Originally Posted by indiebird (Post 9169061)

My friend (she is Italian but has an English hub) was worried that her son was not speaking in English, even though her husband speaks English to him all the time and she speaks Italian. I went and only spoke English with him and his mum and he now speaks to me only in English. He's two.... I've got no idea how it works but it's not how we learn as adults....

Originally Posted by Pecora Nera (Post 9169446)

I have no idea how this language thing works, when my dad was in the navy he was stationed in Hong Kong for 18 months. Within 8 months he was assigned as the translator for the ship because he had managed to learn Cantonese and Mandarin plus he could understand the writing and use it. I asked him once how he learnt it. He said I just listened and I remembered the words:huh: Even 40 years later in the UK when we visited Chinese restaurants my dad always asked for the table and ordered in Chinese..

Originally Posted by indiebird (Post 9169449)

He obviously is one of those talented individuals with 'an ear' I wish I had one!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Pecora Nera (Post 9169483)

I think the ear bit is important in all seriousness, my wife as a singer listens to a new word and can repeat it perfectly..

Now when she says a new word to me I try to repeat back and she will say "not like that like this.." And we start again... And I either don't notice the subtleties and or I just can't create the same sound.

And I know by morning I will have forgotten the Bl**dy word anyway..:blink::frown:

Originally Posted by giodafa (Post 9167826)

Hi, the, problem is the english teachers who taught you in the mid eighties are still teaching in 2011 and they still have their regional accent:) The only difference is now they have conversation teachers (mothertongue) which to me means the teacher isn't good enough so they stick a mothertongue by her side. Back to the uk, I was taught french in middle school (mid eighties) I don't think she was mothertongue , and I knew no better, but here I do know better and its very annoying to have a teacher give your child a low mark when they can't even pronounce th!

Originally Posted by gelato (Post 9168971)

I don't agree with this. My husband is Dutch and just about everyone in the Netherlands speaks decent English by the time they finish school. They start learning English at school at age 11-12 and most English teachers in NL are not mothertongue.

IMO the reason the Dutch English language learning system works so well is a) the English teachers speak very good English and speak only English during lessons b) the kids spend something like 4 hours a week on English c) TV and movies aren't dubbed into Dutch - they're subtitled but most kids don't bother reading the subtitles and learn to understand English instead and d) Dutch people are very practical and they teach English in a very practical manner ie. the kids actually learn to speak the language rather than translating texts into their native language. I still remember tutoring a 14 year old English student here in Italy. I said "hi - how was your weekend?" and the look of absolute panic on her face was priceless. At liceo she wasn't learning to speak the language but rather how to translate English literature into Italian. :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by indiebird (Post 9168858)

. I think a lot of people in the UK are like that to be honest. I only started learning Italian when I knew we were moving to Italy for my husband's work. It's still not fluent but it's getting better all the time and I can hold conversations and I do understand what's being said but one of the biggest problems I had, personally, was I didn't know HOW to learn a foreign language.

I heard some English say that they quite like how Italian sounds, but to be honest ( unfortunately for us) it's not the most useful language..:o
I think to learn Italian there must be a reason...

As far as state school teaching English here goes (our experience as a family) it seems pretty dire at the elementary level. My poor son was told he had the 'wrong' accent because his teacher didn't understand his English. I felt quite strongly that this was her deficiency and not his and yet he was made to feel bad about it!! He now speaks in English lessons with an Italian stupid accent which is just wrong! My daughter has fared a little better as her ele teacher sees having her in the class is an opportunity for the class to learn correct pronunciation and she is made to feel that her English is a gift that she can share with the class.
There was a huge queue to see her at parents evening this week and everyone seemed to feel that she isn't 'fair' i.e giving 'good kids good marks'.... . It's quite nice to think that our language that, let's face it, all kids need to do here at school, is something positive for a change rather than other teachers seeing it as an negative thing.

Originally Posted by ambra_wandsworth (Post 9170250)

I guess some italian teachers struggle with that. I mean, if they're clever they should be happy to have bilingual students, it's a fantastic opportunity for the rest of the class as well; when they're not, I can see those things happening..( in this part of the world..:o)
Maybe your child's teacher couldn't understand him, his accent, because she doesn't even know english can have different accents as well??!
But I would feel really silly to act like that, and I couldn't face a parent comin to talk to me...:blink: I guess you have pity on her?!
Some parents are really competitive, I mean it seems that it's them going to school instead of their kids, it's not about learning it's only about getting top marks..

Originally Posted by gelato (Post 9169654)

. My husband is like your OH and he speaks 7 languages including his native Dutch. He's able to switch back and forth between them no hassles and just picks things up very easily.

Originally Posted by Pecora Nera (Post 9169446)

I have no idea how this language thing works, when my dad was in the navy he was stationed in Hong Kong for 18 months. Within 8 months he was assigned as the translator for the ship because he had managed to learn Cantonese and Mandarin plus he could understand the writing and use it. Chinese..

Originally Posted by Lorna at Vicenza (Post 9168789)

Many English teachers in Italy have never been to the UK, USA or Australia.

Originally Posted by ononno (Post 9168845)

Our German teacher, known as Benny Goodman, was more interested in teaching us the offside rules of footbal:lol:.
ciao for now,
'o nonno

Originally Posted by ambra_wandsworth (Post 9170250)

:rofl: ...I'm honestly not Some parents are really competitive, I mean it seems that it's them going to school instead of their kids, it's not about learning it's only about getting top marks..

Originally Posted by ambra_wandsworth (Post 9170250)

:rofl: ...I'm honestly not surprised...:D...but conversation teachers is at least an improvement! Sign of the times?...Someone maybe has started realizing we need some help?!!:), but are you talking about state or private schools?



I see your point...when I was a teenager I did some english courses in uk, and the teacher approach was totally different, much more practical and useful; I remembered I felt quite embarassed to talk in front of other students,but at least I gave it a go..right or wrong...at the end of the day, someone can learn by heart every single line of a book, but not being able to say a word which is just a waste of time, who cares about a school grade in life if it doesn't reflect your real ability?



I guess some italian teachers struggle with that. I mean, if they're clever they should be happy to have bilingual students, it's a fantastic opportunity for the rest of the class as well; when they're not, I can see those things happening..( in this part of the world..:o)
Maybe your child's teacher couldn't understand him, his accent, because she doesn't even know english can have different accents as well??!
But I would feel really silly to act like that, and I couldn't face a parent comin to talk to me...:blink: I guess you have pity on her?!
Some parents are really competitive, I mean it seems that it's them going to school instead of their kids, it's not about learning it's only about getting top marks..

Originally Posted by giodafa (Post 9170308)

so true!! Today I was waiting for my son at karate lessons, and there they are two mums doing kids homework, not helping actually one was drawing a map of veneto and one was solving a maths problem!!!! Then they very proudly told me that their kids have all nines in their pagella:ohmy::huh: I think the system here really frightens parents, two 5 and your bocciato, so parents aren't really worried about the education their kids receive as long as they get through to the next year:rolleyes:

Originally Posted by indiebird (Post 9170284)

I think, at elementary level, some teachers here have been forced to take on roles that they don't quite have the skills for. Our elementary school for example doesn't have dedicated English teachers but one of each of the teachers for each year group (it's quite a big school -there are 3 classes per year) takes on the responsibility to be 'The English Teacher' for that year and teaches all the classes in that year English is their 'spare' time (we have two teachers per class and one teaches the morning session and one the afternoon session) This is in contrast to having a dedicated Religion teacher who teaches Religion full-time. It seems a bit silly to me, but then we are not Catholic or religious....

Originally Posted by giodafa (Post 9170288)

State schools or should I say school , not sure about all of them my daughter goes to a liceo linguistico so maybe a mothertongue conversation teacher is a must.:thumbsup:

Originally Posted by gelato (Post 9170293)

Unfortunately, I think that's universal. One of my facebook mum friends posted this hilarious video called "mompetitors". :rofl:

I do feel bad sometimes about the fact that us English speakers are generally bad at learning languages but my ever practical Dutch husband says "yes but English speakers don't really need to learn foreign languages the way, say, a Dutch person or an Italian needs to learn English". It's true if you think about it - I've travelled all over the world and even in the middle of nowhere you can kind of get by with a tiny bit of English a lot of the time. There's no way you could go to, say, South East Asia and try speaking Dutch or Italian when you're lost on the streets of Bangkok. :D Also, within the EU, English is the de facto common language. When I worked for an international law firm here in Rome when we drafted a contract between an Italian company and a German company it was in English.

Originally Posted by giodafa (Post 9170308)

so true!! Today I was waiting for my son at karate lessons, and there they are two mums doing kids homework, not helping actually one was drawing a map of veneto and one was solving a maths problem!!!! Then they very proudly told me that their kids have all nines in their pagella:ohmy::huh: I think the system here really frightens parents, two 5 and your bocciato, so parents aren't really worried about the education their kids receive as long as they get through to the next year:rolleyes: