Hi Amy,
I totally agree with you on your assessment. It has been
very frustrating for me to deal with the problems that you’ve just talked about.
In my country, in the distant past, teachers were trained well and I was fortunate enough to study under the great care of an excellent English teacher, who taught my friends and me many exceptions along with
the rules.
Nowadays, because English becomes necessary in our society, textbooks
have been either translated from old sources or written by many people with
limited knowledge and experience. Errors and outdated information have been
copied and multiplied. In addition to that, thousands of poor college students with
shallow English background become home-tutors and they cram test taking
techniques to the next generation. You
don’t pass, you don’t go to college; you don’t go to college, you might never
make it in life. The message is loud and clear!
With so much to absorb besides English, students end up study
to pass rather than to learn. Teaching English nuances is appreciated by a few
but creates confusion to the rest. And if teachers are not careful, they could
be angrily criticized for helping flunking the kids!
Teaching the ‘half-truth’ is so dangerous, but what is the
solution?
For me, I have yet to find a quick exit for our children. I
hope I can find a condensed ESL textbook that answers to the kind of test questions that keep spreading the ‘half
truth’. Am I dreaming!?