ELT's post, titled Maintaining Oral Standards, is regarding how children use the English language and their proficiency in doing so. She says in the school where she teaches, there is a system in place in which teachers evaluate students based upon their communication skills. She feels it would be a good idea to screen kids not one at a time, but in pairs. However, she acknowledges that one kid would speak more, discouraging the other from speaking as much, which would give an inconclusive evaluation of the more mute students. She suggests that kids are not only lazy at communicating, but also lack the life experience to know how to communicate and to know what to communicate about.
When I read the above mentioned post, I commented on the teacher's post. I explained to her that I agree that kids, today, lack the proper communicating techniques. I suggested, however, that the lack of knowledge stems from the life outside of the classroom. If children are not pushed to speak properly in all aspects of their life, chances are they will not strive to communicate in a clear manner.
ELT also posted another article entitled Why Should Age Determine Ability. In this article, the teacher drew a relation from a small child attempting to ride a bike too big for him/her, to students in Germany learning English. It is frustrating and very difficult to do in either case. The author of this post suggested that they not advance in the English courses based upon their year of study, but rather on their capability of being able to use the English language.
After reading Why Should Age Determine Ability, I commented on the post. I mentioned that the message that came across to me was that it is about perfecting what you know before advancing in study. I also stated that we should apply this practice to more aspects than just learning a new language.
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