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ESL forum >
Message board > When/how should we correct each others´ grammar,etc?
When/how should we correct each others´ grammar,etc?
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douglas
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When/how should we correct each others´ grammar,etc?
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This is something I have had on my mind and would like to get your opinions on. A lot of worksheets I download have spelling and grammatical errors. They are beautiful, well designed, and effective WSs that I am very happy to be able to use(so please don�t get offended). I just correct the mistakes myself before using them in class. However, some of the mistakes I see concern me; if this is what the students are learning they may have problems being understood later.
My question is when and how (if at all) should we correct each other? I have sent a couple private messages to people about mistakes or writing styles that intrigued me, but have refrained from making comments more often than not--I don�t want to offend or discourage anyone. Unfortunately, I have also decided not to download some usable worksheets due to spelling/grammar errors I was too lazy to repair.
What are your thoughts on this?
Have I said lately how much I love this site (I think I�m addicted)? Thanks to all of you.
Douglas
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22 Jan 2009
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Damielle
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Hi Dougls: As far as I am concerned, I welcome any private message telling me/reporting my mistakes on worksheets and/or any other places. But remember that this topic has already been on the forum and most of us have agreed on making it over the private messenger so as not to make the person feel embarrassed. |
22 Jan 2009
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Zora
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Good question, and one that is hard to answer. I think that you are doing the correct thing by private messaging the owner of the worksheet with your comments on their work. Since it seems that people do not enjoy criticism in their "comment box" whether it be constructive or not... (it seems the comment box should be called "a thank you box" instead)... *note the sarcasm please*
But anyways Douglas, keep up the good work if you are taking the initiative to check things over and then politely point out the error to the owner.
Cheers,
Linda
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22 Jan 2009
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BRAHIM S
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This is the way I proceed
Considering that ESL worksheets are designed by specific teachers, for specific students at specific contexts, I simply always adapt everything to my adults teaching, starting with shortening some long activities, completing others, getting rid of illustrations (not always suitable for adults) and finishing with the most important thing: correcting erros if there are any, and indeed I have often come across such mistakes, some of which are minor but others are major...
Your question deserves being debated, maybe the comments tool should be used for that, I am, like you, waiting for others� opinions |
22 Jan 2009
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SusanBrown
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In my view the worksheets that contain some errors must be corrected by the teachers who download them (they are done for teachers first as a good material to be used by them st the first time) and just after the teacher look at it and check it out if all is ok the worksheet must be given to the students or perhaps they can use these worksheets with errors to show to the students how they can correct them. They can be a very good resource for learning after all. Since the worksheets pass to the hands of a new teacher every days this can be done without any problems or harms from those who complain about these errors...
I think no comment is necessary or open discussions about this since we all know that our English abilities are not 100% since the most teachers who work with the English language are not native speakers as everybody knows...and all of us are learning new words and new expressions every days...before pass it to our students..in the classrooms... we can see lots of spanish, portuguese, brazilians, cubans, germans, italians here at this group. and the principal is that even the native speakers who did their studies till the end are completely free from errors in their own mother tongue. It is not a excuse...I really know..
Of course as teachers, we must check and recheck and search for grammar errors in each worksheet we send to the group.I believe the most teachers do this every days...in each paper they send here....When teachers get 100% of quality in each work they do, it can be very good and must be the goal to be reached for all of us....but sometimes it is impossible for some teachers seeing their own errors even when they try it very hard , even when they read it 200 times they can not find the errors by themselves...besides that sometimes people can count with the help of good translators to produce correct texts, with good grammar writing and correct some points in all the pages of the materials must be done to minimize those errors.
However, sometimes I see that some teachers do not like to be corrected and they can feel themselves uncomfortable and offended reading comments about their materials, so each one of us must know what is better to do in those cases... and we do not need to take it so serious, we must evitate to offend people here in this web site..each one knows what level of English we are or have got in our lives studying and searching for help, so Who are we to finger the errors from someone if they do not ask?
I think we must help and offer our experience to the teachers we care about when we are solicited in doing this, not before..doing things in this way we can evitate more errors and misunderstandings and I believe all must be fine don�t you think? When I am not sure about something I always will ask for help...and this should be the best thing to do..each ones has his/her own opinion what is yours??
wish you all a nice day! Hugs suzy
ps> Maybe this text contain errors but if you could understand it till the end the message was passed heheheheeheh..thanks for your comment.
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22 Jan 2009
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Logos
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This is one of those subjects that comes around about once every three months or so. If I recall correctly the general concensus amongst contributors was that most did not mind mistakes being pointed out to them. The question is, should this be done privately through the pm or on the comments.
My personal opinion is that if the mistake is such that it presents a wrong view of the language that is fairly significant, then it is okay to write this in the comments section. Whilst I am in no way trying to belittle or say that �non-native� teachers -have a lesser ability, it should be remembered that some teachers may not see the mistake themselves and they download the worksheet and use it as is. The comment, however, should also contain positive complements about the overall value of the worksheet.
I also concur with Linda�s sarcastic comment and consider that whilst thanks are always welcome, the title of the box is comments and so this is a legitimate use of this facility.
Nobody likes to be criticised and much depends upon the way that errors are pointed out. Once again, I hope we would all be polite in our criticisms and be generous with our complements. After all, if we considered the worksheet was worth downloading then it must have appealed to us in the first place. |
22 Jan 2009
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douglas
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Thanks you all,
You have pretty much confirmed my thoughts on it. I haven�t been here long enough to have experienced this topic on the forum yet--I figured I was probably bringing up an old topic (sorry), but I really wanted to know the general concensus among contributors.
I think I�ll stay with using PM for corrections and will probably just let most mistakes go. I would hate to be responsible for hurting someone�s feelings that had worked so hard on a WS. Rather than risking this I will mostly just make my own corrections and move on.
PS-I would appreciate a PM message if you notice errors on any of my materials (I have a little bit of perfectionist in me).
Thanks,
Douglas |
22 Jan 2009
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ximons
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Hi, Douglas. I �ll be thankful if you help me with mistakes on my worksheet. I knew I have many problems with the English language and I need some help. Feel free to put your comments on my work. Thanks. Ximons. |
22 Jan 2009
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Damielle
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I think that your position of sending PM is correct and It would be a good idea that, if the person corrected feel like doing it, he/she personally write it on the forum or comments so as to make it public. |
22 Jan 2009
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aclink
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I have had the same problem! I think people need to be more careful and make sure things are right before uploading. English is my first language and Spanish my second. I would NEVER post, upload, or send home with students something in Spanish that I had not had a Native speaker look over first. I don�t have time to sit around fixing worksheets. The mistakes I see are ones I would never let my students get away with. |
22 Jan 2009
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ucia
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This is really becoming a big problem for me. I do not always have the time to correct every mistake. There are some which are difficult to spot, for example with song activities if you do not listen to the song you cannot see some errors, but they are there, waiting to show up in classroom! And honestly I am not sure I want to go to class and apologise again. You know, even text books have mistakes, but since they were published, sold and bought, I do not feel "guilty" about that, whereas I do when it is about the worksheets I downloaded without noticing minor mistakes.
As regards major mistakes, there are a lot and I correct them, but I am starting to think maybe it was better when there was supervision before upload.
What do you think?
I read your comments and I think I will send PMs to correct fellow teachers hoping they do not get offended.  |
22 Jan 2009
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