Friday, May 9, 2014

Learning Teaching

I've been an EFL teacher in Brazil for 29 years now. When I worked at schools, this book was used in dozens of teachers' meetings and other courses by people who saw it as a sort of teaching Bible. I absolutely detested the sessions and the book itself. Bubbling with drivel and abounding in nonsense, this is one that I will happily leave to gather dust. The problem with people who write books like this and give courses using it is that they haven't been in a real classroom for decades. At one boring course in 1998, when the lecturer was trying to impart to us her enthusiasm for one of the pointless "tips" given in this book, I interrupted her to ask when was the last time she had actually taught real students in a regular course. "In 1971," she said proudly. I guess that just about says it all. Another instructor, who used "isn't it?" as a question tag for everything (This would be helpful, isn't it? I know you all enjoy this, isn't it?) was another big fan, who seemed to delight in having a native writer lend creedence to her stupid ideas. Give me David Crystal any day.

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