The Alternative Story (TAS) - Discussion

[stressedmom]

Hi TAS (Founder)


May I know how do you select the teachers for the center? I went to the AMK branch. Sorry but to say that when I heard the staff and teacher speak (ongoing lesson), the spoken English isn’t very good. I’m saying this when I compare to the spoken English of the staff/teachers at other centers. I’m thinking to sign up my kid for the lesson but do have some concerns on this area. Apart from being able to do well on papers, I do want my kids to speak correct and proper English.

Thanks!

[The Alternative Story]

stressedmom:

Hi TAS (Founder)


May I know how do you select the teachers for the center? I went to the AMK branch. Sorry but to say that when I heard the staff and teacher speak (ongoing lesson), the spoken English isn't very good. I'm saying this when I compare to the spoken English of the staff/teachers at other centers. I'm thinking to sign up my kid for the lesson but do have some concerns on this area. Apart from being able to do well on papers, I do want my kids to speak correct and proper English.

Thanks!

Hi stressedmom,

We select our teachers based on their content knowledge
(they need to be able to have a good grasp of the English
Language). Most of the teachers are either undergraduates or
graduates. We have weekly trainings to make sure the standard of
the teachers are constantly monitored. We also look for
teachers who have passion for teaching. We look for that as without
that, it would be also hard to motivate the teachers to constantly
be excellent.

Just to clarify on Monday, there were only 2 classes going on.

One was taken by myself and one was taken by a teacher who is
a graduate and has distinctions for English Language. I believe
both of us do not have a problem with our spoken or written language.

The issue could be with the admin staff. For our admin staff, we do not
select them based on how well they speak English. Of course, they need
to be able to speak reasonably well but as they are not teaching
the lessons, we do not look for admin staff that have gotten
distinctions in English or can impart the right language skills to the
children. Of course it would be ideal if they too are good in
the language but it is not easy to hire admin staff who have the
relevant admin skiils and who are good in English as well.

I hope I have clarified the matter for you.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Violetmum:

Hi TAS,


Any plans to open up a new class for other levels on Sunday evening at AMK?

Hi Violetmum,

For the moment, our Sunday evening class at AMK is for P2/3 level.

We are not planning to open for other levels for now.

What level is your child at?

TAS

[raeshaecheong]

R there other timings for P1 Prepratory class? The Tue timing clashes with my daughter’s piano class. Think I hv sms u/yr staff 2 wks ago.

[ridcully]

The Alternative Story:

Hi stressedmom,


We select our teachers based on their content knowledge
(they need to be able to have a good grasp of the English
Language).

Shouldn't this be:
they need to have a good grasp

The Alternative Story:

We have weekly trainings

Shouldn't this be:
We have weekly training

'Training' is an uncountable noun and does not take a plural form.

The Alternative Story:

We look for that as without
that, it would be also hard to motivate the teachers to constantly
be excellent.

This is very clunky. Do you teach creative writing?

The Alternative Story:

I believe both of us do not have a problem with our spoken or written language.

Pride comes before a fall.

The Alternative Story:

The issue could be with the admin staff.

I believe the original poster was referring to one of your teachers.

The Alternative Story:

I hope I have clarified the matter for you.

Yes, you have.

Rgds
R

[ridcully]

The Alternative Story:

optimistforum:

[quote=\"optimistforum\"]Hello TAS


I have not spoken to you for a while; I hope you are well.

Can you help on the following subject/verb agreement question, please?

Pick out the subject in the following sentence: It was a neat little house.

I looked for the verb, and it is \"was\". I then tried to work out \"who\" or \"what\" before the verb. I think that you will say that the answer is \"house\", but I will plump for \"It\".

Please let me know you thoughts, on what is the verb and the subject?

Also, can you please what the object is, in that sentence?

Regards
O

Hi Optimistforum,

Thanks for asking, we are well. Hope you are doing fine too overseas.

You are right, the object is the house and the subject of the sentence
is the 'it'.

The question you would ask is 'What was it?'

Hence the answer is 'It was a neat little house'.

TAS[/quote]Incorrect. The subject of the sentence is 'house'. The pronoun 'it' is being used as a false subject here. There is no object.

Rgds
R

[urbanemale]

[quote] to make sure the standard of the teachers are constantly monitored. [/quote]
Shouldn't it be \"...the standard of the teachers IS constantly monitored\" ?

[quote] One was taken by myself and one was taken by a teacher [/quote]Shouldn't it be \"One was taken by myself and THE OTHER was taken...\"?

[quote] ... a graduate and has distinctions for English Language. I believe
both of us do not have a problem with our spoken or written language. [/quote].

Having a distinction in English does not mean one does not have any prob with the language. I've friends who scored distinctions in English in the GCE O and GCE A Levels but they cannot speak eloquently. They have prob with subject-verb agreement and they mess up the tenses.

[quote] we do not look for admin staff that have gotten
distinctions in English [/quote]Btw, the past particle of \"get\" is \"got\" in Br Eng, \"gotten\" is used in Am Eng. But the past particle of \"forget\" is 'forgotten\" in both varieties. Some teachers aren't aware of this either, so you are not alone.

[quote] Of course it would be ideal if they too are good in
the language but it is not easy to hire admin staff who have the
relevant admin skiils and who are good in English as well.[/quote]Finally, I was taught at school that one is good AT a subject but one is good IN class if one behaves well in the class.

[urbanemale]

Hi Optimistforum,


Thanks for asking, we are well. Hope you are doing fine too overseas.

You are right, the object is the house and the subject of the sentence
is the ‘it’.

The question you would ask is ‘What was it?’

Hence the answer is ‘It was a neat little house’.

TAS[/quote]Incorrect. The subject of the sentence is ‘house’. The pronoun ‘it’ is being used as a false subject here. There is no object.

Rgds
R[/quote]

R is right. "It" is being used as a dummy subject here.

[ridcully]

Hi urbanemale


Yes, there were so many more mistakes that I thought I would be overbearing if I pointed them all out! What is even scarier is that the member of staff from TAS had edited his/her posting THREE times. I guess proofreading is not well taught at TAS.

Mind you, it is not possible to properly proofread if one does not have a good command of the language in the first place.

Keep up the good work!

:celebrate:
R

[markfch]

Granted, coming from a language tutor, it is not impressive to be caught writing less than stellar English.


However, there’s no need to gloat with glee like some of the people are doing here.

I find this practice totally unnecessary and quite uncharitable.