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Post by Otaku on Jul 15, 2008 11:11:40 GMT 8
I have the best JTE in all of Japan! Today, she corrected the textbook! Yatta!
You know when the JTEs tell the students to highlight the important parts of the textbook? Well, today my JTE told her students to take out their pencils, also.
On page 35 of the 1st grade New Horizon textbook there is a dialogue that goes like this:
"What's your favorite subject?" "Math."
Well, my JTE informed her students that the sentence "Math." is actually not a sentence. She told them to add, "It's" before the word 'math', so it reads: "It's math."
Finally, a teacher that thinks on her own and doesn't lemmingly follow the crappy textbook!
I've got the best JTE in the world!! Japan's English education system needs more JTEs like my JTE!!!
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Post by junkdna on Jul 15, 2008 13:46:26 GMT 8
*boggle* "Math" sounds alright to me. Just like: What's your favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate.
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yopparaisaru
Englipedia Fana
I drink copious amounts of fire and piss excellence
Posts: 312
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Post by yopparaisaru on Jul 17, 2008 8:02:42 GMT 8
The difference between the two is one is correct for speaking but not writing. "Whats your favorite subject?" "Math." Isn't a grammatically correct written statement. But in speaking it would be ok.
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Post by prncsfungi on Jul 17, 2008 11:17:21 GMT 8
Speaking versus writing...Math alone is grammatically incorrect but the majority of English speakers would completely understand the idea being conveyed and probably not think twice about it.
I am a firm believer of teaching correct information, but for me the key to any language teaching/learning is without a doubt, comprehension...comprehension in the sense that both parties in the communication are understanding and being understood. Comprehension in my view does not have to be the perfect language exchange between too people....it may be a single word...random words with no grammar...but if the point can be conveyed..if you can be understood..or understand the key point (perhaps not all the details) of another, to me that is the most important key to any language acquisiton. Grammar patterns, advanced vocab are refinements, not essentials. So while yes, grammatically it's correct to add "it's" infront of "math" I see it more as nitpicking. However the fact that your JTE even thought to suggest that the textbook could be wrong, went outside the japanese education system box and taught what she thought was right, is amazing and kudos to her.
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Post by Otaku on Jul 17, 2008 13:23:21 GMT 8
PF,
I would normally agree with you on this point also....comprehension should be the focus. However, when you have JTEs assigning homework to copy entire textbook pages of text into their notebooks, they are effectively proving this is not how the pages are being treated. The students practicing writing fragmented sentences is never good.
At the point that the teachers don't explain written/spoken English grammar is different, in my opinion, err on the side of caution and teach grammatically correct English. In my opinion, the entire textbook would be written with grammar that is accepted when writing. For the listening and speaking practice, I would have those fragmented sentences only on the CDs. I would dare say students would 'cognitively' learn that spoken and written grammar is different.
Japanese students are like a Speak-n-Spell. What they see is what they do.
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Post by redpanda on Sept 3, 2008 6:15:59 GMT 8
"Math" is right. Nobody would ever say "It's math," would they?
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Post by Otaku on Sept 3, 2008 13:27:07 GMT 8
"Math" versus "It's math"
Which is correct? Both are correct, depending whether you are talking about spoken English versus written English grammar rules.
The problem is most teachers I've taught with don't differentiate between the these two types of grammar. Additionally, even if the teachers taught these differences, the textbooks make these two types of grammar even more confusing to understand because they teach written grammar rules on pages that also show students having a spoken conversation.
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