This is an explanation of why a 'Native Speaker' can be an Asset to a Class learning English as a Foreign Language.
I am an Englishman living in Aberdeen Scotland, and with out giving away my age, I am a mature student. I am studying 'English' at the Higher level.
This is a course that I have put off doing for a number of years. I did not want to do this course for a number of reasons.
1. As an English person, I did not need to study English.
English at Higher level is required in Scotland, if you want to teach. English at 'A' level, which is the equivalent English examination, is not required if you wish to teach.
(When you have hear Scottish people speak, you will realise how important it is for them to study English.)
2. This course would only be a stepping stone to something else, it was not something that I was interested in.
3. I do not want to study Scottish literature and Scottish authors.
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Anyway, I have started the course now, and I am enjoying it, and getting a lot out of it. Also, just as when I was in Poland, I suddenly realise, that I have got something inside my head, that is of value.
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We did a poem in class, in which the author described a "Skittle of Milk", when describing the thoughts and feelings of a Primary School child.
A little bit of history now. Before Margaret Thatcher came to power, school children in both Primary and Secondary School were provided with Free School Milk, in the mid morning break. "Margaret Thatcher - Milk Snatcher" abolished this practice.
So, that bit of information allows you to date the poem.
The Teacher of my English class then went onto say, that when she was at school, the milk either came in waxed paper containers (tetrapaks) or plastic bags. So, the image of a 'bottle of milk' would not come up for her. (When school milk came in bottles, the bottles were a third of the size of a standard 'pint' bottle.)
However, I remember bottles of milk, I can also remember some naughty boys playing skittles with empty milk bottles.
SKITTLES: For the Scottish students in the class, the word 'Skittle' was the name of a type of sweet that came in a plastic bag; 'A bag of skittles'.
I grew up near Manchester, but later on I moved to Bristol, in the West Country. I was familiar with 'Ten Pin Bowling', and when I moved to Bristol I was interested to see that several of the Pubs had 'Skittle Alleys'. So, the game of skittles, is very similar to ten pin bowling, except that you have nine skittles, and it is not 'a totally automated American Experience.'
So the expression a 'Skittle of Milk' had a meaning for me, that it did not have for the Scottish students in the class.
Even though you can look up a word in the dictionary, to get a real feel for English and how English people view the world, you have to have the real thing.
I am an Englishman living in Aberdeen Scotland, and with out giving away my age, I am a mature student. I am studying 'English' at the Higher level.
This is a course that I have put off doing for a number of years. I did not want to do this course for a number of reasons.
1. As an English person, I did not need to study English.
English at Higher level is required in Scotland, if you want to teach. English at 'A' level, which is the equivalent English examination, is not required if you wish to teach.
(When you have hear Scottish people speak, you will realise how important it is for them to study English.)
2. This course would only be a stepping stone to something else, it was not something that I was interested in.
3. I do not want to study Scottish literature and Scottish authors.
*********************************************************
Anyway, I have started the course now, and I am enjoying it, and getting a lot out of it. Also, just as when I was in Poland, I suddenly realise, that I have got something inside my head, that is of value.
*********************************************************
We did a poem in class, in which the author described a "Skittle of Milk", when describing the thoughts and feelings of a Primary School child.
A little bit of history now. Before Margaret Thatcher came to power, school children in both Primary and Secondary School were provided with Free School Milk, in the mid morning break. "Margaret Thatcher - Milk Snatcher" abolished this practice.
So, that bit of information allows you to date the poem.
The Teacher of my English class then went onto say, that when she was at school, the milk either came in waxed paper containers (tetrapaks) or plastic bags. So, the image of a 'bottle of milk' would not come up for her. (When school milk came in bottles, the bottles were a third of the size of a standard 'pint' bottle.)
However, I remember bottles of milk, I can also remember some naughty boys playing skittles with empty milk bottles.
SKITTLES: For the Scottish students in the class, the word 'Skittle' was the name of a type of sweet that came in a plastic bag; 'A bag of skittles'.
I grew up near Manchester, but later on I moved to Bristol, in the West Country. I was familiar with 'Ten Pin Bowling', and when I moved to Bristol I was interested to see that several of the Pubs had 'Skittle Alleys'. So, the game of skittles, is very similar to ten pin bowling, except that you have nine skittles, and it is not 'a totally automated American Experience.'
So the expression a 'Skittle of Milk' had a meaning for me, that it did not have for the Scottish students in the class.
Even though you can look up a word in the dictionary, to get a real feel for English and how English people view the world, you have to have the real thing.