Unreasonable pressure from my tutor at college. Help please!

sw-nw

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.

There are students whose first laugage is not English in my class. I believe I speak English better. But my tutor said she could understand them and didn't have problem. When I asked why we could communicate with each other, the answer was she used to. Confused really.

sw-nw

GEEGEE8 wrote: »

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.

Have to do things like it.

I was upset really because I didn't know where things were going wrong. My tutor just wrote her comments and asked to sign. No explanations, no communications. Only answer are no, no, no.

Fly_Baby

ceridwen wrote: »

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

Some - or shall I say many? - people cannot get rid of their accent no matter how long they've lived in a foreign country.

So it is not exactly fair to set time limits for learning that "absolutely perfect English".

skintdragon

ceridwen wrote: »

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.....)

Here's my tuppence worth. Your timescales caught my eye...:)

I am a foreign bird, would you believe. I was born and brought up in Asia. I went to English schools all my life, hence my decent command of the language.

Please don't take any offence at what I am about to say; it's purely an observation!

I expect many of my peers would have grasped the basics of the English language. There are the average local folk who have lived here for more than 10 years, with good educational backgrounds, who cannot even spell simple words, form grammatically correct sentences, or use punctuation (especially apostrophes :mad:) in the correct manner. It literally makes me cringe!!

Unfortunately, for Chinese people, it is really difficult for them to grasp and speak the English language as fluently as us; perhaps it's their peers and surroundings that influences this. When I speak Cantonese, I sound really foreign, even though I was brought up surrounded by Chinese people (have been away too long now)! The chinese just laugh at me, but I don't care.

I guess what I am trying to convey (not so eloquently) is that ,OK, the OP's English is not as fluent as ours, but (s)he's obviously trying to achieve something in life, away from home; give him/ her a break!

SueC_2

Hang on, hang on, before we get hung up with cries of xenophobia...

The OP refers to having to read a story to children... if this is the case it is reasonable to assume that her 'teachings' will be in someway influencing the education of others... in which case it is not unreasonable for there to be a requirement of a 'decent' level of understanding and usage of the English language. This is not racism!!!!

SueC_2

sw-nw wrote: »

There are students whose first laugage is not English in my class. I believe I speak English better. But my tutor said she could understand them and didn't have problem. When I asked why we could communicate with each other, the answer was she used to. Confused really.

I'm not sure why you think any of this is relevant to my post.

However, there is a significant difference between being able to make yourself understood to a tutor who is used to dealing with foreign students, and to other non-English speaking people, and for being responsible for the English education of children. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

anamenottaken

SueC wrote: »

Hang on, hang on, before we get hung up with cries of xenophobia...

The OP refers to having to read a story to children... if this is the case it is reasonable to assume that her 'teachings' will be in someway influencing the education of others... in which case it is not unreasonable for there to be a requirement of a 'decent' level of understanding and usage of the English language. This is not racism!!!!

Agreed. That is why I asked about an assessment before s/he began the course. All we know is that there are others on her course for whom English is not their first language. We do not know whether the OP's command of English was assessed before the course began.

Though already a teacher of ICT, some time ago I did a course for classroom assistants type work because it was about helping people whose mother tongue was not English and it would also help me communicate with my own learners. Before any of us began the course our English language skills were assessed so that our own needs could be addressed if necessary. I would hope that the OP was assessed during the course enrolment process.

sw-nw

ceridwen wrote: »

...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:)

I am not sure what means by good English. I may speak English with accent but it wouldn't prevent me from communication with others. I am able to complete my tasks and reports in work placement, I am able to finish essay for my course. I can interact with children. I have knowledge and abilities to learn. I even didn't expect to find a job after the course. I do understand my English, as second lanuage, need to be improved. But learning is progress. I am making it now. Is it common for a tutor to ask students to sign something who disagrees?

sw-nw

GEEGEE8 wrote: »

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.

Thanks. I do understand my weakess and do my best to improve it. The main point is I don't know where were going wrong. If my English was so bad that I couldn't communicate, how could I be able to understand my studing and to communicate with tutors and other students in my class. Even it's really a problem, why did they made up something confusing me, instead of saying so and leting me improve it.

sw-nw

ceridwen wrote: »

...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:).

I understood. I hope you understand too, it is part of human nature, whatever you are. Why can one type of food in a country always be found somewhere else?