Comments on: IN THE CORNER… http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/ The Life and Times of The English Teacher Online... Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:03:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: admin http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1125 admin Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:42:41 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1125 Thanks to you all for the feedback, reminds me I must write a new blog post sometime, am getting really rusty at this point ha ha. It seems there is a mix of what goes on around the world but the Italian system is some what 'crazy' as Daniel puts it. Another thing about Italian schools especially where English is taught, is the teaching is very much based on the grammar and when the kids leave school they can't speak a word of English, that can't be quite right can it?! Thanks to you all for the feedback, reminds me I must write a new blog post sometime, am getting really rusty at this point ha ha. It seems there is a mix of what goes on around the world but the Italian system is some what ‘crazy’ as Daniel puts it. Another thing about Italian schools especially where English is taught, is the teaching is very much based on the grammar and when the kids leave school they can’t speak a word of English, that can’t be quite right can it?!

]]> By: Daniel Stephens http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1124 Daniel Stephens Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:21:49 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1124 Interesting topic. My kids are in Italian schools (age 6, 9 and 10) and fortunately get great grades. But I often teach young people who have got "insufficient" grades at the end of the year and need to catch up over the summer before being re-tested. Every country has it's "culture" of education, and often these things persist in time because each generation has gone through it and so thinks it's "normal". Many things about the Italian education system are crazy (for example, the fact that teachers hold their union meetings DURING school hours, so the kids lose lessons), but this at least has the effect of setting clear quality standards from an early age. Where I grew up, in Britain, many more young people seemed to leave school with no qualifications at all than they do in Italy. Interesting topic. My kids are in Italian schools (age 6, 9 and 10) and fortunately get great grades. But I often teach young people who have got “insufficient” grades at the end of the year and need to catch up over the summer before being re-tested.
Every country has it’s “culture” of education, and often these things persist in time because each generation has gone through it and so thinks it’s “normal”. Many things about the Italian education system are crazy (for example, the fact that teachers hold their union meetings DURING school hours, so the kids lose lessons), but this at least has the effect of setting clear quality standards from an early age.
Where I grew up, in Britain, many more young people seemed to leave school with no qualifications at all than they do in Italy.

]]> By: Enid Moxon http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1123 Enid Moxon Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:52:14 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1123 <i>I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don’t have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate.+1</i> +1 I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don’t have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate.+1
+1

]]> By: chinabyte.com http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1121 chinabyte.com Thu, 20 May 2010 19:00:52 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1121 <i>I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don’t have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate.</i> +1 I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don’t have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate.
+1

]]> By: Smaragda http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1082 Smaragda Sat, 17 Apr 2010 10:27:16 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1082 I don't have mahy positive comments to make on the Greek schooling system. In high school (3 years) and lyceum (3 years) students are constantly tested (i'm talking about A LOT OF TESTS) and then take exams at the end of the year. If their average isnt over 10/20 they can retake exams at the end of summer. The biggest problem is that due to the insufficiency of public schools and the great number of lessons, students then attend private schools to learn everything that schools can't teach them. After-schools lessons are a big thing here. Parents pay huge amounts of money so their children can learn maths, ancient Greek, science etc. The same applies to English lessons. These types of schools are a big business here. Towards the end of lyceum, this is considered a must and costs quite a lot. To sum up students attend school in the morning where they learn nothing, and then attend more lessons all through the afternoon to acquire the basic knowledge necessary to pass a class and hopefully gain entrance to a university. I don’t have mahy positive comments to make on the Greek schooling system.

In high school (3 years) and lyceum (3 years) students are constantly tested (i’m talking about A LOT OF TESTS) and then take exams at the end of the year. If their average isnt over 10/20 they can retake exams at the end of summer. The biggest problem is that due to the insufficiency of public schools and the great number of lessons, students then attend private schools to learn everything that schools can’t teach them.

After-schools lessons are a big thing here. Parents pay huge amounts of money so their children can learn maths, ancient Greek, science etc. The same applies to English lessons. These types of schools are a big business here. Towards the end of lyceum, this is considered a must and costs quite a lot.

To sum up students attend school in the morning where they learn nothing, and then attend more lessons all through the afternoon to acquire the basic knowledge necessary to pass a class and hopefully gain entrance to a university.

]]> By: Jo Hawke http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1072 Jo Hawke Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:11:48 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1072 That can be a serious issue in middle school (grades 6-8 around here), especially, since kids mature so much around age 13-14. And it's been my experience that the schools tend to push kids through as much as possible to avoid the inferiority complex, as you said, but also to avoid any difficulties with much more mature members of the opposite sex around, if you know what I mean. In high school, it's not as much of an issue, I don't think. Kids' friends may not even know exactly which classes they're taking, since everyone's kind of on their own, so they have less embarrassment (those who actually are embarrassed; you'd be surprised how many of my students really don't care about grades at all...). We're on a year-long schedule, so if kids fail, they do have to repeat the class the next year (if they don't take or fail summer school), but I prefer the block schedule I've worked with in the past, where students take fewer classes at a time and classes are over at the end of the semester. Repeating a class, then, can be done before the year's over. That can be a serious issue in middle school (grades 6-8 around here), especially, since kids mature so much around age 13-14. And it’s been my experience that the schools tend to push kids through as much as possible to avoid the inferiority complex, as you said, but also to avoid any difficulties with much more mature members of the opposite sex around, if you know what I mean.

In high school, it’s not as much of an issue, I don’t think. Kids’ friends may not even know exactly which classes they’re taking, since everyone’s kind of on their own, so they have less embarrassment (those who actually are embarrassed; you’d be surprised how many of my students really don’t care about grades at all…).

We’re on a year-long schedule, so if kids fail, they do have to repeat the class the next year (if they don’t take or fail summer school), but I prefer the block schedule I’ve worked with in the past, where students take fewer classes at a time and classes are over at the end of the semester. Repeating a class, then, can be done before the year’s over.

]]> By: theenglishteacher http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1071 theenglishteacher Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:59:37 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1071 Hi Jo, that's interesting! I think here the system has its pros and cons - but some kids who are perhaps good in languages but not so good in theory of other subjects are somewhat penalized - and to make them re-do the whole year is not always a solution - this can backlog and some kids will find themselves older than the average age of their fellow pupils this can cause an inferiority complex if you ask me... Hi Jo, that’s interesting! I think here the system has its pros and cons – but some kids who are perhaps good in languages but not so good in theory of other subjects are somewhat penalized – and to make them re-do the whole year is not always a solution – this can backlog and some kids will find themselves older than the average age of their fellow pupils this can cause an inferiority complex if you ask me…

]]> By: Jo Hawke http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/in-the-corner/comment-page-1/#comment-1070 Jo Hawke Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:29:25 +0000 http://www.theenglishteacheronline.com/?p=1286#comment-1070 I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don't have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate. I live in Virginia, and in the school districts around here, students in lower grades are allowed remediation during the breaks. In high school, we have summer school for most core classes, which basically compacts a whole year into about three weeks of all-day classes. We don’t have any kind of last-chance test, though students are not held back in all classes due to one. Credit is given for each unit, and some students are actuaaly allowed to take two or three levels of English, for example, at once to ensure they graduate.

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