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Friday, 30 April 2010
Who has the real communication issue?
04:42 | 
Posted by
ATC
A good friend of mine, who is a committed and experienced ESOL lecturer, was telling me the other day that she is particularly concerned about one of her students. Despite this student being one of the first to join the class, she was rapidly falling behind the other students, even those who joined the class much later. I asked all the questions I could think of:
The look on my friend's face was a picture "Why should I change anything?" she asked, with a hint of hostility. Well it was just a question!
You see, I think it's easy to think that the problem is the student. If there is an issue in the way the student is learning, perhaps it's worth reviewing the way she is expected to learn. This means looking at verbal and written communication methods. Perhaps her current methods just don't suit the needs of this particular learner. I'm not saying I'm right, but I believe it's always worth looking at. After all if you've tried everything else you can think of - why not try something new?
- "Is she committed?" ("Yes"),
- "Does she attend regularly?" ("Yes, she hasn't missed a single class"),
- "Does she complete any homework she is given?" ("Yes, always" ) and so on...
- "What do you think you could do to change the way you communicate with her?"
You see, I think it's easy to think that the problem is the student. If there is an issue in the way the student is learning, perhaps it's worth reviewing the way she is expected to learn. This means looking at verbal and written communication methods. Perhaps her current methods just don't suit the needs of this particular learner. I'm not saying I'm right, but I believe it's always worth looking at. After all if you've tried everything else you can think of - why not try something new?
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Wednesday, 28 April 2010
IELTS exams for native speakers
11:28 |
Posted by
ATC
You have dreams of a new life in Australia or New Zealand and they're crying out for the job skills that you have. There's only one small problem. The visa application says that you must pass the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam.
Some native speakers appear to be taking it for granted that because they speak English, they will automatically pass . Well unfortunately that isn't always the case. Some people are not just failing once, but several times. Why? It could be for a number of reasons including:
Some native speakers appear to be taking it for granted that because they speak English, they will automatically pass . Well unfortunately that isn't always the case. Some people are not just failing once, but several times. Why? It could be for a number of reasons including:
- Lack of preparation.
- Lack of knowledge about what the exam entails.
- Unaware of how high the standard is to pass.
- Lack of writing, listening and/or speaking skills
- Fear of exams.
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