How good/bad was your school languages experience...in reality?

[Slowpoke]

I find a lot of people tend to be dishonest about the way school taught them. In my experience, people claim it was significantly worse than it was. I think it's because they want to over-exaggerate the amount of work they put in to learning a language. Or maybe it's just part of most western countries general disrespect towards teachers.

My experience was pretty good. We had a good mix of native and non-native teachers, all qualified. We engaged in tons of different activities, from translating to making radio shows and movies to reading full-length novels. However, my classmates claim all we did was write conjugations, lol.

[Rey]

Or maybe it's just part of most western countries general disrespect towards teachers.

That assertion could be the origin of a Ph. D. Thesis on Education in some western countries...

And other about the myth of respect towards teachers in some eastern countries...

1.The teacher competence. As I wrote above, the language teachers are often people with huge problems, who clearly failed to get into another career or the private sector, very few are very good and teach kids because they really want to. I am speaking about objectively stupid people, or people with huge unadressed psychological issues, bad organizers, egoists, and so on. It is not ok, when a teacher shouts in every class and bullies one selected kid in every group, and clearly enjoys public humiliation of kids.

I agree completely with that claim. At least in most of the so-called western countries. Unfortunately, sometimes it also happens with another educational profiles such as educational psychologists and occupational therapists.

Sorry, a teacher, psychologist, therapist or person in general who mistreats [systematically or not] people with low income and/or a disabilitiy, based precisely on these traits, will never receive my respect.

[Iversen]

As I mentioned already on the first page of this thread I did some languages entirely by homestudy, and I don't remember being tormented by excessive amounts of homework in those I was taught in school. OK, I was there, sometimes I even listened to the teachers and if they told us to go home and write something for tomorrow I did so. And those who have read my rants here at Llorg will know that I don't mind writing long tirades in foreign languages.

So the main problem I had with school in the language topics was that we were sometimes ordered to do nauseatingly stupid role plays with our fellow pupils instead of just studying alone or listening to our teachers (who at least knew the languages in question). Group work was also a no-go - it only makes sense when each participant knows something they others don't know. Group work where everyone is equally incompetent is just unnecessary catering for an unfounded antiquated ideology.

So I can't claim to be one of those persons who exaggerate the horror of their school days - I just feel that I could have learnt more from ten minutes alone with a qualified teacher then with two hours in the company of my fellow pupils.

A martial arts instructor once told my senior that "Anything less than two hours of training per day is a hobby.".

By that definition even the languages I was taught in school were hobbies, and that's also how I perceived them.

[Slowpoke]

Or maybe it's just part of most western countries general disrespect towards teachers.

That assertion could be the origin of a Ph. D. Thesis on Education in some western countries...

And other about the myth of respect towards teachers in some eastern countries...

1.The teacher competence. As I wrote above, the language teachers are often people with huge problems, who clearly failed to get into another career or the private sector, very few are very good and teach kids because they really want to. I am speaking about objectively stupid people, or people with huge unadressed psychological issues, bad organizers, egoists, and so on. It is not ok, when a teacher shouts in every class and bullies one selected kid in every group, and clearly enjoys public humiliation of kids.

I agree completely with that claim. At least in most of the so-called western countries. Unfortunately, sometimes it also happens with another educational profiles such as educational psychologists and occupational therapists.

Sorry, a teacher, psychologist, therapist or person in general who mistreats [systematically or not] people with low income and/or a disabilitiy, based precisely on these traits, will never receive my respect.

I’ve worked as a teacher in two East Asian and two western countries. Whereas countries like France and Germany love cutting budgets and keeping salaries frozen, that didn’t happen.

No one is asking you to respect abusive people? When I’m talking about cultural norms I’m not saying you, specific random person, should worship people who smack kids

[Rey]

I’ve worked as a teacher in two East Asian and two western countries. Whereas countries like France and Germany love cutting budgets and keeping salaries frozen, that didn’t happen.

No one is asking you to respect abusive people? When I’m talking about cultural norms I’m not saying you, specific random person, should worship people who smack kids

Sorry if I sounded too radical.

But let's write about some non-politically correct deeds.

Here, in Spain, there are recent cases of under-age people abused in Goverment ruled centers for tutored under-age people. This is completely unacceptable, shameful and scandalous. No apologies admitted. [https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20220330/portada-aumentan-denuncias-abusos-explotacion-sexual-menores-tutelados/2290221.shtml]

On the other hand, I have acquaintances here, in Spain, who have worked or work for several Spanish Automous Goverments here in Valencian Community, Catalonia, Murcia, Madrid, Andalusia and other places, as high school teachers of several areas of knowledge. As far as I know, they are not abusive people, and deserve respect as people and workers.

And, yes, in the last years, they have told me that the political decisions about cutting down budgets have worsened their wages in the last times. And the increasing inflation. So, yes. I know that what you write about payments is true. And good payment is part of the respect good workers deserve.

I'll tell you a real story about a maths teacher in a High School in Catalonia who decided to quit teaching after an accident in the beginning of the 2010s. She worked in the Barcelona conurbation, had students from twenty or more countries, and a great portion of them from Eastern ones. Chinese and Indian students were by far the most polite with her. But there were a bunch of boys of nationalities I will not mention that insulted her repeatedly because 'she was a woman' and they would never accept her as a teacher. 'It is cultural' -said the staff of the High School. 'We can't afford an inter-cultural conflict'. Some time later, during a weekend, the Mossos d'Esquadra [Catalonia Police] called her while shopping some groceries or something like that. 'The home you rented has been vandalized. They took an axe, destroyed the wooden door at the entry and broke almost everything in the flat. We are trying to discover who were the authors perpetrators.'

[Le Baron]

The 'authors'? Did they write a book about it?

[Rey]

The 'authors'? Did they write a book about it?

Sorry, the perpetrators.

I'll correct this in a moment.

I still have some interferences with 'false friends' in Spanish.

Thank you for the correction.

[Le Baron]

The 'authors'? Did they write a book about it?

Sorry, the perpetrators.

I'll corect this in a moment.

I still have some interferences with 'false friends' in Spanish.

Yes 'autores'. Just a weak joke on my part.

[Slowpoke]

I’ve worked as a teacher in two East Asian and two western countries. Whereas countries like France and Germany love cutting budgets and keeping salaries frozen, that didn’t happen.

No one is asking you to respect abusive people? When I’m talking about cultural norms I’m not saying you, specific random person, should worship people who smack kids

Sorry if I sounded too radical.

But let's write some non-politically correct things.

Here, in Spain, there are recent cases of under-age people abused in Goverment ruled centers for tutored under-age people. This is completely unacceptable, shameful and scandalous. No apologies admitted. [https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20220330/portada-aumentan-denuncias-abusos-explotacion-sexual-menores-tutelados/2290221.shtml]

On the other hand, I have acquaintances here, in Spain, who have worked or work for several Spanish Automous Goverments here in Valencian Community, Catalonia, Murcia, Madrid, Andalusia and other places, as high school teachers of several areas of knowledge. As far as I know, they are not abusive people, and deserve respect as people and workers.

And, yes, in the last years, they have told me that the political decisions about cutting down budgets have worsened their wages in the last times. And the increasing inflation. So, yes. I know that what you write about payments is true. And good payment is part of the respect good workers deserve.

I'll tell you a real story about a maths teacher in a High School in Catalonia who decided to quit teaching after an accident in the beginning of the 2010s. She worked in the Barcelona conurbation, had students from twenty or more nationalities, and a great portion of them from Eastern countries. Chinese and Indian students were by far the most polite with her. But there were a bunch of boys of nationalities I will not mention that insulted her repeatedly because 'she was a woman' and they never wouldn't accept her as a teacher. 'It is cultural' -said the staff of the High School. 'We can't afford an inter-cultural conflict'. Some time later, during a weekend, the Mossos d'Esquadra [Catalonia Police] called her while shopping some groceries or something like that. 'The home you rented has been vandalized. They took an axe, destroyed the wooden door at the entry and have broken almost everything in the flat. We are trying to discover who were the authors perpetrators.'

I don't understand what you're saying. It sounded like you just wanted to reiterate the whining about teachers and bring your own personal vendetta into it when I said nothing to you. In which case, it's a free forum, but you don't have to tag me to do so.

[emk]

This thread is getting personal and heated. Please try to avoid personal remarks. If this cannot be avoided, the mods will likely delete posts or lock the thread. Thank you.