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I'm still waiting for someone to answer the question as to whether someone from the UK who speaks the King's English should be allowed to teach English in Arizona.
Yeah I'm going to need a citation for this string of assumptions. I could argue that the exposure to different cultures and accents makes the children easier able to understand different culture's accents. Kind of like I can understand Indian people with accents just fine but my grandmother who was never exposed to them growing up on a farm, can't understand a thing.
I have no idea what you mean by your first sentence.
I wonder why you think it is a good thing for children to understand people who speak with accents? Don't you agree that children should learn their own language first?
As you, yourself admitted, it took you a couple of weeks to begin to interpret your professor's speech. You were able to eventually do it; you shouldn't diss your grandmother! If she had the same amount of time listening to someone with an accent, she would also be able to interpret their speech.
I have no idea what you mean by your first sentence.
I wonder why you think it is a good thing for children to understand people who speak with accents? Don't you agree that children should learn their own language first?
As you, yourself admitted, it took you a couple of weeks to begin to interpret your professor's speech. You were able to eventually do it; you shouldn't diss your grandmother! If she had the same amount of time listening to someone with an accent, she would also be able to interpret their speech.
Kids actually learn multiple languages with ease if they start when they are young. And they also are adept at code-switching.
Why do you think that narrowing the focus of early education would be beneficial?
I'm still waiting for someone to answer the question as to whether someone from the UK who speaks the King's English should be allowed to teach English in Arizona.
It is literaly impossible to work with people who do not communicate clearly be it language/accent issues or grammer usage. Since our move to Florida 3 years ago I have often asked people to write down what they are trying to pronounce in english. Work in healthcare which is very precise...wow what a nightmare!
One would assume that by the time students gets to college, they have a good grasp of the English language; written and spoken.
Put that same professor in front of a kindergarten or first grade class, and chances are the children will grow up NOT having a good grasp of our language.
My foreign teacher was my 8th grade English teacher. He was Greek, with a thick accent. I learned more about writing in his class than in any other English class I took after that. (I graduated high school with 5 English/Writing credits out of 20 credits needed to graduate.)
Most of us have had teachers such as this in jr high, high school, and college. Most of us were able to understand the teacher in time. Our brains already knew how words were supposed to sound.
A teacher who cannot correctly pronounce the words she is teaching should not be teaching that subject to grade school children. Young children learn what they hear, at home and in school. We should all want them to hear the language spoken correctly, especially in an English class.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrugalYankee
I'm still waiting for someone to answer the question as to whether someone from the UK who speaks the King's English should be allowed to teach English in Arizona.
In grade school? NO
Beyond grade school? YES
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fox Terrier
I agree that children learn more easily than adults, but that is not the situation we are discussing now.
Learning to speak English with a foreign accent is not learning a new language.
I believe we should 'narrow the focus' in elementary school to 'reading, writing, and math'.
I'm still waiting for someone to answer the question as to whether someone from the UK who speaks the King's English should be allowed to teach English in Arizona.
Don't fool yourself, Brits can mangle the language with the best of 'em.
The "Kings English" is not American English and I would prefer an American over most Brits. Of course there are also Americans in certain parts of the US that speak some undecipherable dialects of English so in that case I would probably prefer the Englishman.
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