Re: Grammar

Said  "Bill Bonde ( the oblique allusion in lieu of the frontal attack
)"  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> :

>Who is letting the student get away with speaking dialect? All I said
>was that the teacher should understand where the student is coming from
>so that the teacher can make the best progress possible.

And I'm saying that it's irrelevant to the teacher where the student
is coming from. I'm also saying that it should not be a teacher's
burden to handle the student's dialect - I'm saying that the problem
sits square on the student's shoulders, and that the student should
handle it on his or her own. The student, in fact, owes that to the
teacher and to the rest of the class: proactive participation and
communication. 

And I also say that the burden of making the best progress possible
should be square on the shoulders of the student - no teacher can
assume that load, and if anyone says he or she does, I say, nonsense.
And the more we pretend we do take on ourselves responsibilities that
should be handled by our students, the greater a disservice we're
doing to their education. 

Like I said before, want to be understood ? BE UNDERSTOOD. The student
owes it to his or her classmates, to the teacher, to the
administration. Don't throw that kind of issue on the teacher's back,
that's not a teacher's problem. Is that thick dialect getting in the
way of learning ? GET RID OF IT, at least inside that classroom.
That's a student's problem, not a teacher's. 
 
>So if the student doesn't understand something, that's not the teacher's
>problem?!

If the student doesn't understand something, IT IS THAT STUDENT'S
PROBLEM TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO COMMUNICATE IT. It's about time we place
responsibility of education where it belongs: square on the students'
shoulders. It shouldn't be a teacher's call to extract things from a
student with a forceps on an ongoing basis. 
 
>I hope you aren't an ESL teacher.

I am a grad school teacher. And if someone can't communicate in a
classroom, maybe he or she doesn't belong in that classroom, but
rather in the ESL class. 
 
>Fine, but that doesn't address my original point at all.

Your original point implies that it's a teacher problem to handle a
student's inability to communicate. I say it's the student's problem. 


Alberto.