| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Welcome to the new forum! Thread poster: Kim Metzger
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Greetings ProZ colleagues, and welcome to the new forum for language teachers! This forum was started because many of us came to translation from a background in teaching languages and either still teach in addition to translating or at least still maintain a strong interest in the art and would like to share ideas and experiences on the subject. This forum is for everybody interested in teaching languages, and we hope it will soon become a place to learn and help others. So, let's get started!<... See more Greetings ProZ colleagues, and welcome to the new forum for language teachers! This forum was started because many of us came to translation from a background in teaching languages and either still teach in addition to translating or at least still maintain a strong interest in the art and would like to share ideas and experiences on the subject. This forum is for everybody interested in teaching languages, and we hope it will soon become a place to learn and help others. So, let's get started!
Best wishes, Kim ▲ Collapse
| | | | Asghar Bhatti 
United States
Local time: 03:07
English to Urdu
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| Urdu & Panjabi Teaching | Jun 16, 2004 |
Hello:
I am teaching URDU & Panjabi languages in Defence Languages Institute,biggest language school in USA,with more than 3000 language students.
Any body interested in URDU Language lessons,please contact me by e mail.
Hope this will be a useful forum.
[Edited at 2004-06-19 20:55]
| | | | Stephen Franke
United States
Local time: 00:07
English to Arabic
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| This is a welcome new forum | Jun 16, 2004 |
Greetings.
This is a welcome new forum and very appropriate for a number of members of < proz.com >.
I teach and consult on the Arabic language, regional dialects, Arabization of foreign terms and concepts, specialized bilingual vocabularies, intercultural awareness and effectivenes, international business standards and marketing practices, and aspects of technology transfers and economic offsets in Arabophone countries of the Middle East and Africa.
Thank... See more Greetings.
This is a welcome new forum and very appropriate for a number of members of < proz.com >.
I teach and consult on the Arabic language, regional dialects, Arabization of foreign terms and concepts, specialized bilingual vocabularies, intercultural awareness and effectivenes, international business standards and marketing practices, and aspects of technology transfers and economic offsets in Arabophone countries of the Middle East and Africa.
Thanks again for establishing this forum on < proz.com >.
Regards,
Stephen H. Franke
San Pedro, California ▲ Collapse
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I am also teaching English and I am glad I can share my experience with other colleagues.
Sabina
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Saskia Steur (X)
Local time: 09:07
English to Dutch
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| I welcome this idea! | Jun 16, 2004 |
Kim,
Brilliant idea. I actually got into translation because I taught Dutch conversation in London to English speaking adults!
I still teach now (English, Dutch and technical architecture) and am very keen to see what this forum will be used for.
Thanks,
Saskia
[Edited at 2004-06-16 21:14]
| | | | Brandis (X)
Local time: 09:07
English to German
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Kim Metzger wrote:
Greetings ProZ colleagues, and welcome to the new forum for language teachers! This forum was started because many of us came to translation from a background in teaching languages and either still teach in addition to translating or at least still maintain a strong interest in the art and would like to share ideas and experiences on the subject. This forum is for everybody interested in teaching languages, and we hope it will soon become a place to learn and help others. So, let's get started!
Best wishes, Kim Hi! Kim, a very good initiative, indeed. I use German language as medium to teach IT-Subjects, with the help of audiovisuals. Hope I can do something here.
Greets
Brandis
| | | | Ruxi
German to Romanian
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| Good idea Kim! | Jun 16, 2004 |
The idea of your new forum is wonderfull and I want to ask you something of your experience.
Looking for a job, I found a booklet of the Popular School in my town which offer every year more and more languages to study.
I decided to make an offer in order to teach also Romanian.
They were happy, but asked me if I have any pedagogic experience.
I don't so the subject was closed.
Now I want to ask you:
- do all of you who teach languages, have such an experience... See more The idea of your new forum is wonderfull and I want to ask you something of your experience.
Looking for a job, I found a booklet of the Popular School in my town which offer every year more and more languages to study.
I decided to make an offer in order to teach also Romanian.
They were happy, but asked me if I have any pedagogic experience.
I don't so the subject was closed.
Now I want to ask you:
- do all of you who teach languages, have such an experience or skills (by graduating the University)?
- is this necessary? I mean, what exactly do you have to know special in this case.
What I imagine: you have to have a clear mind and a lot of patience with people,you have to know to organise the stuff and to present it.Is that pedagogy?
I tried to teach 3 persons in my life (privately): 2 boys (9-10 years old) and a young lady.
With the boys I had a success.They finished by trusting me and feeling good with me, having more courage and doing the lessons with pleasure. One I helped with different school lessons, the other one I helped with English.They were very shy and scared, as their families were severe.
With the young lady I couldn't do anything.She wanted to study German, but finaly she told me it is to difficult for her.
Was it my fault, or she did not have the capacity to learn this language?
What can you tell me about your experience in this field?
I can only learn from the experience of my teachers who were so different.Some were very severe and made us learn a lot, some were kind, some were not good enough to be teachers.
Thank you,
Ruxi ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 01:07
German to English
TOPIC STARTER | Teaching languages | Jun 16, 2004 |
Ruxi wrote:
I decided to make an offer in order to teach also Romanian.
They were happy, but asked me if I have any pedagogic experience. I don\'t so the subject was closed.
Now I want to ask you:
- do all of you who teach languages, have such an experience or skills (by graduating the University)?
- is this necessary? I mean, what exactly do you have to know special in this case.
What I imagine: you have to have a clear mind and a lot of patience with people,you have to know to organise the stuff and to present it.Is that pedagogy?
Oh, it\'s great to see so much interest in teaching languages. Right now, I\'m up to my eyeballs in translation projects, so I won\'t have much time to contribute to the forum myself for the next few days. But one thing I wanted to pick up on, was Ruxi\'s question about qualifications.
I\'ve been teaching for 35 years and one thing I learned was that there are people who are simply natural teachers. I suppose it\'s the same thing with translation and other professions. Some people have a natural instinct for what it takes to teach and a talent for getting people to learn. They, too, will benefit from formal training, but I\'ve come across people who seem to know exactly what to do by themselves.
But, I do believe that most people need training to be effective teachers. That\'s my quick opinion on the subject.
Kim
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| Excellent idea!!!! | Jun 16, 2004 |
Congratulations for this idea Kim!!!
One of the many things I do is teach Spanish in London mainly to adults...I have always thought that if you are into languages you probably like everything that is related to languages. I have always seen very close links between teaching a language and translation and probably interpreting too.
Well I hope to contribute to the forum soon.
Besides I wonder if there are orders from management (ie Henry) to create new fora because it seems new... See more Congratulations for this idea Kim!!!
One of the many things I do is teach Spanish in London mainly to adults...I have always thought that if you are into languages you probably like everything that is related to languages. I have always seen very close links between teaching a language and translation and probably interpreting too.
Well I hope to contribute to the forum soon.
Besides I wonder if there are orders from management (ie Henry) to create new fora because it seems new ones come up everyday...good....
Jesus. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 01:07
German to English
TOPIC STARTER | Teaching languages | Jun 16, 2004 |
Jesus Marin wrote:
Congratulations for this idea Kim!!!
One of the many things I do is teach Spanish in London mainly to adults...I have always thought that if you are into languages you probably like everything that is related to languages. I have always seen very close links between teaching a language and translation and probably interpreting too.
Well I hope to contribute to the forum soon.
Besides I wonder if there are orders from management (ie Henry) to create new fora because it seems new ones come up everyday...good....
Jesus.
Thank you Jesus and everyone else for your enthusiasm for this new forum. But I must confess that it was not my idea. It came from Magda Dziadosz, our Polish and Intepreting forums moderator. And she also proposed the other new forums that appeared today. So the KudoZ are all hers. I\'m just picking up the ball, and I hope you ProZies will run with it!
Cheers, Kim
| | | | | Hi Ruxi (and everybody) | Jun 17, 2004 |
I will briefly answer your question. In Italy now you have to attend a two-year post-graduate course if you want to get to teaching but I know that these policies are different for each and every country. As far as Italy is concerned in the past you had to graduate and then pass a formal State Exam which was called at no fixed deadlines (two, seven, eight years!).
This year I am back at University and have just finished the first of my two years.
Good luck,
... See more I will briefly answer your question. In Italy now you have to attend a two-year post-graduate course if you want to get to teaching but I know that these policies are different for each and every country. As far as Italy is concerned in the past you had to graduate and then pass a formal State Exam which was called at no fixed deadlines (two, seven, eight years!).
This year I am back at University and have just finished the first of my two years.
Good luck,
Sabina ▲ Collapse
| | | | avsie (X)
Local time: 09:07
English to French
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| Hi everyone! | Jun 17, 2004 |
I'm not a language teacher (yet!) but I'm planning to get formal training in French as a foreign language in the next few years... So I'll probably butt in on this forum from time to time
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Ruxi
German to Romanian
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Thank you for your answers. I would like to share some of my opinions.
First I will answer tu Jesus Marin:
It's true in a way - if you like languages you like many other things related to them (like in other fields too). On the other hand it isn't quite like that, because the things are different and require different skills and features.
If you like foreign languages you can: learn them, visit the specific countries and learn their culture (even specialise and make a jo... See more Thank you for your answers. I would like to share some of my opinions.
First I will answer tu Jesus Marin:
It's true in a way - if you like languages you like many other things related to them (like in other fields too). On the other hand it isn't quite like that, because the things are different and require different skills and features.
If you like foreign languages you can: learn them, visit the specific countries and learn their culture (even specialise and make a job of it), become a teacher, a translator, a turistic guide, an interpretor. Many other jobs include knowledge and use of languages.
Now there are differences: to be teacher means to be able to work with children or adults, to be calm and patient. To be an interpreter you have to have agood concentration and pronunciation, the ability to switch rapidly between languages, to registrate the original "text" and to find the terms immediatly.
To be a guide means to knowe to work with people, to travel a lot and fight with many other related problems (reservations, tickets, hotel, restaurants a.s.o).
Each people has his own capability to do some things. I like languages very much.Still I like only some activities related to them: to translate books,to learn about culture and tradition and read a lot. I do not have the phisical power to travel so much,to be a guide (though I like visting), I am to shy to work as an interpret (though I had to do it and did it well).I express myself better in written form.
I do not like very much top be a teacher, because I am shy and I could not be severe to my students and I think you need that to keep them on the direction and make them work.
You see, there it is not so easy!
To Kim and the others
Definitely in all jobs there are people meant, born for those jobs, people that have a talent for them and with training can do them very well and people who are forced for these jobs for some reasons and are not good for them.
I always had the opinion that before choosing a profession and the school to train for it,one has to be checked what natural talents he has, if he would be suitable for a job and maybe to be supported on his talent, so that he would be good and he will work with pleasure.
This examination I mean is not a technical one (skills for math or biology or so), but a psiychological one and a test of abilities. Some children would like to become musicians or sportsman/woman and do not have tha talent and ability for that, instead they have abilities to be dancers, or doctors, or teachers.
Many times people are forced to give up their natural abilities and work something else because their parents like them to do so,or simply because they need a job and the market does not offer anything else suitable for them. They aend doing jobs with no pleasure and talent and they don't do it well and don't have any satisfactions.
Finally there are possibilities to be flexible. You can do both a job and use youre talents for another activity you love inside your job or outside (hobby). I am an engineer but I had to use languages a lot at my work and I did (when I could) freelance translations.
About training to be a teacher.
I am aware it has to be some, but it depends of the necessity. Some have the ability and do not need training. Some have the opportunity.
With this I come to the colleague from Italy: in our country theachers are prepared in Universities (Philology,Math, Geography) or pedagogic high-schools (meaning no universities, but just a kind of professional schools). The last one prepare teachers for the ground school (first school classes) and for kindergarden (pedagogues).
Still people with other professions can teach in schools, or in training centers.I don't know if it is still valide, it was so years ago.I don't mean here that an engineer can teach in a Technical University technical subjects, but he can also teach in a school subjects like IT, mechanics, or math.
Regarding teaching languages: years ago, I was offered (with no training) to teach German in a Traing Center for people working in the transport field: railways, drivers a.s.o. who worked on international routes and had to communicate with the passengers or border controllers a.s.o. They needed basic knowledge.
Now everybody studies at school at least one language.
Still I found here in Germany these offers of the Popular School and thought, if they are interested to teach a specific language and do not have in the country trained teachers, they could use somebody who is just native-speaker and is available.
It seems they better don't teach it at all.
This is why I asked the question here.
Ruxi ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Teaching language is not only teaching language | Jun 17, 2004 |
Dear Ruxi, among other skills, teaching languages is indeed a matter of... natural ability. Not every speaker of a language, not even every philologist is able to convey parts of his knowledge to others. Teaching itself is an art.
During the past years I have had the opportunity to know people who were experts – luminaries as some would say – in their fields (I’m not only talking about philologists), but were not capable of endowing much upon their students. At the same time I know ... See more Dear Ruxi, among other skills, teaching languages is indeed a matter of... natural ability. Not every speaker of a language, not even every philologist is able to convey parts of his knowledge to others. Teaching itself is an art.
During the past years I have had the opportunity to know people who were experts – luminaries as some would say – in their fields (I’m not only talking about philologists), but were not capable of endowing much upon their students. At the same time I know people who are far from being real experts in the domain they teach, but who are excellent teachers, managing to impart knowledge with an extraordinary talent.
Getting back to your questions:
1) do all of you who teach languages, have such an experience or skills (by graduating the University)?
As you may know, in Germany teachers are prepared for their jobs in a different way from those trained in Romania. Universities in Germany focus merely on the scientific part, so that after graduating (first state exam) you do not have the „competence” of working as a teacher. University students are not commited to teach during their study as students in Romania are within the scope of their many so-called practical courses. „Methodic competence” is taught in Germany during the separate teacher training, which lasts more than one and a half years, focuses on the practical training and ends up with the so-called second state-exam. So you can not talk about experience at graduation of a University here, as people acquire some of the necessary skills only after graduating the post-university teacher training.
2) is this [experience] necessary? I mean, what exactly do you have to know special in this case?
You have to know much, Ruxi. You have to know some methods of teaching and some child psychology, as children are different and you should base your work on differentiation. This is also one part of my answer to your question about the young lady (Was it my fault, or she did not have the capacity to learn this language?). Nowadays you even have to be a kind of social worker, as many of your students are confronted with out-of-school problems and, unfortunately, many parents have better things to do than taking care of their own children. It is true that you don’t learn such things as last mentioned, and only your practical experience matures you. Still, I don’t think that a „lateral hire” could face all those problems at once, although some Bundesländer have finally opened their school systems to them.
Of course that as a Volkshochschul-teacher you don’t have to have studied neither child psychology nor be kind of a social worker. The problem there is that a course in Romanian is not quite a money spinner... Would that be the case, your „pedagogic experience” wouldn’t be so important... ▲ Collapse
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Those who can, do.
Those who cannot, teach.
Those who cannot teach
Become translators.
G. Bernard McShaw
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