English teachers now required to speak english fluently

[Toro]

I wish they had this law for my university classes.

 

[PatekPhilippe]

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

Nice...real nice, PP.

WTF is your problem? Can't take it when confronted with the truth? Why don't you answer the question instead of trying to be a politically correct liberal who has a stick up their ass. Christ...I'm so sick of people like this...."oooo can't say that...might upset the asians...oooooo can't do that..might upset the Tatars....ooooo can't walk on that street..the Italians don't like Florshiem shoes...give me a fucken break!!!

 

[PatekPhilippe]

I wish they had this law for my university classes.

Somehow I don't think you are learning english as a second language....

 

[AquaAthena]

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.

True. My error. I had skipped the accent objective of the post. I still am amazed at the grammatical deficiencies many English teachers have though, and that is what I thought was being addressed. I am glad you pointed it out to me and without belittling yourself by namecalling or other disparaging remarks. I happily and willfully accept the correction...

 

[PatekPhilippe]

Sorry..heavily accented speaking english teachers teaching non english speakers to be FLUENT in english makes absolutely no sense. Now you are dropping the "heavily" word from your replies in an attempt to change the debate....FAIL!!! Nice try though....

 

[froggy]

Shouldn't it be " all students be required to speak ENGLISH".

 

[Gatekeeper]

Shouldn't it be " all students be required to speak ENGLISH".

One would think, yes. Mandatory would be my vote.

 

[Harry Dresden]

I wish they had this law for my university classes.

yea as someone who speaks Canadian.... it must have been tough for you to understand English....

 

[Granny]

English teachers DO have to be fluent in English. They do need to know the rules. English is a difficult language. For one thing, unlike the other languages, it has three genders instead of two. If I had to correctly apply 100% proper English grammar today - I would have a hard time doing it.

For that matter, all teachers should be fluent in English. My grandson had a teacher who had just stepped off the boat from the Philippians and every kid in the class was failing math because they couldn't understand anything she was say. She was replaced by an Jamaican who was in his last year of internship and really didn't give a damn. He was heading back to Jamaica.

 

[AquaAthena]

English teachers DO have to be fluent in English. They do need to know the rules. English is a difficult language. For one thing, unlike the other languages, it has three genders instead of two. If I had to correctly apply 100% proper English grammar today - I would have a hard time doing it.

For that matter, all teachers should be fluent in English. My grandson had a teacher who had just stepped off the boat from the Philippians and every kid in the class was failing math because they couldn't understand anything she was say. She was replaced by an Jamaican who was in his last year of internship and really didn't give a damn. He was heading back to Jamaica.

Grammarians are constantly changing the rules, also. Remember when it was wrong to end a sentence with a preposition or begin one with a conjunction? Now those are considered fine [for the most part] and even preferable to begin a sentence with the conjunctions, And or But.

English is considered one of the two top most difficult languages to learn. The first one being Chinese. [or so this was true, a few years ago ]

 

[Middleman]

Honestly, English is not as difficult grammatically as some languages. The trick in English is the proper usage of articles, and other small words, in order to create nuances of meaning. But English grammar is supposedly similar to the Scandinavian languages which have relatively simple grammar.

Try learning a language with 7 cases for singular and 7 for plural, plus different forms based on masculine and feminine verbs and their modifiers.

One challenge in English is the vast vocabulary. English is a language that has absorbed words from many different sources, and it has many synonyms and a larger vocabulary than many languages. Another difficulty in English, of course, is that the spelling rules are complicated and often nonsensical.

But, lets face it, it must not be impossible to learn since it's known by many people throughout the world as a second language.

 

[PatekPhilippe]

English teachers DO have to be fluent in English. They do need to know the rules. English is a difficult language. For one thing, unlike the other languages, it has three genders instead of two. If I had to correctly apply 100% proper English grammar today - I would have a hard time doing it.

For that matter, all teachers should be fluent in English. My grandson had a teacher who had just stepped off the boat from the Philippians and every kid in the class was failing math because they couldn't understand anything she was say. She was replaced by an Jamaican who was in his last year of internship and really didn't give a damn. He was heading back to Jamaica.

Grammarians are constantly changing the rules, also. Remember when it was wrong to end a sentence with a preposition or begin one with a conjunction? Now those are considered fine [for the most part] and even preferable to begin a sentence with the conjunctions, And or But.

English is considered one of the two top most difficult languages to learn. The first one being Chinese. [or so this was true, a few years ago ]

Still true...14,000 characters in the Chinese alphabet kinda rules out the ABC song method..

 

[rightwinger]

Notice the dodging of my question....I guess according to some having an accent and improperly pronouncing english words doesn't equate in any way to FLUENCY in english...

Does a southern accent count?
How about a Brooklyn or Boston accent?

All butcher the english language....so do some British accents

 

[goldcatt]

The problem I have with the "accent" part of this is how subjective it is. I might have no trouble understanding somebody from Mexico or India or Texas for that matter, but the next guy over can't figure it out or vice versa. Who decides, and what is the objective standard?

 

[RadiomanATL]

The problem I have with the "accent" part of this is how subjective it is. I might have no trouble understanding somebody from Mexico or India or Texas for that matter, but the next guy over can't figure it out or vice versa. Who decides, and what is the objective standard?

Thats my problem with it as well.

The law shouldn't be subject to this extent.

 

[PatekPhilippe]

The problem I have with the "accent" part of this is how subjective it is. I might have no trouble understanding somebody from Mexico or India or Texas for that matter, but the next guy over can't figure it out or vice versa. Who decides, and what is the objective standard?

Thats my problem with it as well.

The law shouldn't be subject to this extent.

But it is...and the discretion is left up to the inspector conducting the audit.

 

[PatekPhilippe]

Notice the dodging of my question....I guess according to some having an accent and improperly pronouncing english words doesn't equate in any way to FLUENCY in english...

Does a southern accent count?
How about a Brooklyn or Boston accent?

All butcher the english language....so do some British accents

If they were involved in teaching non english speaking students English as a second language then yes...those accents would be subject to the SAME application of the law.

 

[Angelhair]

Well if you want your kids mispronouncing words so be it. But I don't want my kid saying shansh instead of change; or luve instead of love; or countless other words pronounced incorrectly. If my child is going to live in this country and be successful, I want he/she pronouncing words correctly. Most of the comments made, show me that many of you don't live in the southwest. I blame the education dept in these states for hiring teachers whose primary language is spanish - and have limited english skills....and all due to bilingual ed.

 

[RadiomanATL]

The problem I have with the "accent" part of this is how subjective it is. I might have no trouble understanding somebody from Mexico or India or Texas for that matter, but the next guy over can't figure it out or vice versa. Who decides, and what is the objective standard?

Thats my problem with it as well.

The law shouldn't be subject to this extent.

But it is...and the discretion is left up to the inspector conducting the audit.

And thats why I disagree with it.

I thought I just said that?

 

[Middleman]

Notice the dodging of my question....I guess according to some having an accent and improperly pronouncing english words doesn't equate in any way to FLUENCY in english...

Does a southern accent count?
How about a Brooklyn or Boston accent?

All butcher the english language....so do some British accents

It's fine for people to have accents, but there are more refined NY accents and then there is Fran Drescher. English teachers should have refine, educated sounding accents to model to their students.

Whether people consider it classist, racist, or whatever, the way one speaks is a social clue that will be evaluated by others. It is important in the world of business, and the professional world of work. If someone makes grammatical errors common to the less educated people, it's noticeable. If you really want to help the underclass advance, then teaching them the subtleties of refined language will help them.

A very good movie about this subject, of course, is 'My Fair Lady'.