etc.
> Once the kids know it in Hebrew, they'll be able to transfer the skills to 
> English, but it doesn't work the other way.
> Batya
> Shiloh Musings
> me-ander The Eye of the Storm the muse's pics Blog Free!
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------- 
> ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org
>   or - http://www.etni.org.il **
> ** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx **
> ** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **
> -----------------------------------------------
> 


-- 
I am using the free version of SPAMfighter.
We are a community of 6 million users fighting spam.
SPAMfighter has removed 67 of my spam emails to date.
Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len

The Professional version does not have this message


----------------------------------------------- 
** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org 
   or - http://www.etni.org.il **
** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx **
** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **
-----------------------------------------------

Other related posts: