Hi!

The language is used basically for communication and most of the ESL students want to learn English only for that purpose. I�ve already known that everyone makes mistakes even in his mother tongue (and Roney proves my thought perfectly) but we�re still able to communicate very well using it.

The judgment I take into consideration concerning my teacher�s skills are: my students� development and my boss�s satisfaction, and up to the present moment both seem to be OK � at least from my POV. Also from my POV it really doesn�t matter to me if someone decides to judge my entire work and skills based on a single (or even a few) grammar mistakes or typos. I will merely credit his judgment to his stupidity because being a teacher involves much more than spelling and grammar knowledge.

I know tons of people who rarely make spelling / grammar mistakes but were completely unable to teach, giving up (or being fired) during the first semester. Also know some, who can barely write or speak with correct pronunciation or spelling, always using books to correct their students� mistakes or asking for other teachers� help, who are wonderful teachers and their students are successful at learning English at a high level.

The main aim of our profession is not to proudly show our language skills (as some seem to think), but help students acquire vocabulary and grammar knowledge and give them opportunities to practice and feel secure enough to use English as much as possible, without fearing mistakes.

We learn much more from our (and the others�) mistakes than from skillful teachers that don�t understand the students� needs or difficulties.

Have a nice day!

Of course I agree with you, but we need time to learn, nobody starts his work as a teacher with �perfect� English. We need to master our language and teaching skills as well, but only the experience in class will bring both.

Since we have members who have just started teaching, it�s unfair to judge everyone using the same pattern.

BTW, I don�t recognize any member here with the right of judging others.

In Brazil we use to say: the monkey sits on his long tail and criticizes the other monkeys� tails size.

Instead of criticizing the others we should learn from our own mistakes first, and help the others. That�s what this site is all about.

EDIT: I�m not concerned about the other teachers� mistakes. Only my students� mistakes (and mine) interest me.

And I consider correcting other person�s mistakes on the forum impolite � at least. I�ve never done that and never will. If someone wants me to correct his mistakes he has to pay me for it first.

Lindsey, Regina  : 

Once a student of mine (not one of the most interested ones) pointed out one of my typos. I said �sorry� and corrected it. I was about to feel glad for having a student able to recognize a mistake when she added: �as a teacher you shouldn�t make mistakes�.

So I told her that the school owner tried to hire God Himself (the only perfect entity I�ve ever heard about) to teach that class, but He was very busy with so many wars and disasters around the world that He couldn�t accept, so she hired me as the second option.

�Maybe next semester � I said � so I�m afraid you�ll have to resign yourselves to having classes with someone less than perfect for a while. Or maybe when you reach perfection He will accept this class.�

@Lindsay, I had to laugh when I read your post. I thought the same things when I started the training to teach American English. I studied British English and couldn�t understand when my �teacher� used words like �waiter�, �daughter� and so on. The first time he asked me �What time is it?� I didn�t know how to answer because I was used to �Have you got the time?� with the British accent.

I still don�t know why they need a room for resting and why �toilet� is only one piece they have at the room they are expected only to rest in� Still don�t know where their �gotten, forgotten and all the �ten� they use came from�

After almost 13 years teaching mainly American English I watch some movies featuring Hugh Grant (that�s a pity he hasn�t met me yet � who knows?) to refresh the British accent I lost for good.

@Manon

As I told you my sister moved to Canada and she�ll have a baby in a few months. Of course I will pay her a visit when the baby is born (she�ll be my second niece) and � just in case � I want to know if you would really hire me if I decided to stay there for a while. LOL