It’s the University English class Guess the Country Game!
“We didn’t have active discussion, active uses of English. … We inertly listened to her [the professor] during the class,”
You’re thinking it’s from a 3rd world country, maybe one with a non-democratic regime, right?
Think again.
”Several students said they felt that the classes were poorly organized, and the wide range of student abilities made learning more difficult.”
Sounds like Japan, all shiny and Western looking on the outside but Confucian chaos on the inside. But no…
So, must be one of those European countries with teacher-led grammar-obsessed English classes like Spain we always forget when contrasting Asia with “the West”. Well, let’s have a look through the round window*…
“The American Language Program, tucked away on the top floor of Lewisohn Hall, is one of the oldest programs offering English instruction to international students. All international students arriving at Columbia are required to take the APL English Placement Test, and those who score below a 10 must take either one or two semesters of English language classes during their first year at Columbia. According to David Quinn, a senior lecturer in the APL, the program serves about 200 students per semester, drawn from the undergraduate and graduate schools.
But students who have come out of the program have expressed mixed opinions about its assistance with their English mastery.”
Just to confirm, that is Columbia the Ivy League American university, not Colombia the Latin American country. So that’ll be about 10 more teachers on my list of “got MA but still can’t teach”, then.
See the full story here.
* A reference to the fabulous 70’s BBC TV programme Playschool, an episode of which I think I actually remember can be see on youtube here.
March 26th, 2008 at 5:15 am
I feel like that list of “got MA but still can’t teach” is much larger than we might ever be able to fathom. The question is- why does it happen? I wonder if it’s just easier for teachers to do that. After all, coming up with ideas to facilitate conversation and getting students comfortable with speaking English takes much more effort than picking out some grammar point and explaining it.