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Posted by Vodka on 25-04-2011 at 19:23:

It is okiee!

I guess posting is the only way to met

everyone ..wait

uye..i was thiking about Gatchfanfic

snowing Sorry

But im happy that there are many members that english is not their first language so Im att ease

(sorry for my super bad speeling today i learned somthing about 'realative clauses and gernunds', which made english more condfused!)

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Posted by amethyst on 25-04-2011 at 19:39:

quote:
Originally posted by Vodka
(sorry for my super bad speeling today i learned somthing about 'realative clauses and gernunds', which made english more condfused!)


Ah grammar. Isn't it funny how we never really think too much about terms and technicalities when it comes to the grammar of our native languages, yet when we learn a second language we are taught all the terms as if that will make it easier for us to learn the language.

Clauses, I won't get into. Half the time even native speakers mess them up and have trouble distinguishing dependent from independent let alone relative or conditional. Heck some don't even know the difference between a clause and a phrase.

Now gerunds are easy. Gerunds are verbs acting as nouns. Most often whenever you see a verb ending in 'ing' it is a gerund.

FYI -- I was an English teacher with training in English Language Development. If you ever get confused or need help, just PM me or even start a thread. If I don't know the answer off of the top of my head, I know where to find it, or someone else here will know it, too.

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Posted by Vodka on 26-04-2011 at 02:06:

Im save! Our en English teacher must be fun? I'm in the international Bacculate program I dot know if you ever heard of it but they make English way more difficult! My school is full with transfer and exchange students so it's an international school.

Yesterday I did my homework on gerunds cause u face up on clauses! So a gerund is a adverb? I think that is call

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Posted by amethyst on 26-04-2011 at 02:14:

Yeah, my kids schools are currently IB, but it sounds like they will be dropping the program soon. Our district is just too small, and the program too pricey. It hasn't added to the K-8 program and for high school, the AP program offers more flexibility.

I'll look up in my resources to see if I can find an easy way of explaining gerunds for you and your relative clauses, too. Unfortunately, testing puts too much focus on terminology, while I'd rather say look at what it's doing: what is the purpose of this word, phrase, clause? how does it affect the meaning of the sentence?

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Posted by Vodka on 26-04-2011 at 02:31:

That is sad I think IB is a great opportunity for the students to get (scholar? The awards that kids get money to school in spainish is beca)

In your opinion do you think that IB and AP are the same?



Thank you I appreciate your help! Your aid will help me c: i will just keep practiing and try..to learn it

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No I'm not lucky I'm Blessed


Posted by amethyst on 26-04-2011 at 02:49:

quote:
Originally posted by Vodka
In your opinion do you think that IB and AP are the same?


No their not the same. In a larger district, it wouldn't be an issue. They could have an IB school and an AP school. We have one high school with about 500 students, total.

The way IB works here, you are either Diploma Program or not. With AP, it offers smaller schools more flexibility without being part of a program. A student could take AP math and science and regular English and history or foreign language. Students can take the classes with or without taking the test/students can take the test without taking the class.

IB has some great benefits, but in my opinion it works better in larger schools than what we have in my town. Of course, I will say that I do have a bias because the students that I work best with would not be in either program. I work best with underprivileged students who are struggling to get through school, many of whom college is a pipe dream.

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Posted by Vodka on 26-04-2011 at 19:18:

500 students!? Wow this is small school!

Your district does not offer IB certificates either, it's either your a diploma or not wow what a disadvantage for me I am not a full diploma I wish but (my math is weakness) I have 5 certificates; IB English,biochemistry, theory of knowledge,history of Europe,and gifted Latin, and I will be accept as certificates rather than a full diploma

Waiit, students can take the classes with or without taking the test/without the classes? I'm confused :c

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Posted by amethyst on 26-04-2011 at 20:04:

quote:
Originally posted by Vodka
Waiit, students can take the classes with or without taking the test/without the classes? I'm confused :c


With AP yes. Taking the tests at the end of the year is optional. Students who test well and just want to take the tests are welcome. They usually aren't as prepared and they don't get school credit.

With IB and my local school district, it is fairly new. I don't know much about the certificates because my kids aren't in high school yet, so that may be an option, but the way it has been presented to us, no mention of certificates have been made.

Of the 500 enrolled in the high school, less than a dozen are enrolled in the diploma program. In fact it was just a few years ago that the district tried to convert to IB and they went whole district too fast, and created a big controversy. So we are actually phasing out again. Plus when the converted they dropped most AP classes. The larger schools in other district usually have both.

So, yeah, if I confused yeah, it is because I have gotten confusing information (possibly misinformation, too).

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Posted by lborgia88 on 26-04-2011 at 21:00:

quote:
Originally posted by Vodka
I'm in the international Bacculate program My school is full with transfer and exchange students so it's an international school.


Sounds interesting and like a lot of fun, though not easy!


quote:
Originally posted by Vodka
history of Europe


That's what I studied in university -good choice!


(Unless you want a job that pays well... Laugh1 )


I went to school in Canada and had many years of French classes. In hindsight, I mostly remember reading and studying the grammar, especially with regard to tenses and verbs, and getting all the conjugations and prepositions correct. There's no denying the importance of formal grammar training, but years later, I found myself wishing there had been more focus on basic conversational skills, since when you're just trying to chat with someone on the subway in Montreal, it's not so vital to get every tense and conjugation correct but rather to have a broader vocabulary and familiarity with hearing the language more than reading it.

Still, in a classroom situation, I imagine it's hard for one teacher to practice conversational skills with multiple students, and not something that's as easy to evaluate and grade.


Posted by Transmute Jun on 26-04-2011 at 23:05:

In our high school they had conversation class, which was part of our final French grade. But I recall all of the conversations being very stilted and forced... we certainly were't comfortable doing it!

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Posted by amethyst on 26-04-2011 at 23:34:

quote:
Originally posted by Transmute Jun
In our high school they had conversation class, which was part of our final French grade. But I recall all of the conversations being very stilted and forced... we certainly were't comfortable doing it!


The Spanish classes I had in both high school and college included conversation components, but yeah, the always forced. Actually scripted is a better word as even when we had to write our own dialogue, it came out that way, unnatural.

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Posted by Vodka on 27-04-2011 at 03:13:

quote:
Originally posted by amethyst
With AP yes. Taking the tests at the end of the year is optional. Students who test well and just want to take the tests are welcome. They usually aren't as prepared and they don't get school credit.


OH! I know what it is now, the Advanced tests that you pay a lot of money for it and it is graded by numvers 1-7?
---
quote:
Originally posted by lborgia88


Sounds interesting and like a lot of fun, though not easy!

That's what I studied in university -good choice!


(Unless you want a job that pays well... Laugh1 )


It is not fun, the examanation is torture! But you get to learn many languages and cultures from other nations, so guay! ^_^ and it is require to speak and learn English because it is the language to communicate with everyone else Smile

and history of Europe is so amazing the subject goes into depth and you learn new terms and secrets that most average history class would not mention! But the examainations are..sooo intense!
Frown

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No I'm not lucky I'm Blessed


Posted by gatchamarie on 27-04-2011 at 07:19:

quote:
Originally posted by lborgia88
There's no denying the importance of formal grammar training, but years later, I found myself wishing there had been more focus on basic conversational skills, since when you're just trying to chat with someone on the subway in Montreal, it's not so vital to get every tense and conjugation correct but rather to have a broader vocabulary and familiarity with hearing the language more than reading it.


You're so right, LB! I often found, and find myself in this same situation! Even if I'd know well a language, it's very difficult for me to converse fluently! I tend to try and form a sentence into my mind first, trying to use as much of correct grammar and sentence structure as I can, but this takes a lot of time to utter it out! Being conscious of such a drawback, and knowing that during a conversation with another person I cannot take it so easy (especially when you're talking with the French who tend to speak so fast in their native language!), even if I'd know well the language I always end up speaking out the wrong structure, differently from what my mind says, or start stammering in order to be as fast as the person who's speaking to me! That's why I feel more at ease writing down things in a foreign language, where I could take my own time!

During the many foreign language classes I attended at my time, we too didn't have that much coverage of conversational skills ... we had those occasional oral exams and comprehensions, but the classes mainly focused on the respective grammar and culture! I cannot deny that these helped me a lot when visiting the respective countries but, again, I wish I could be able to converse more fluently and not seem like a dork!

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Posted by lborgia88 on 27-04-2011 at 17:09:

quote:
Originally posted by Vodka
and history of Europe is so amazing the subject goes into depth and you learn new terms and secrets that most average history class would not mention! But the examainations are..sooo intense!
Frown


I know how that feels! Huggles


quote:
Originally posted by Vodka
During the many foreign language classes I attended at my time, we too didn't have that much coverage of conversational skills ...


It sounds like amethyst and TJ did, though. I guess it just depends on the class and the instructor. At any rate, in grad school I was able to pass the foreign language reading exam for French on my first try without too much advance preparation (and you were required to pass at least one such exam), so the years of classes did pay off in the end.


Posted by amethyst on 27-04-2011 at 17:32:

I once set a goal to read Don Quixote as it was originally written. While I read Spanish much better than I speak it, I'm still a long way from that goal.

My younger son, has had Spanish in middle school, and is almost to my speaking level. When he practices his homework, I can understand and help him pretty well. Unfortunately, he does not want to continue in high school next year with the language. He has signed up for American Sign Language instead. I don't think he realized that it will be much harder than Spanish. He won't listen to me, after all, I'm mom, what do I know!

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Posted by gatchgirl on 02-05-2011 at 00:20:

Welcome Vodka, It's great to see so many new people joining the site...

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Posted by Vodka on 02-05-2011 at 02:25:

quote:
Originally posted by gatchgirl
Welcome Vodka, It's great to see so many new people joining the site...


Gracias Smile

I love your picture! >//<

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