Do you need a teacher?

mike   Fri Sep 29, 2006 6:33 am GMT
In my case, classes are necessary. Not that I depend on them, but because they do teaching in a systematic way that you won’t do same if you study alone; teachers guide you how to study when you are alone. Besides, If you take classes, you can’t say “I am lazy today to study”, So I do find classes very important in that aspect.

If you speak confidently in the class, you will speak confidently out with people. What I always do is that I do much effort to learn from external sources parallel to the material I take at class. This puts me always a head from other students, and allows me to speak confidently.

language Classes are fun!
Robin   Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:26 am GMT
Dear Torsten

I am doing a Higher in English at the moment. It is a class in English Literature, that also includes an element of grammar etc.

First of all the teacher has introduced us to works of literature that we would never have come across otherwise. The teacher studied English at Glasgow University, and she personally knows some of the writers.

The last lesson was not so interesting, but it was very much geared to passing the exam. First of all she told us, that in answering a 45 minute question, the most important thing was to get down the key 'Buzz Words' in our answer.

I don't particularly like that approach, but in reality, most students are doing a course to pass a specific exam rather than to learn a language in a broader sense.

In the last lesson, she gave us two writing exercises. First we had to answer the question. Then she gave us a model answer, and she asked us to answer a very similar question, on the same poem. As part of this course, the course work is marked.

The woman next to me, just froze. She simply could not write anything.

This is obviously a test for the teacher. Does the teacher advise her to quit, or does the teacher give her some help in putting her ideas on paper? Does the student have any ideas of her own?

Everybody has their own learning style, and not every teaching technique is suitable. Sometimes students make the mistake of taking a class that is too advanced for them.

Quite possibly, you would find a course in English literature very interesting.

Something that is quite popular, are: Book Clubs. People agree to meet to discuss a book they have read.

Bye for now