[etni] [FWD: Rivka's Report]
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- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 21:18:16 -0700
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-------- 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
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