Woods wrote:linguoboy wrote:since you're using French, why not consider an example like, "Moi, je déteste la grammaire!"
This is the emphatic pronoun, just like in English "Me, I hate grammar."
The Spanish example you gave earlier in this thread ("A mí no me gusta la gramática") is emphatic too, with "a mí" providing the emphasis. I think that's why Linguoboy suggested that you use the French example rather than the Spanish one, since you know French. They're emphatic in both languages. If you wanted to say it in a non-emphatic way you could just say "No me gusta la gramática."
Woods wrote:Linguaphile wrote:they wouldn't claim to be superior to all other teachers
And neither have I!
This is where that misunderstanding came from - I'll address it further below:
Woods wrote:It might be concerning, but the people who took classes from me all spoke much worse English than I do and had needs that I addressed in the most careful and appropriate way, as far as I can tell and according to their feedback, so after my classes they were much better off than they would have been if they had subscribed to a regular English course.
Woods wrote:Another thought that came to mind: you are thinking from the perspective of a person living in the US...
You are assuming if someone on top of that made the effort to study English formally, they must have a lot to teach...
That class took place in Bulgaria more than fifteen years ago...
Not at all, those aren't my assumptions. You're misunderstanding me. I don't doubt that your teacher could have been unqualified. And, in the United States there are teachers who aren't good at their jobs too. I thought I'd already said that, but I'll say it again. I believe you.
My responses had to with what I thought were generalizations about all teachers in comparison to your own methods, not your comments about specific teachers you've had. (Explained further below.)
Woods wrote:Linguaphile wrote:Or have I misunderstood you again?
It happens. I think we have different situations in mind and you're overgeneralising too much, from where we've gotten into a lot of misunderstandings.
Yes, it happens, but I'm not sure it's for the reasons you've stated. Like I explained above, I'm not making the assumptions you think I'm making and I'm not making generalizations about teachers. I misunderstood the point you were trying to make earlier, and now you're misunderstanding mine, but it seems there are some linguistic misunderstandings going on.
Woods wrote:Linguaphile wrote:Aren't you saying they were better with you than they could have been with any regular course?
Probably if your sentence didn't include the word "any", I would have said yes.
So let's go at this from a linguistic perspective.
I deliberately changed your word "a" to the word "any" precisely to show you how I was understanding what you'd said. To me, your sentence has the same meaning with either "a" or "any". That's why I asked it that way; to find out if both sentences had the same meaning to you, too, or not. I was testing a theory that maybe what I'd understood you to mean, wasn't actually what you meant. You've just confirmed that to be true: what I understood you to be saying wasn't what you meant.
To me, the meanings of those two sentences are nearly the same. From what you've just told me, to you they are quite different.
- Sentence 1: After my classes they were much better off than they would have been if they had enrolled in a regular English course.
- Sentence 2: After my classes they were much better off than they would have been if they had enrolled in any regular English course.
Woods wrote:I can confirm that I am able to teach some things to some people better than other people can, without having ever claimed that it applies to all things or that I am better than all teachers (which would be an insanely stupid thing to think or say).
Yes. I'm glad we agree.
Woods wrote:Linguaphile wrote:It's good that your students improved their English and gave you positive feedback. But...
Let me just take you back for a second to where this point started - it wasn't me trying to brag about my abilities but me replying to you saying that me having taught English is concerning!
Again, not at all. You've misunderstood me. This is what I was referring to:
Woods wrote:I don't know what they think but they should reconsider their teaching methods for sure. Probably the reason I've only taken three relatively short English courses in my entire life, and I left the second one after a couple classes. So I might have missed something. But I've seen the books, because I've taught it myself.
Here you were saying that you'd taken only two English courses and part of a third, left one because you didn't like it, and might have missed something. The "they" here seems to refer to all teachers, because we were talking about textbooks in general - not any particular teacher. You were saying (or I thought you were saying) that "they" (teachers) should reconsider their teaching methods because they aren't teaching register, and they you know "they" (teachers) aren't because you've "seen the books". It was difficult to follow. All teachers should change their teaching methods? You've seen all the books? Or (sine that's impossible so we'll dismiss it) from the teachers and books you've seen in two and a half courses plus your own teaching, you've generalized that they're probably all like that. That is what I understood you to be saying, and that was what was concerning. Clearly that's not what you meant, but at the time it sure sounded like it's what you were saying. In English such generalizations like that about all others (even, or especially, when it's clear that you can't literally mean all others and have only seen a few) can sound like arrogance.
Woods wrote:At the end, didn't you mean this as "who are you to teach English, without having grown up with that language
Again, no - absolutely not. Lots of non-native English speakers are fantastic teachers of English - even here in the United States, where there is certainly no lack of native English speakers vying for the same jobs! I know many non-native speakers who are among the best language teachers I've met.
On the other hand, I was really surprised that you said you have only taken two and a half English classes. That's not something I could say of any of the other non-native (or native) English-speaking English teachers I've known.
This isn't criticism. You've obviously learned it from elsewhere else as well, not just those classes. So those two and a half classes aren't really your only language instruction in English, either. But this is not me saying "who are you to teach English to those who are less advanced than you" - this is just me genuinely surprised to read that you've taken less than three English courses.
Woods wrote:So may I have my permission to teach English from time to time back please
Totally not my place to say and I never meant to say that it was. In fact the only reason why I'm continuing with such a long post in reply now is because I think the linguistic misunderstandings are worth discussion and relevant to the original topic (grammar doubts), such as the use of "a" versus "any". That's why I'm writing this, NOT for the purposes of continuing an argument. If you want to leave it at that and move on, I'm happy to do so as well.