Broken English Teachers
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I teach English in Japan. If you thought that English education in Japan was lacking, check this story out and weep quietly to yourselves. Yes, it’s true. English education in America has reached a new level of shameful.
Let’s play a game. What’s wrong with the following sentences, other than the fact that they were uttered by real, living English teachers in the state of Arizona?
1 - “How do we call it in English?”
2 - “You need to make the story very interested to the teacher.”
3 - “My older brother always put the rules.”
4 - “Sometimes, you are not gonna know some.”
5 - “If you have problems, to who are you going to ask?”
6 - “Read me first how it was before.”
(Answers are below for those who need them, and those from these Arizona public schools.)
Some teachers’ English was so poor that even state officials strained to understand them,” the assessment found. “At a dozen districts, evaluators found teachers who ignored state law and taught in Spanish.
Here’s the hat tip chain. Ready? Bryan at Hot Air found it via Mark Krikorian at National Review Online’s The Corner, who referenced Alan Wall at VDare, who linked to a different article about it.
Answers to the quiz:
1 - How do we say it in English?
(What do we call it in English?)
2 - You need to make the story very interesting for the teacher.
3 - My older brother always set the rules.
4 - Sometimes you will not know the answer.
5 - Who are you going to speak with if you have problems?
(If you have questions, who will you ask?)
6 - Read me the original sentence, please.
(”Read the beginning of the story to me.” <- This would also work if the topic isn’t grammar, but the plot of a story.)