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Message board > HELP!
HELP!
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aura+
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HELP!
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Hello everyone! I�ve just read a few of the messages you�ve left about Pietro(?)�s sentence and I can�t help giving my opinion on what you�ve been �quarreling�about. I do believe that a native speaker (a teacher of English) �is more capable than most of us to say if a sentence is wrong or not. They have that �special feeling� that most of us, foreign teachers, lack. On the other hand, I believe that, sometimes, �native speakers, when living abroad (in non- English speaking countries) are influenced by the local language(s). I�ve got an English friend who came to Portugal twenty years ago to teach English. He married a Portuguese woman and �they had two children. He speaks English most of the time, but, with his friends and family, he also uses Portuguese. When I have doubts about my English I sometimes ask him . He frequently �gets confused and tells me :� I don�t trust myself anymore!�. �The truth is that he has assimilated a lot of the Portuguese structures, vocabulary and idioms and has mixed them with his mother tongue.�
The doubt I have goes for all: I�ve been marking some tests and most of my students, as an answer to the question, �What nationality are you?� wrote: ��My nationality is Portuguese� . Is this acceptable? Shouldn�t they write ��I am Portuguese� instead?
Help me, please! |
4 Dec 2008
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Pietro
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Well, hi!) Thank you for your support and feedback. It is difficult no doubt to remain �up to date� when you live in a non English-speaking country, but it�s quite impossible to absorb every structure, I agree)) Though in fact there�s no such a structure as "It looks like raining" or "That looks like being the best solution" in Russian. In Russian that would sound smth like "It seems to me it is going to rain". We haven�t got any gerund equivalent either, though we�ve got 4 participles. But that�s not the case. Moreover, when I was googling for this structure, I noticed that people of many nationalities used this one. I think many example have been created just to illustrate some rule, though being artificial or impossilbe from the point of view of pragmatics. Well, and now about nationalities. I always correct such sentences (My nationality is Russian, My work is a sales manages). They are understandable and quite acceptable, but not for a native speaker or a well trained student. But another thing I always mention at my lessons is that we learn English to communicate not only (and not mainly) with native speakers of English, but with other foreigners. English is a lingua franca, though we should stick as far as it�s possible to different classical grammars and corpus findings. |
4 Dec 2008
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Vickiii
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If I am answering the quesion - what is your nationality? I would answer - �I�m a New Zealander� (well actually I would say "I�m a Kiwi, aye")
So yes you are right, although I would correct this in a test, I would give 1/2 marks for nearly getting it right unless they were an advanced student.
But that is probably because I am a soft touch who hates tests and still has difficulty understanding why people feel it is important to TEST students all the time.
Are we not in the 21st century? Aren�t formative and summative assessment methods a bit more advanced than handing students a written test and getting them to regurgitate information?
Is this the technology age or not? shouldn�t we be teaching students to think for themselves?
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4 Dec 2008
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Zora
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As Vickii pointed out, it is more correct to just say "I�m Portuguese"... the "My nationality is Portuguese.." is what I call parroting... the students are answering using part of the question... (an old fashioned form/ method that I�ve seen in old old text books... )
It�s like saying "Do you like tomatoes." .. "Yes, I like tomatoes..." When a more natural response would be: "Yes, or Yes, I do..."
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5 Dec 2008
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David Lisgo
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"The doubt I have goes for all: I�ve been marking some tests and most of my students, as an answer to the question, �What nationality are you?� wrote: �My nationality is Portuguese� . Is this acceptable? Shouldn�t they write �I am Portuguese� instead?"
Both replies are fine. It�s like asking "What�s your name?" Perhaps you should be asking "What�s your nationality?" What do others think?
David |
5 Dec 2008
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Vickiii
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On further reflection. If you asked me what nationality I am I would just say "Kiwi... and grin"
I agree david - What�s your nationality is better.
the above goes for my name as well. If someone said What�s your name? I would just say "Vicki" and smile.
Just because I like being me! 
Can you tell I am in a good mood today?? |
5 Dec 2008
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arkel
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Hi all, I agreewith vickiii, especially about exams. I run a small academy, 6 per class, and I run from tests. However, the students and parents expect them so I have no choice. That�s the society they have grown up in so there�s no choice. My perfect world would be to teach them to think for themselves and learn to look up the information they need, BUT also learn to use a language correctly. |
5 Dec 2008
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