English teachers now required to speak english fluently

[jillian]

Interesting....I thought there were basic competency standards that teachers had to meet BEFORE they were allowed into the classroom.
FOXNews.com - Arizona Seeks to Reassign Heavily Accented Teachers

it didn't say they weren't fluent. it said they were 'heavily accented'.

i'd think those aren't the same things.

i wonder if they'll do the same to asian professors at the University of AZ.


nah...

 

[jillian]

So people with heavy accents can't speak proper english?

They cannot teach proper pronunciations.

neither can someone who grew up in Dorchester, MA or Bronx, NY.

 

[William Joyce]

According to the audit conducted by AZ officials and FEDERAL LAW...NO.

Show me a federal law that says you cannot teach English if you have a heavy accent, or that you can't speak proper English if you have a heavy accent.

Its basis would be the effect on interstate commerce, Luissa. Kids can't learn, they don't get jobs, interstate commerce is adversely affected.

Hee hee!

Conservatives can play that game, too.

 

[editec]

Interesting....I thought there were basic competency standards that teachers had to meet BEFORE they were allowed into the classroom.
FOXNews.com - Arizona Seeks to Reassign Heavily Accented Teachers

Yeah, here's the problem with that.

When about half of your class speaks Spanish as their primary language, having a Spanish speaking teacher (even if they so speak English with a Spanish accent) seems a good idea.

 

[William Joyce]

Interesting....I thought there were basic competency standards that teachers had to meet BEFORE they were allowed into the classroom.
FOXNews.com - Arizona Seeks to Reassign Heavily Accented Teachers

Yeah, here's the problem with that.

When about half of your class speaks Spanish as their primary language, having a Spanish speaking teacher (even if they so speak English with a Spanish accent) seems a good idea.

But that's just circular reasoning, counselor. The aim of the Arizona law is steering the state toward English. If half the class speaks Spanish and their teacher speaks English with a Spanish accent, nobody learns English pronunciation. Everyone just ends up speaking Spanglish. "Joo geet dees peoples on telefono que no speaka English you understand." And the 911 people don't get to the house, and your grandfather dies of the heart attack. Diversity... it will kill you.

 

[RadiomanATL]

From the article:

Teachers who are not fluent in English, have a heavy accent or do not speak grammatically correct will be temporarily reassigned.

The part that I bolded is the only part I disagree with. The other two I'm OK with. An English teacher better be fluent and grammatically correct.

 

[Ravi]

From the article:

Teachers who are not fluent in English, have a heavy accent or do not speak grammatically correct will be temporarily reassigned.

The part that I bolded is the only part I disagree with. The other two I'm OK with. An English teacher better be fluent and grammatically correct.

I agree with this...I'm just curious, why must this even be a law?

Yet another area where "conservatives" embrace big brother.

 

[RadiomanATL]

From the article:

Teachers who are not fluent in English, have a heavy accent or do not speak grammatically correct will be temporarily reassigned.

The part that I bolded is the only part I disagree with. The other two I'm OK with. An English teacher better be fluent and grammatically correct.

I agree with this...I'm just curious, why must this even be a law?

Yet another area where "conservatives" embrace big brother.

I think it has more to do with having uniform standards of education than anything else.

Conservatives like myself want a smaller government, and less government in people's lives. However, this is not the same as no government or no government standards/regulations.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

From the article:

Teachers who are not fluent in English, have a heavy accent or do not speak grammatically correct will be temporarily reassigned.

The part that I bolded is the only part I disagree with. The other two I'm OK with. An English teacher better be fluent and grammatically correct.

I agree with this...I'm just curious, why must this even be a law?

Yet another area where "conservatives" embrace big brother.

You are going to claim that Federal regulations made for Education are from Conservatives? What fantasy world do YOU live in?

 

[Vel]

If someone can't pronounce a word correctly then they are less likely to be able to spell a word correctly. Requiring proper enunciation of words by a teacher makes perfect sense.

 

[Foxfyre]

When I couldn't find a job in a field I wanted, I once took a job in a radiology dept of a hospital once. Among other duties, I transcribed the dictated medical reports for the radiologists. It took me quite some time to understand Dr. F's heavy Boston accent but I finally got it. And then when Dr. R from Iran arrived, I had to learn the heavy Iranian accent making many words unintelligent. When I was informed that Dr. B was arriving from Brazil, I found something else to do. I just wasn't up to learning to take dictation in Brazian Portuguese.

(Just kidding but it was a problem sometimes and I always wonder if I got every word right in those reports. I don't think the doctors always proofed carefully.)

If any of you have struggled through a math class with a brilliant but English challenged professor from some Asian country or whatever, or tried to learn a foreign language from somebody who is not fluent in that language, it only makes sense that those who speak good English wih proper inflection, dictation, and pronunciation should teach English.

I can't imagine anybody having a problem with that.

 

[editec]

Interesting....I thought there were basic competency standards that teachers had to meet BEFORE they were allowed into the classroom.
FOXNews.com - Arizona Seeks to Reassign Heavily Accented Teachers

Yeah, here's the problem with that.

When about half of your class speaks Spanish as their primary language, having a Spanish speaking teacher (even if they so speak English with a Spanish accent) seems a good idea.

But that's just circular reasoning, counselor.

Not really circular reasoning, but I see your point.

The aim of the Arizona law is steering the state toward English.

Good. But now if your classes are filled with people who do not speak English, and the techer does not understand or speak Spanish, who can teach them ANYTHING?

Me?

No because my Spanish is so feeble that I wouldn't be able to teach the class much of anything

If half the class speaks Spanish and their teacher speaks English with a Spanish accent, nobody learns English pronunciation.

Yeah, that is a problem, I agree.

But what you apparently want to do is let the perfect get in the way of the pretty good, William.

Everyone just ends up speaking Spanglish. "Joo geet dees peoples on telefono que no speaka English you understand." And the 911 people don't get to the house, and your grandfather dies of the heart attack. Diversity... it will kill you.

I have great confidence that English will survive, William.

It survived wave after wave of immigrants to this nation and it will survive this one, too.

MY Bohemian grandfather and mother spoke English very poorly.

My father didn't even speak English (at home) and went into Kindergarten speaking only Czech.

I can assure you that my father's ability to speak English is vastly superior to most Americans despite the fact that the man didn't finish high school.

Languages are incredibly resiliant, generally.

And English is apparently one of the most resiliant languages on earth.

The first generation of immigrants ends up speaking exactly like the native population that surrounds it.

That's happened so many times with so many diifferent waves of immigrants, that fretting about the Latinos wrecking our language is just not worthy of your time.

The problems that come from this unbridled immigration that really are important exist without doubt, but this language problem is not really one that we need worry about too much.

 

[Gatekeeper]

So people with heavy accents can't speak proper english?

They cannot teach proper pronunciations.

neither can someone who grew up in Dorchester, MA or Bronx, NY.

You mean 'Dahhchesta' right? Gee, where's the "R"? I think everyone, to some degree has a 'demographic accent', maybe those English instructors with HEAVY accents where the pronunciations are totally unrecognizable should be given the opportunity to attend a course to better help them with the actual pronunciation, or just change their subjects of instruction to something such as mathematics etc.

I remember living in South Carolina and at a restaurant ordering breakfast, the waitress asked,after ordering, "will that be 'dahhkAlie?" I said, "what's dahhkAlie?", and a patron at the next table said she is asking if you want your toast to be, dark or light?

 

[PatekPhilippe]

Seems to me proper enunciation is part of english fluency as related to teaching a student who does NOT speak english at all. Why would you want someone mispronouncing the same words you are? We aren't paying our educators to teach someone pigeon or heavily accented english...we are paying them to teach english so the person can be understood and understand english no matter where they go in this country.

 

[AquaAthena]

Interesting....I thought there were basic competency standards that teachers had to meet BEFORE they were allowed into the classroom.
FOXNews.com - Arizona Seeks to Reassign Heavily Accented Teachers

Great! If one is going to teach a subject to others, one should be proficient in that skill. They used to have to earn passing marks in in highschool lest they not graduate..

 

[bodecea]

According to the audit conducted by AZ officials and FEDERAL LAW...NO.

Show me a federal law that says you cannot teach English if you have a heavy accent, or that you can't speak proper English if you have a heavy accent.
Does this law also apply to people who are English teaching in this country?

Read the article I linked to..... NCLB clearly states this. It pertains to our public school teachers and applies to all 50 States...AZ has chosen to enforce it.

You know...there is a difference between English fluency and having an accent. In case you didn't know.

 

[bodecea]

Is "flied lice" proper english for fried rice? Be honest now. Yes or no.

Nice...real nice, PP.

 

[PatekPhilippe]

Interesting....I thought there were basic competency standards that teachers had to meet BEFORE they were allowed into the classroom.
FOXNews.com - Arizona Seeks to Reassign Heavily Accented Teachers

Great! If one is going to teach a subject to others, one should be proficient in that skill. They used to have to earn passing marks in in highschool lest they not graduate..

Right...liberals hate those tests because they show the utter incompetency of some school districts and teachers....then they blame it on not enough money and racists. The law AZ is enforcing can be found in NCLB legislation passed in 2003.

 

[Gatekeeper]

Seems to me proper enunciation is part of english fluency as related to teaching a student who does NOT speak english at all. Why would you want someone mispronouncing the same words you are? We aren't paying our educators to teach someone pigeon or heavily accented english...we are paying them to teach english so the person can be understood and understand english no matter where they go in this country.

When all is said and done, you are 100% correct. A friend of mine from Virginia is going to live in Germany for the next year or so to achieve his doctorate in the German language. He said to me that,I MUST speak German fluently, enunciating each word so THEY will have no problems understanding. Your post reminded me of his comments.

 

[Conspiracist]

When I couldn't find a job in a field I wanted, I once took a job in a radiology dept of a hospital once. Among other duties, I transcribed the dictated medical reports for the radiologists. It took me quite some time to understand Dr. F's heavy Boston accent but I finally got it. And then when Dr. R from Iran arrived, I had to learn the heavy Iranian accent making many words unintelligent. When I was informed that Dr. B was arriving from Brazil, I found something else to do. I just wasn't up to learning to take dictation in Brazian Portuguese.

(Just kidding but it was a problem sometimes and I always wonder if I got every word right in those reports. I don't think the doctors always proofed carefully.)

If any of you have struggled through a math class with a brilliant but English challenged professor from some Asian country or whatever, or tried to learn a foreign language from somebody who is not fluent in that language, it only makes sense that those who speak good English wih proper inflection, dictation, and pronunciation should teach English.

I can't imagine anybody having a problem with that.

Funny you should mention that. I took a mathmatics class from an Indian professor and OMG! I aced his class but noone else got above a C and every complaint was due to lack of being able to understand him. I cannot knock people for those complaints because I have a knack for understanding foreign pronunciations of our language for some reason. For me it actually works better because it takes more focus on my part and I don't start daydreaming.