Bill the English Teacher

Susie Quan February 23, 2010 4:38

hello Bill, I have been learning English over 2 years. and I just think I am too ....(hehe I think that word must be stupid) I dont think I got a thing for English, I want to learn English well, but till now, I am not. it's ok for me, I can't learn or use English well without effort. so I still put my effort on this. hope one day I can use English well.
finally , I am very happy to see you here.
Lynne February 23, 2010 0:46

Yes Bill, I am still the same person. Gosh, you just don't know how happy I am really to see you today. It's good to be busy we all know that... :))) hmmm... I'm a bit busy too.
I guess, it's quite late there now on your side of the world and don't want to bother you much. I'm just too happy really to see you again Bill and couldn't leave MyEC without greeting you.
Thanks for your quick reply on my greetings Bill. Hoping to see you around again.
-Lynne-
Lynne February 22, 2010 23:39

Hello Bill,
I'm so happy to catch you here today. hahahaha :)))
I love the baby photo you know.
Good day Teacher Bill.
-Lynne-
Mohamed Ismail February 22, 2010 22:34

Hi,
Great to hear from you, teacher Bill. I'm pleased to have a friend like you. Being in contact with native speakers is great. I've been teaching english for about 16 years now. I'm a senior high school teacher. What about you?
daniel February 21, 2010 23:38

Dear Bill the teacher, Congratulation for having such a lovely and cute grand-daughter.. I hope you'll have a great time with your new family members ahead!
I am very happy to see your valuable posts in EC and helping everyone to improve his/her english language skills without looking for any benifits. There are very few people in this world with helping hand to help those who are really in need of help. Also,we can not deny the fact that there are others who try to take advantages of others slefless help. So some gets frustrated for being misused.
I recently joined thi EC club to share my thoughts and life experiences. I don't know how is my writing level and hoping you'll give me some feedback. Thank you so much.
anna maria irto February 21, 2010 22:36

Actually I am fluent only in Italian, English and French. German, Russian and Spanish are still to be improved. I am italian and I love languages. I teach to young learners, in primary school. I was a translator and interpreter, that is what I studied for before having four children.
Bill the English Teacher February 21, 2010 20:30

tatya,
For some reason my students prefer group work. Many of them say they don't want another individual student teaching them bad pronunciation or bad English. They do not like another student correcting them. But they also do not really like group work either. In group work some dominate the others and some do not participate. Most of them want the teacher-student interaction. Maybe this is the difference between adults and children. I am not sure.
With pronunciation I tend to work with all the students as a group. I teach them the various sounds and how to open the jaw, how to shape the lips, whether to use the voice or not, how to use the tongue, etc. For some reason this seems to work with my adults. My methods have a reputation for being very successful in removing most of their accent. These are not my words, but the words of students who have told me. I am really not as conceited as I may sound.
I think cassettes are a good way to learn pronunciation. I tell my students to watch American TV, rent American movies with subtitles to learn how to understand and speak it. But I find the most important way is to give them feedback on their pronunciation. This is where I go against the ‘proper’ theory of education. We are told not to correct people’s pronunciation publically in the classroom. Even when they pronounce improperly, we are told to say, “Yes, very good. And then repeat what they said with proper pronunciation,” I found that the students just continue to use the wrong pronunciation. So I finally learned from the students that they all want to be corrected even if it is public. So I tell them that I will do this and that it is helpful to make mistakes so we can correct them together as a class. They all want this and it really helps them because when I correct each student and show them how to say something correctly, the rest of the class also repeats it. But, perhaps adults are different than children.
tatya February 21, 2010 19:05

Hi Bill.Thank you It’s interesting for me how you work with adults.Can you give me some tips working with pronunciation? I use cassettes. Do your students prefer pair or group work ?Best wishes Tatya
Bill the English Teacher February 21, 2010 17:49

It is the informational questions and answers that depend so much on what is being emphasized. Also if we want to add sarcasm or irony or humor, we also use intonation to specify that. This has to be learned by immersion within an English-speaking environment. It is not easy.
Bill the English Teacher February 21, 2010 17:46

Nebia,
Yes, you ↑are!