(34 of 50) MODERN LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT) & TAIWAN: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT
Six Signs of a Fake/Not-Real Teacher of IELTS/English:
2nd Sign
Okay, I used two posts for the 1st Sign of being a fake/not-real teacher. Now, I’ll use one post for the next sign. Here goes.
Sign 2 of a Not-Real/Fake Teacher
The teacher uses memorisation, or uses books and material that do this.
Again, if your teacher or school does this, it is time to walk out the door and never come back. Anyone who did this in a CELTA teacher-training course would immediately fail that lesson, and be told never to do this in a class. Anyone who did this in a language school in Australia would be quickly fired. Memorisation is not teaching, and it is an insult to you as an intelligent human being.
Read the Sign 1: Second Story again. You will see that those who have studied English abroad know the truth. Some of them find the Taiwanese system ‘unbearable’. But do you? Again, the memorisation ‘technique’ is very widespread, among teachers, schools, and junk IELTS material. If any of it appears, it just reveals your teacher is not really a teacher. It’s also a disaster for the IELTS test, trust me.
Important Note
Do NOT Believe What These People Say; Find Out What They DO!
Many teachers and schools are now beginning to claim that don’t use memorisation. Maybe this is a response to these pixnet posts, especially the few written in Chinese (which most people read). Perhaps the content of all these blog posts, and the constant message both my wife and I give to students, is making a change in students’ thinking. Perhaps, many are now realising the obvious truth: that memorisation is a BIG sign of fakeness.
It’s interesting, after we put our first article in Chinese criticising memorisation, I have even read someone responding with a passionate defence of memorisation (written in Chinese). This person made all sorts of impossible and logically absurd conclusions (‘memorisation promotes critical thinking by showing the underlying logic of English’). But, as I mentioned, what’s interesting is that some of these people are now trying the opposite approach – pretending that they actually do promote critical thinking in their classroom, and never ever use memorisation. In short, these people copy much of the argument which is now on this pixnet blog.
The big question is, what do these people actually do in the classroom? Always remember, it’s not what these people say, but it’s what they DO IN THE CLASSROOM which matters.
Of course, it is possible you might decide to believe them, but when the actual teaching begins, you will find out the truth. That’s when you should demand your money back, and walk out of that course. Just read the signs.
And here’s quote from Benjamin Franklin. Half a truth is often a great lie.
And here’s the usual question to end these ‘fakeness’ posts.
Why do these people use memorisation?
The answer: because so many students accept this, and give them lots of money.
The next post will consider the next three signs of being fake/not-real.
Now, check that you know the meaning of the underlined vocabulary (also repeated below).
- an insult (n)
- a disaster (n)
- to be passionate (adj)
- to be absurd (adj)
If you want to find out more about me, go to aisielts.com .