Unreasonable pressure from my tutor at college. Help please!

Fly_Baby

Zazen999 wrote: »

Hi

I could use a knife and fork. I used it very well. I used it to cut up my food and then put the knife DOWN and used the fork to eat my food.

Can I repeat again. I DID use my knife and fork. DID. That's DID. I did not need teaching to use a knife and fork.

All these English teachers and you can't understand a simple sentence.

I think what that poor dinner lady was trying to ensure is that you know how to use the fork and knife simultaneosly - because you wanted to use them consecutively. You will agree that it is a different skill.

Whether this skill is so crucial in a child to warrant such intent supervision during the meal time - that is an entirely different matter. Although you didn't mention what school year you were.

ceridwen

Crikey...at this rate (thinking of Zazen's comments on cutlery)..I think we might usefully start a thread explaining typical English phrases.

Guess I might start with "Got out of bed the wrong side":rotfl::rotfl:

SueC_2

Zazen999 wrote: »

Hi

I could use a knife and fork. I used it very well. I used it to cut up my food and then put the knife DOWN and used the fork to eat my food.

Can I repeat again. I DID use my knife and fork. DID. That's DID. I did not need teaching to use a knife and fork.

All these English teachers and you can't understand a simple sentence.

Would you like someone to stand behind you whilst you are in the Chinese Restaurant holding your hands for the whole meal remonstrating on how STUPID you are because you are not using chopsticks PROPERLY like the CHINESE do? Or would you just like to get on and eat your meal the way you want to in your own good time?

But again, a digression.

I'd be very happy for anyone who had more experience than me, in whatever it was I was trying to do, to explain and demonstrate to me how to do it more correctly. Without that, how would I ever learn or develop?

Of course, the manner in which it is done is also important. Getting cross, shouting, and demeaning the other party is not appropriate in either the school dining hall, the Chinese restaurant, or indeed on an internet forum.

Zazen999

Fly_Baby wrote: »

I think what that poor dinner lady was trying to ensure is that you know how to use the fork and knife simultaneosly - because you wanted to use them consecutively. You will agree that it is a different skill.

Whether this skill is so crucial in a child to warrant such intent supervision during the meal time - that is an entirely different matter. Although you didn't mention what school year you were.

No. It's not a different skill.

I used them simultaneously at the start - to cut up the food. You can't just cup up food with a knife - you need a fork to hold the food whilst you cut it up. I was more than capable of using them simultaneously for the full meal if I wanted to. A simple explanation would have sufficed.

I am actually quite an adept person - I could cook a full roast at 9 and was making and selling small guitar amplifiers by 12. Again; it was not necessary to humiliate a 6 year old in front of the whole school; rather than teach them how to do it the 'English' way, the poor dinner lady felt the need to hold my hands firmly to the knife and fork and put the food in my mouth for me for the whole meal. Poor thing eh? She must have been REALLY upset with a child breaking all the subtleties of the English Way.

Needless to say, I never did eat her way and never will. Goodness knows what she thought she was achieving. It seems that many people on here would cheerfully do it her way just to make a point though, so it's been an interesting journey on this thread, at least.

However, as many things on this thread - a good deal of ritual humiliation and a sense of 'doing it our way' seems more important than realising that actually, the world does not revolve around England.

DCFC79

How has this got from teh OP asking for advice to talking about knife and fork,

back to the topic, OP have you asked the placement about the feedback ?

SueC_2

Zazen999 wrote: »

the world does not revolve around England.

No, but just as you have the right to come on here criticising 'the English way' then others have the right to defend it. This is England, after all...!

Zazen999

SueC wrote: »

No, but just as you have the right to come on here criticising 'the English way' then others have the right to defend it. This is England, after all...!

I don't have ANY problems with the English Way. At all.

Each to their own.

What I have a problem with is 'you haven't learnt our ways properly' when actually, most Natives haven't learnt the ways properly. Nobody learns the English Language properly - it's a moving feast and rather than try to belittle the OP - she should be congratulated for trying to better herself and asking the question on a public forum and the last thing she needs is patronising from people who perhaps don't even know how their comments are coming across.

iamana1ias

SueC wrote: »

This is England, after all...!

What is? I'm not in England!

liney

Zazen999 wrote: »

I don't have ANY problems with the English Way. At all.

Each to their own.

What I have a problem with is 'you haven't learnt our ways properly' when actually, most Natives haven't learnt the ways properly. Nobody learns the English Language properly - it's a moving feast and rather than try to belittle the OP - she should be congratulated for trying to better herself and asking the question on a public forum and the last thing she needs is patronising from people who perhaps don't even know how their comments are coming across.

But would you want your child going to a Nursery/School and being taught in the "It's not the English way, and my way is good enough in my opinion" way?

I would expect anyone teaching my child anything, to teach it to them properly. Going back to your comments, this would mean using a knife and fork correctly in England, and chop sticks correctly if we were in China.

Zazen999

liney wrote: »

But would you want your child going to a Nursery/School and being taught in the "It's not the English way, and my way is good enough in my opinion" way?

I would expect anyone teaching my child anything, to teach it to them properly. Going back to your comments, this would mean using a knife and fork correctly in England, and chop sticks correctly if we were in China.

Aah, there's the rub.

I don't mind being TAUGHT how to do things, but being FORCED is a completely different matter.

And after watching school children recently at school dinners, they all seem to eat with their hands now anyway - is this the new English way? i must have missed that announcement.