I have no faith in how English is being taught

[Erik_Twice]

You know, here in Spain and probably in the rest of the world politicians love to talk about how many foreign languages our children will know in the future thanks to the awesome didactic methods they introduce.

I am not exactly the best speaker out there to complain but some things just drive me mad and have caused me to fail lots of questions in exams.

Take for example the verb "to be".

be, was, been

Easy enough? Well, you will be wrong because every book taught around here sys that the correct way is:

be, was, been/gone

That's right. "Gone" is now part of the verb "to be". In one exam I had to fill this phrase

Ben (go) to England.

I, naturally, wrote "went" and the teacher, naturally, told me I was wrong because it is "been" because "Ben went to England" makes no sense.

Similarly "can" is listed as meaning both "poder" (can) and "saber" (know). What the hell? How could that happen?

I teach to a little girl and I had to change half of her book because it was so wrong it was impossible to teach her anything. Instead of making them understand that "ride" means taking some kind of vehicle they translate it as "go" because it's easier.

No person will be able to ask for the menu in a restaurant, and nobody knows what a "hen" is because all the topics covered in the books are horrid like "Extreme sporst". Really? What kind of important topic is that?

I used to bore to death in English class because the teachers never understood that if I was oficially recognized as knowing English and was reading Discworld in front of them an "extra hard" excercise consisting of the past perfect was to little for me. They also never understood that speaking at my normal speech rate when talking in a foreign language was not "bragging" but not trying to talk like a 5 year old, taking a minute for each word.

So, anyone have any horrible experiences like me? Can you explain me how the hell can someone go so wrong?

[alienjesus]

This makes me dread the things I've learnt in Spanish class. Hopefully what I learnt was fine though, I'm sure my Spanish teachers would've pointed it out if it wasn't.

Also, on a tangential note, Discworld is an excellent series of books.

[NSBAceAttorney]

I have a friend who lived in the USA until he was 15. He moved to Spain and was forced to take an ESL (English as a Second Language) class over there even though it was his native tongue. He told me once that the books he was "learning" from were all incorrect and that a hillbilly could speak better English. That's pretty bad.

[dsheinem]

If you think that's bad you should see how English is being taught here in the states.

Reading college students' papers makes me want to grab our public school system by the throat and choke it until it learns how to construct a proper sentence.

[saturnfan]

If you think that's bad you should see how English is being taught here in the states.

Reading college students' papers makes me want to grab our public school system by the throat and choke it until it learns how to construct a proper sentence.

Beat me too it, there are so many people in the U.S. who only speak English in theory.

[t0yrobo]

That's too bad, languages aren't taught any better in the US. It doesn't help that we get less exposure to other languages than people in Europe do, but most of the time the classes are just a joke. Almost no one remember any of it expect some basic pronunciation, and words that sound funny.

[YoshiEgg25]

Hmm, I thought our Spanish courses were being good. I took four years of it. I wonder now...

Also, we had some kids from southern Spain (I think the town was Adra) come to our school last year. They spoke pretty good English from what I gathered. But I suppose one school doesn't make a country.

[Fickieboy]

You know, here in Spain and probably in the rest of the world politicians love to talk about how many foreign languages our children will know in the future thanks to the awesome didactic methods they introduce.

I am not exactly the best speaker out there to complain but some things just drive me mad and have caused me to fail lots of questions in exams.

Take for example the verb "to be".

be, was, been

Easy enough? Well, you will be wrong because every book taught around here sys that the correct way is:

be, was, been/gone

That's right. "Gone" is now part of the verb "to be". In one exam I had to fill this phrase

Ben (go) to England.

I, naturally, wrote "went" and the teacher, naturally, told me I was wrong because it is "been" because "Ben went to England" makes no sense.

Similarly "can" is listed as meaning both "poder" (can) and "saber" (know). What the hell? How could that happen?

I teach to a little girl and I had to change half of her book because it was so wrong it was impossible to teach her anything. Instead of making them understand that "ride" means taking some kind of vehicle they translate it as "go" because it's easier.

No person will be able to ask for the menu in a restaurant, and nobody knows what a "hen" is because all the topics covered in the books are horrid like "Extreme sporst". Really? What kind of important topic is that?

I used to bore to death in English class because the teachers never understood that if I was oficially recognized as knowing English and was reading Discworld in front of them an "extra hard" excercise consisting of the past perfect was to little for me. They also never understood that speaking at my normal speech rate when talking in a foreign language was not "bragging" but not trying to talk like a 5 year old, taking a minute for each word.

So, anyone have any horrible experiences like me? Can you explain me how the hell can someone go so wrong?

Tio, I learnt all my english in highschool and I hadnt had a problem in ages. Despite some misspelling and shit... but thats me, I was a bit lazy

[Fickieboy]

I have a friend who lived in the USA until he was 15. He moved to Spain and was forced to take an ESL (English as a Second Language) class over there even though it was his native tongue. He told me once that the books he was "learning" from were all incorrect and that a hillbilly could speak better English. That's pretty bad.

Thats maybe because we learn british english. My american friends always corrected me in ways the uk ones never did

[alienjesus]

I have a friend who lived in the USA until he was 15. He moved to Spain and was forced to take an ESL (English as a Second Language) class over there even though it was his native tongue. He told me once that the books he was "learning" from were all incorrect and that a hillbilly could speak better English. That's pretty bad.

Thats maybe because we learn british english. My american friends always corrected me in ways the uk ones never did

I'm doubtful, the differences aren't very great, and I'd hope that most Americans wouldn't think 'a hillbilly could speak better English' than a Brit.