[etni] תשובה: [etni] Speaking English and HOTS

From: paula orenstein <paulao@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: lu_mmm@xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:37:16 +0300
I have to share with you a story about my English teacher (a long-long time ago 
but still relevant) whose Hebrew was very poor, and that's to say the least. 
She  as my first English teacher and her name was Judy and I remember her name 
and her body language and the funny faces that she used to make and how she 
used to activate her whole body to make sure that we  understand what she was 
saying. In short, I don't know about the others but I loved her lessons . One 
such lesson is especially memorable: she came in and introduced a new topic, 
"school" and started to pronounce related words and sentences and she says 
NOTEBOOK. One of the kids shouts I -NAAl-BOOK (which is a sort of an outdated  
curse that was frequently used back then) and the teacher says and I quote:"No, 
not NAALBOOK say NOTEBOOK." And of-course everyone laughed at her and she did 
not even realize what was  so funny. I am telling you that old story to remind 
you that funny language incidents happen everyday as y
ou may well know. In almost every essay there is at least one such 
misrepresentation of the word. English, being what it is,  is predisposped to 
such funny mistakes and it works both ways - if a teacher does not know the 
native language of her/his students, many things are bound to  'get lost in 
translation,

----- הודעה מקורית -----
מאת: Louise - <lu_mmm@xxxxxxxxxxx>
תאריך: יום ב', אוגוסט 2, 2010 9:16
נושא: [etni] Speaking English and HOTS
אל: Etni <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

> A question came up as to what kind of example do we set for our 
> students by not making an effort speaking in their language. I can 
> only speak from my own experience. I honestly tell my students 
> that they should learn from my example of what happens when you do 
> not try to speak the foreign language. Here I am - living here, 
> having taken the Ulpan - got a 98% - and yet I really don't know 
> the language because I am not speaking it or using it. I encourage 
> them not to do the same because its a mistake to do so. And 
> because they can see how I struggle with Hebrew, this seems to 
> relax them about speaking in English. I tell them how hard it is 
> for me to say certain words like : mekushkeshet - and we all have 
> a good laugh. I let them know that I really understand where they 
> are coming from, but that they should not give up. I have never 
> received any negative comments about this from them or their 
> parents. If anything, they tell me how glad they are that they 
> have to converse with me 
> in English. Yes, they are braver than I. I am very proud of them 
> and I tell them so.
> 
> Having said this - I still feel that even if I was fluent in 
> Hebrew, it is better for the students to have an English only 
> class, especially as they head into the jr. high/high school 
> classes. Its hard for them at first, but soon they find that all 
> the pieces come together - not just from class, but from music, 
> tv, film. Once they realize that there is no choice - they do it. 
> Again, I feel that if we are looking to give our students 
> important skills for their future, this has got to be one of them.
> 
> Re: HOTS and the Union -- Clearly they are not effective in 
> rallying the troops which is why so many teachers are at odds with 
> the Lit and the projects . They must see the imbalance of us not 
> getting paid for similar work that other teachers are getting paid 
> for. What are they doing about it? Please someone tell me. 
> 
> Louise                                               
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[etni] תשובה: [etni] Speaking English and HOTS

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