Bad English, in the Classroom!

As a teacher by day, I must say it’s quite endearing helping children navigate the many ins and outs of their tiny lives. For not only am I there to inspire them through captivating lessons and activities, but as a native English speaker working in Asia, I also feel it’s my duty to help cultivate a love and appreciation for the English language no matter the subject, but sometimes that’s not always easy!

I once worked at an international school that carried the ‘international’ label in their name but quite honestly, there really wasn’t anything much ‘international’ about them except for their Cambridge curriculum. So, other than that, well, it was and probably still is just your  ‘run of the mill’ local international school with local staff and students who struggle with the English language. For example when I worked there, a high ranking manager who from time to time came in to teach the students used to exclaim, and it drove me absolutely nuts,

“Fantashtic!”

Where she ever learned that there was a ‘sh’ sound in the middle of f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c is beyond me!

Another thing that drove me up the wall was hearing managers and staff alike pluralize or forget to pluralize words.

My principal at that same school did this a lot! When speaking to students she’d often pluralize words that didn’t need an ‘s’ and when that happened, I wanted to run up to the front of the hall while she was speaking, rip the mic out of her hand and explain to students the MAJOR grammar felony she’d just committed.

And want to know the best part of the above examples? These two were notorious for critiquing the English language of others when in fact, they themselves clearly could use a refresher or two!

True story alert!

The head of that same school once told me,

“Yes, Jacqui and when you talk to the students in your classroom don’t speak so slow.”

Aah, excuse me? Might I also add that this was all coming from a lady who talked like a robot when she was trying to get students to comply! And besides that, speaking slow?! Isn’t that a good thing? Especially when students were trying to navigate a language that most likely wasn’t even their mother tongue!

Sorry, I guess you could say that this month’s blog is kinda like a ‘good old fashioned ‘bitch’ session!’ But besides that, I also wanted to take a moment to highlight another downfall of the international school system, their educators.

In my experience, ‘international’ schools are now more of a business rather then a system that truly educates children. For example, most international schools in Asia will hire just about anybody who happens to be a native speaker! Did you know I once worked at a school where the year 3 teacher was a firefighter from Miami with no educational background? Or, I’ve sat across from colleagues who in the midst of our lunch time conversation confess things like,

“You know, back when I was a pharmacist…”

Hold up! A what?

So if you want my opinion it’s this, the ‘international’ label has been ‘cheapened!’ And I’m in no ways saying that these schools cannot deliver because they can, I currently work at a pretty good one, thank you day job! But I think that when parents are ‘shopping’ around for a school that fits their needs it should all boil down to one important word, quality.

Knowing what I know, I think unless you are paying top dollar for some elite school you can be sure that most schools that open up with the ‘international’ label are just on the market to make, ‘a  quick buck. ‘