English As A Foreign Language (EFL)
English is different.15 total reviews
Comment from Asem.inspirations
Good morning, Maria:
I really enjoy your lessons. They are fun and thorough. I wish I had an English teacher like you when I was in school. Back then we had English 1, English 2, English 3 and English 4. I hated this classes. I don't even think that I got passed English 2. I wish I had paid more attention to the teachers then. In order to write my life story, I will need to take a writing class.
I used to wonder why we had to take a class for a language that we speak already but there was so much to learn that is so necessary for us, in everyday life.
Thank you so much for this information. I particularly like the sentence with dessert, desert, and desert. You even included some Spanish in this lesson. Wonderful.
reply by the author on 23-Sep-2017
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Good morning, Maria:
I really enjoy your lessons. They are fun and thorough. I wish I had an English teacher like you when I was in school. Back then we had English 1, English 2, English 3 and English 4. I hated this classes. I don't even think that I got passed English 2. I wish I had paid more attention to the teachers then. In order to write my life story, I will need to take a writing class.
I used to wonder why we had to take a class for a language that we speak already but there was so much to learn that is so necessary for us, in everyday life.
Thank you so much for this information. I particularly like the sentence with dessert, desert, and desert. You even included some Spanish in this lesson. Wonderful.
Comment Written 23-Sep-2017
reply by the author on 23-Sep-2017
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Thanks, Tier. English has always being my favorite subject. Especially Literature.
Comment from Pearl Edwards
And then there is the way we Australians use the English language, now others say that is even more confusing, me it's the only language I know. Loved reading this Maria, and loved the desert - dessert sentence, really does prove your point, LOL. Good luck to your students trying to understand it all.
cheers,
reply by the author on 23-Sep-2017
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And then there is the way we Australians use the English language, now others say that is even more confusing, me it's the only language I know. Loved reading this Maria, and loved the desert - dessert sentence, really does prove your point, LOL. Good luck to your students trying to understand it all.
cheers,
Comment Written 23-Sep-2017
reply by the author on 23-Sep-2017
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Thanks for reading.
Comment from patcelaw
I can see why the foreign language students can have difficulty with the English, Eve many of we native speakers of English have time we get confused as well. Is it the word affect or effect we want. It is often confusing. Patricia
reply by the author on 20-Sep-2017
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I can see why the foreign language students can have difficulty with the English, Eve many of we native speakers of English have time we get confused as well. Is it the word affect or effect we want. It is often confusing. Patricia
Comment Written 19-Sep-2017
reply by the author on 20-Sep-2017
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Thanks, Patricia. I guess all languages have their difficulties, but they say English is one of the most difficult to learn.
Comment from Mark Valentine
I love this wonderful reflection on language. This one will resonate with writers especially since it's a group that must have thought about the eccentricities of the English language before.
I used to teach ESL (English as a Second Language - I take it by your title that it now has a new name) in my younger days. One of my favorite stories was when I asked the class to write something and one student, whose first language was Spanish, said "Teacher, I no got a pencil" - I corrected her by saying "I don't have a pencil", to which she replied "Ni yo tampoco"
Thanks for reminding us what a weird, wild, wonderful, language we have.
reply by the author on 20-Sep-2017
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I love this wonderful reflection on language. This one will resonate with writers especially since it's a group that must have thought about the eccentricities of the English language before.
I used to teach ESL (English as a Second Language - I take it by your title that it now has a new name) in my younger days. One of my favorite stories was when I asked the class to write something and one student, whose first language was Spanish, said "Teacher, I no got a pencil" - I corrected her by saying "I don't have a pencil", to which she replied "Ni yo tampoco"
Thanks for reminding us what a weird, wild, wonderful, language we have.
Comment Written 19-Sep-2017
reply by the author on 20-Sep-2017
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It's fun being a teacher, isn't it?
Thanks for reading.
Comment from robyn corum
MJ,
I'd be interested to know how many languages you can speak. Since I'm limited to one -- unless you count Pig Latin -- that silly language of kids in the States!! Haha!!
This was cool. The only issue I saw was in the paragraph beginning 'Sayings and idioms...'. You'll notice Evil Eddie got you in a couple places.
Also, I'm not sure too many US readers will get your 'weird expressions ' example. I don't speak Spanish and need a full translation, perhaps in your notes??
Great job. Very thoughtful. I enjoyed!
reply by the author on 19-Sep-2017
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MJ,
I'd be interested to know how many languages you can speak. Since I'm limited to one -- unless you count Pig Latin -- that silly language of kids in the States!! Haha!!
This was cool. The only issue I saw was in the paragraph beginning 'Sayings and idioms...'. You'll notice Evil Eddie got you in a couple places.
Also, I'm not sure too many US readers will get your 'weird expressions ' example. I don't speak Spanish and need a full translation, perhaps in your notes??
Great job. Very thoughtful. I enjoyed!
Comment Written 18-Sep-2017
reply by the author on 19-Sep-2017
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I just speak French, Spanish and English. I've also studied German but without much success.
I'll have a look at that paragraph.
Thanks for reading.
Comment from nor84
I enjoyed this. English is rapidly changing in America. There seems to be a kind of shorthand, which didn't exist in the 1950s. The refrigerator became the fridge. The air conditioner became the AC, and it goes on and on. We asked for a permanent when we wanted our hair curly, now that's a perm. I don't know if this has happened in other languages.
reply by the author on 18-Sep-2017
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I enjoyed this. English is rapidly changing in America. There seems to be a kind of shorthand, which didn't exist in the 1950s. The refrigerator became the fridge. The air conditioner became the AC, and it goes on and on. We asked for a permanent when we wanted our hair curly, now that's a perm. I don't know if this has happened in other languages.
Comment Written 18-Sep-2017
reply by the author on 18-Sep-2017
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I think it's happening all over the world ( languages are living things), but maybe English is bigger on the abbreviations than, for example, Spanish.
Thanks for reading.
Comment from MelB
We do have a ton of rules and every rule has an exception. It is a confusing language, plus we have many slang terms and street terms. I almost found it easier to learn French.
reply by the author on 18-Sep-2017
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We do have a ton of rules and every rule has an exception. It is a confusing language, plus we have many slang terms and street terms. I almost found it easier to learn French.
Comment Written 17-Sep-2017
reply by the author on 18-Sep-2017
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I found it very easy to learn French. German is another story...
Thanks for reading.
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I bet. You're welcome.
Comment from DR DIP
I really enjoyed reading this Maria I was always going to ask you whether you felt it would be harder to learn English then it would be for me to learn Spanish which I feel is a very useful language across the world is it a deviation of say french as a comparison?
I must admit the English language is an ambiguous ass lol
Hey I remember saying this to you before. Seeing my poems are so simple in wording, if you ever want to use any in your class as an example of simple rhyme, be free to do so I would be humbled and honoured.
dip
reply by the author on 17-Sep-2017
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I really enjoyed reading this Maria I was always going to ask you whether you felt it would be harder to learn English then it would be for me to learn Spanish which I feel is a very useful language across the world is it a deviation of say french as a comparison?
I must admit the English language is an ambiguous ass lol
Hey I remember saying this to you before. Seeing my poems are so simple in wording, if you ever want to use any in your class as an example of simple rhyme, be free to do so I would be humbled and honoured.
dip
Comment Written 17-Sep-2017
reply by the author on 17-Sep-2017
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They say English is one of the hardest languages to learn...
Yes, Spanish is quite similar to French.
Thanks for reading and for offering the use of your poems.
Comment from doggymad
This was an interesting write, but as English is my first language I am puzzled by a few things you say.
There are no genders in our language that I am aware of. Everything unless it is a living thing is neutral. A table is neither male or female.
An unborn baby may be referred to as 'it' but not after birth.
The story is fine but I would have to question part of your information
Freda
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reply by the author on 17-Sep-2017
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This was an interesting write, but as English is my first language I am puzzled by a few things you say.
There are no genders in our language that I am aware of. Everything unless it is a living thing is neutral. A table is neither male or female.
An unborn baby may be referred to as 'it' but not after birth.
The story is fine but I would have to question part of your information
Freda
This rating does not count towards story rating or author rank.
The highest and the lowest rating are not included in calculations.
Comment Written 17-Sep-2017
reply by the author on 17-Sep-2017
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Hi Freda,
I think you misunderstood me.
I never said objects had genders. I just mentioned that Death when personified is He, while in Spanish it's la muerte (feminine). I also talked about pets, as my students don't understand why we use he or she to refer to an animal instead of just it.
Thanks for reading.
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Apologies Maria, I can never understand why languages have to apply a gender to practically everything.
Freda
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To make learners suffer? 😜
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Oh boy did I suffer, German is the worst even our native tongue isn't as complicated lol
hugs
Freda
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German is indeed difficult. I find French a lot easier. I started studying both at the same time (in my twenties) and whereas my level of French is pretty good, my German is practically non-existent.
Comment from Bucketlist
I am not surprised that you find our inconsistent , while students are frustrated.it could be as east as teaching homophones and (their, there, their) meanings. The gender issue is another matter,. This personal opinion expressed in a well written piece i'm I sure is shared by many others,. Thanks for sharing
She no throw en grama mistook at
reply by the author on 17-Sep-2017
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I am not surprised that you find our inconsistent , while students are frustrated.it could be as east as teaching homophones and (their, there, their) meanings. The gender issue is another matter,. This personal opinion expressed in a well written piece i'm I sure is shared by many others,. Thanks for sharing
She no throw en grama mistook at
Comment Written 17-Sep-2017
reply by the author on 17-Sep-2017
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Thanks for reading.
