Unreasonable pressure from my tutor at college. Help please!

GEEGEE8

I think the OP has much better English and standards that most young people leaving school.. lol..

That said, you really need to speak to the placement and tutor and work around this issue if you want your certificate. Could you do anymore placement work to show you are willing?

All the best, all the posters are just trying to help you out and I'm sure you will do well if you listen to the advice given, and act upon it.

iamana1ias

flossy_splodge wrote: »

So, so true!

Also upcoming 'University students.

A little story...
A very dear friend of mine phoned me to say 'I haven't really believed you when you've gone on about falling standards but now I do... '.

Her son, who is about to go to Uni this Sept to study Business and IT (courses for which accurate communication is a given I would hope) had brought home a piece of work.

Now normally my friend has the sense not to get involved (after all, what on earth do parents know about anything:rotfl:) but the devil must have been in her this day as she asked to read it.

She very carefully offered the thought to her son that a particular sentence did not make sense.

He, in the manner of so many young of today, got angry and said 'of course it makes sense, you just don't understand the context'.

Now as I say, my friend had obviously had a large bowl of courage for her breakfast and decided to persevere.
No. it doesn't....
Yes it does....
You get the picture.
It turns out that the particular word causing the problem was 'POST'.

She finally realised what he THOUGHT he had written was 'SUPPOSED'!!!!!:eek:

When she pointed out the problem, he STILL did not understand what he had done wrong.
:eek:
He didn't see what the difference was!!:eek:

So all those do gooders out there who say correcting youngster's speech is not important, IT IS!

This is such a perfect example of why!

So much for 15 years of good British Education.:rotfl:

Hear hear. Good grammar is important. It's the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and..............

ceridwen

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

You obviously never frequent the Student Board - the university students are even worst!

I am assuming from the turn of phrase and spelling that O.P. is foreign.

I am used to correcting the language of visitors to our country and explaining as simply as I can about our social customs/manners/etc - as I have (I think??:cool:) a reasonably good grasp of how things may differ in other countries.

Errrmm.....errr...I hope I got that right and O.P. is indeed foreign...?...

ceridwen

sw-nw wrote: »

Again. Thanks for your reply. You didn't see the whole picture about that. I was complaining the pervious owner took cooker away but left unworking washing machine and freezers, and rubbish many years back in the attic, without any agreement. I took half a day to clean all the rubbish. I have been told they are sorry but nothing they could do.

I will reply about college process together in another one.

This is for ceridwen.

...and I was explaining that in Britain it is standard procedure not to leave a cooker in a house (as things might be done differently in another country). I did notice that they HAD left rubbish (which is NOT standard procedure - though it happened to me too when I bought a house:mad:).

ceridwen

SueC wrote: »

Think about it logically, and remove the emotion from the situation. You have three options:

1. Appeal against the decision (the college / examination board will have a procedure you can follow),
2. Acknowledge that you haven't met the requirements of your tutor and the assessor, work on your shortfallings, and re-sit the course / exam, or
3. Accept that this vocation isn't for you, walk away, and do something else instead.

...and, to which I would add, improve your command of the English language. It is necessary for you to learn to speak good English - whatever you do.

Whew - well at least I got it right (having now read further through subsequent posts) - ie that O.P. IS foreign and that's the reason she doesn't speak very good English:)

GEEGEE8

I thought her English was ok to be fair. There was a hint of a foreign manner from missing words etc, but generally not too bad.

Was it because of her English that she isn't passing?

ceridwen

GEEGEE8 wrote: »

I thought her English was ok to be fair. There was a hint of a foreign manner from missing words etc, but generally not too bad.

Was it because of her English that she isn't passing?

Actually - I don't think its fair to O.P. to tell her that "her English...is fair" - because it simply isn't. B.A. or no B.A. (and I admit to being puzzled as to how she got a B.A. in Britain without the ability to speak good English...but then I finished my education many years ago now......:cool:).

A totally honest reply is what is most helpful here - and it was certainly quite clear to me from the outset that O.P. hasnt learnt our language properly yet and needs to improve this. Possibly another reason why O.P. is having problems is because they have been here 10 years now - so might genuinely assume they speak our language properly on the one hand BUT they are upsetting people they deal with (because we all know that someone who has lived here as long as that should speak English properly by now and would do so if they had been making an appropriate amount of effort to learn it).

GEEGEE8

I think she got her BA in China, her home country (I think)..

It's better than my Chinese that's for sure..

If she is doing childcare, then is it at a level that is acceptable? and was it mentioned when she started the course?

Zazen999

ceridwen wrote: »

Actually - I don't think its fair to O.P. to tell her that "her English...is fair" - because it simply isn't. B.A. or no B.A. (and I admit to being puzzled as to how she got a B.A. in Britain without the ability to speak good English...but then I finished my education many years ago now......:cool:).

A totally honest reply is what is most helpful here - and it was certainly quite clear to me from the outset that O.P. hasnt learnt our language properly yet and needs to improve this. Possibly another reason why O.P. is having problems is because they have been here 10 years now - so might genuinely assume they speak our language properly on the one hand BUT they are upsetting people they deal with (because we all know that someone who has lived here as long as that should speak English properly by now and would do so if they had been making an appropriate amount of effort to learn it).

OH my gosh!

That's not honesty, it's xenophobia.

Nasty, nasty stuff.

OP - please be assured; not all English people are like this.

I've seen MUCH worse language skills from people born and brought up in this country.

Dearie me. The responses on this thread are shocking.

ceridwen

NOT xenophobia at all - I am no racist:eek:

Just pure statement of fact. I would say that there is in most peoples heads some sort of "rule of thumb" as to how well we expect others to speak English. If I were to try and quantify it out - then howzabout:
1 year here - speaks enough English to be understood
2 years here - can hold a good everyday conversation
5 years here - an extremely good grasp indeed of English
10 years here - definitely should equal absolutely perfect English

I would expect the same standard from myself if I had moved to another country.

The fact that O.P. has spent 10 years here and their English is still far from perfect is not going to come over well to MOST of us.

I think I have allowed for very generous timings as to what standard of English I would think most of us expect. I believe the Dutch expect anyone wishing to settle in their country to take an exam at 3(?) years residency to prove that they can speak Dutch well. That seems like an eminently sensible policy here - a Government's policy mark you .....

(Zazen has in fact just upset ME - by getting things totally wrong and implying that I'm a racist. Anything further from the truth......as anyone who knows me ITRW would be able to assure her.....)