American Language teaching is horrible. (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

American Language teaching is horrible.
Tags: School Education \| Language Teaching \| United States
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

44 messages over 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6

dmaddock1
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5433 days ago
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Italian, Esperanto, Latin, Ancient Greek

Message 41 of 44

14 April 2010 at 5:40pm | IP Logged

s_allard wrote:

Wake up, everybody. Second language in the school system is an academic subject, just like math, chemistry, biology, geography, history, etc. Basically, there is a curriculum, a textbook and a series of tests. We teach math, but we don't expect high school graduates to be mathematicians. Most people pass the tests and promptly forget the content. How many people remember their high school math 5 years after graduation?

Well said. I made a similar point in the other thread. The primary goal of a liberal arts education is exposure. Sadly often it is negative exposure when the teaching sucks, but large chunks of the knowledge I've pursued on my own had been prompted in some way by schooling--including through some of the most god-awful teachers ever. True learning (of anything) doesn't happen in a classroom. Still, not a ringing endorsement of US education though...

Self-selected communities like this forum are always going to be full of exceptional (ie. statistically deviant) people. Visit a biology or geography enthusiast forum and see what they have to say about the teaching of those subjects... I'm perfectly happy with what I retained from those subjects. My Latin course? Not so happy.

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Johntm
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Studies: Spanish

Message 42 of 44

14 April 2010 at 10:13pm | IP Logged

psy88 wrote:

Smart wrote:

I totally agree with this thread.

I was taught Spanish for almost 7 years and learned nothing during that time.
Had to teach myself.

I can't help but wonder what would happen if a foreign language requirement did not exist in the US schools. What if only those who truly wanted to learn were in the class? I think this thread would be a lot different. Those who have had to teach themselves-and were successful-would have had a class with like minded students. Can you imagine what might have been if everyone there really wanted to master the language?

I wish they'd remove that requirement.
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William Camden
Hexaglot
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United Kingdom
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Message 43 of 44

18 April 2010 at 12:55pm | IP Logged

I spent a few years in the US school system, though I completed my education in the Scottish one. American school textbooks I used were newer and more expensive than the ones I was to use in Britain. I remember one I used for French using colour photographs, and this was in the 1970s, when that was still rather newfangled. I don't think the teaching was necessarily better but the US school system seemed to spend more on teaching materials.

Edited by William Camden on 18 April 2010 at 12:55pm
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datsunking1
Diglot
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Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French

Message 44 of 44

18 April 2010 at 3:17pm | IP Logged

Johntm wrote:

I wish they'd remove that requirement.

Tell me about it buddy. It would be you, me, and a couple other pencil pushing nerds in the front of the class, pushing our glasses up on our nose and mastering grammar.

I would happen to have a pocket protector too actually, and a grandfather dictionary (the HUGE sub-3000 pages ones in libraries) on my desk :D

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