[DarrenBent]

I am sorry! I didn't understand what you said.Could you please repeat that again?

[esconsise]

I admire any person who speaks a language (in any way that is understood by native speakers) that is not their native language. I have absolutely no tolerance for people who are native English speakers and still butcher the language. If the person has dyslexia or some other learning disability, that is another story. Otherwise, I just assume the person is lazy and ignorant.

[DarrenBent]

You all, Good bye . I'll see you later. Would be my guess.

[RgtrsKfR]

It's a question one might ask in a restaraunt.

[Hsmrcahr]

Paul, to echo Dinkum, you should be happy that when you set foot on Thai soil that they don't demand that you speak Thai to them! I'm sure you would expect the same of them if they came to Australia (that you would expect them to speak English to you rather than Thai). Many Americans experience the same issue with the French -- many Americans who travel to France complain that the French will not speak English to them even when they know they could speak it (Americans call the French "rude" for this). Yet many Americans complain that the Mexicans who come to live in America aren't proficient in English. For some reason English is supposed to be the predominant language on both French and American soil. How arrogant is that?

So Paul, how good is your Thai?

[BitStillrhile]

Another thought that applies to some of the earlier entries on this topic. George Elliot, the mid-1800's female English author with the male pseodonym, said it:

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact."

[rojettafoxx]

EMPTY VESSEL MAKES THE MOST NOISE

[MortgFinsJohnQ]

Quote[/b] ]That makes me an expert on English, more so than some chain learnt university trained teacher from the USA or England.

I loved this. The only correct way to speak English, is the Queen's English. An unfallible, unchanging way to speak. So unless you speak it, which i highly doubt you do as very few people do, then you have no authority to say you speak better than an English graduate.

And I know what its like to have my grammar and spelling corrected constantly, being dyslexic. Im from the UK and i struggle with my own language, so god knows how a non-native speaker can speak it.

[ImmitsRom]

Dear Paul,

Since you love statistics so much: 9% of Japanese macaques are gay, 56% of them are bisexual

Does someone actually hire you to make those posts?

'Cause wow, this forum would be boring without you, MATE As bottomless and "saudoof" your argumentation style is, everything you write is well thought-out in every aspect. What I mean by "thought-out": You always seem to leave the backdoor open for others to sneak in and flame you. (Too obvious sometimes)

I appreciate paul_au, (that is,) his inventors for bringing in some controversy and I appreciate all of the other people on this board even more for carrying on the discussion and debating those matters. But is it really necessary to scare the living #### out of me by leading me (and other people) to believe that obscure beings like him could really wander the surface of this world?

Of course, I could be wrong and paul_au might be an actual form of existence. I should take my medication for paranoid disorders on a regular basis again...

[ireleda]

Pad Thai, I will have to agree with you, I do not think he is for real either, and if he is, then he surely isn't a native english speaker.

He believes that people should go to school and WAIST time while their, and listen to someone who is only doing THERE teaching THEIR for money.


555 Love his context.

[ireleda]

But I do agree with folks that think only native speakers should be teaching English in schools.
My wife has taught English for years and she does speak it fairly well but does not know how to teach it, children are not taught to read using the English alphabet, they can not sound the written words, when in class she will have the whole class repeat words in chorus that she says and thinks that is learning. She only speaks Thai when talking to the class.And refuses to speak English to her teen age daughter in the home and wonders why the kid can not speak some English when I have spoken only English in the home for the last 4 years.
Her sister is also an English teacher in a school, and she can not speak or understand English at all, she never comes to our home to practice English.
I have seen a lot of English teachers here that are not native speakers and when they talk, I can not understand half of what they say, they being from Ireland, Scotland, Bulgaria, Russia, India, or speak heavy outback Aussie or Cockney English.

[Wr8dIAUk]

Gee, I hate this. Thank God I was lucky enough to come across a school manager who does not care whether someone is a native speaker. She just sent all the applicants up to the K1-K2 room and asked them to engage the kids for an hour in some meaningful activities in English. Then she had a look at my resume and was rather impressed. In the end she picked me, and not one of those natives who had done a 4-week crash course in teaching and speak with a flawless accent, but have no idea how to simplify their English so that Thai colleagues with a vocab of 200 words or small kids with no English at all understand what they mean. Now most parents (some of them are natives) are amazed at the development of the kids' English in the past three weeks or so - and it's my qualifications and seven years of teaching experience lying behind the success. My colleague is Swedish, a young lad without any sort of college degree or teaching experience, but he loves the kids, the kids love him, he speaks beautiful clear English, they have a great time playing games, chasing monsters, flying imaginary airplanes, you name it.
Although I have a job now, I am still fed up with all the ads implying that even an unqualified, chewing-gum accent, shabby native is of more use than a qualified, experienced non-native speaking almost perfect English.
(No idea why I waste time writing about something that should be obvious.... anyway.... I'm so sensitive about the subject, it's THE THING that can make or break your life if you are walking in these shoes.)

[SeftyJokipl]

I am sure the kids are very lucky people to have you! And as such I have a very good opinions about Swedish people and the way they handle kids.

[loolitoertego]

visionchaser45,

[loolitoertego]

sorry about the error on the previous post,as I was about to say, I agree with the sentiments regarding the use of broken english, if, someone wishes to improve their command off a new language why would the wish to learn it twice? as would be the case if broken English is the method of teaching, surely that is defeating the object of the exercise, because you have to learn the language properly in the long term, but, in the original post I found so many spelling mistakes that it appears the writer only knows broken English anyway

[largonioulurI]

Quite obviously, the previous poster, does not know advanced spelling techniques. I encourage him to stick around the forum to lean more.

[rionetrozasa]

Paul au---I can't believe you are a native English speaker. You have made a lot of spelling errors. I don't know if you did it intentionally or not. What a WAIST of time trying to figure out the meaning!!!!

[Wr8dIAUk]

Suzie - I suppose he is a native speaker, but not a native writer

[Golotop]

OMG, I couldn't believe I missed this thread.
Thanks, paul_au a bunch for making me laugh HEAR.

I have not read all of your posts but I will try to find TYME and come back later.

You just made MINE day!!!Mate. :-)

[DarrenBent]

Just because a person is from a particular area of the world doesn't qualify them as a good teacher.
A person who can motivate curiosity and desire to learn in students is the type of person that should be a teacher.