You want me teach you child English in you public school? No Problemo

Here we have an on-going drama in Cave Creek, AZ where citizens are expressing concern over a certified teacher who has been teaching in the Arizona public schools for 23 years who does not have a 3rd grade command of the English language. Surely we can do better, both for the tax payers and for the kids who deserve to see a role model in a bi-lingual capacity who is not an idiot.

www.sonorannews.com...

"CCUSD – Parents continue to express displeasure with Cactus Shadows High School World Language Department Lead, National Board Certified Teacher in World Languages Other than English, Spanish teacher Jocelyn Raught’s command of the English language and has them wondering if Raught’s spelling and grammar in Spanish may also be lacking.

A recent example included a lesson in “Place Vocabulary” for Spanish 3-4 students and the respective quiz placed on the Quia website by Raught.

On a list translating various places and things, such as attic, hallway, neighborhood, town/village, etc., Raught has the word country misspelled “coutnry.”

Where students log in to take the “Quiz on Place Vocabulary,” it states, “Take this quiz for credit on Place vocablary (sic). You may retake for more points. Be sure to put in the correct spelling and accents.”

Once logged in, the quiz goes on to ask students to identify the “best place to by (sic) a car.”

These examples were brought forward following Raught’s letter to parents, in which she wrote, “I am please (sic) to have your student in my Spanish class. It is going to be a very exciting year – one in which you (sic) student will learn much and use the language in the classroom.”

Raught’s bio indicates she’s been teaching at CSHS for 23 years and states, “The goals of the class are aligned to national and state standards based on Communication, Culture, Connections, Comparisons and Communities.”

In a state such as Arizona, children for whom English is not the primary language is and will continue to be a fact of life. As such, the government needs to provide an adequate education which teaches children the proper use of the dominant language of the country and to the extent that they are not doing so, are doing these kids a disservice.

"you want me come over?" works well if you plan to cut lawns for a living. It's not an effective means of communicating if you want to work in a professional capacity.

You can only imagine that this woman's English has gotten progressively better over the 23 years she has been teaching. How must it have been when she was tossed in the class room 23 years ago? She should be given a written test with the results published at the high school senior level and should she not pass, she should be immediately terminated.

Enough of this nonsense. There are tens of thousands of bi-lingual people in Arizona who could competently discharge the duties of this position. Why they have to resort for someone who writes in broken English is beyond me.

haha thats hilarious....but sad lol

You have got to wonder who employs these people

Originally posted by loves a conspiricy
haha thats hilarious....but sad lol

You have got to wonder who employs these people

Lived in Korea for 8 yrs.

The Korean teachers (Many couldn't speak English) taught the grammar while the foreigners taught the speaking and conversation etc. Why?

Koreans knew more about the mechanics of English than the English teachers. All from studying books.

The English teachers couldn't pass an English exam (not all) if they had to know the WHY and HOW of the language.

So, the point?

Don't underestimate what someone might be able to teach just because they don't look the part.

Good post OP.

Could it have been typos too?
I see this from my professors at itt tech online, it doesn't mean they're illiterate. Some times while rushing typos happen and some don't always re-read and correct them.

reply to post by ldyserenity


Thats as bad as the inability to actually communicate in the language. Sending something out under your name that represents you and your organization should be absolutely perfect, no exceptions. There is no excuse for a teacher or anyone else for that matter to be sending out correspondence that has any error in it what so ever. There are few things that professionals can be absolutely certain about being correct each and every time and one of them is written communication. It should be flawless.

Sloppy, shoddy and outright incompetent

Originally posted by ldyserenity
Could it have been typos too?
I see this from my professors at itt tech online, it doesn't mean they're illiterate. Some times while rushing typos happen and some don't always re-read and correct them.

edit on 4-10-2011 by ldyserenity because: amd I just did it I am typing in the dark too

Typos are OK on a message forum..I do it all the time.
Posts aren't worth the trouble sometimes, especially if the reader can get the point.

However..they are totally unacceptable on your website if you are an ENGLISH and GRAMMER teacher of 23 years!!

Whoever HIRED, or renewed her position should be charged with criminal negligence, and the school board should be fired.
An investigation needs to be launched into every single teacher on that administration.

When an English teacher of 23 years doesn't have a grasp of the english language, god knows what elese has been given ZERO oversight with regards to the children there.

Good lord no wonder kids are so un-informed today.

Is the title a joke? You do realize it is grammatically incorrect?

Your post also has many misspelled words... oh, irony...

reply to post by Observer99


The title is a joke. I'm sorry that you did not catch it, especially considering the topic.....

There are no misspelled words in my comments

While, I think they have no business teaching English, I don't want you teaching my child English, either. You seem to be struggling with the language, as well.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. You have said that you do not believe that spelling and grammar are all that important on a message board, but I disagree. English and grammar are very important in every facet of life.

English is important. So, if you are going to offer to teach my child English, you need to gain a better grasp on it, yourself.

Now, education in America needs to be reformed. There are way too many kids struggling and when the teachers do not understand what they are teaching, it becomes evident why. Thinks need to change and chance starts with the individual.

OP, lead by example.

Originally posted by dolphinfan
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

Thats as bad as the inability to actually communicate in the language. Sending something out under your name that represents you and your organization should be absolutely perfect, no exceptions. There is no excuse for a teacher or anyone else for that matter to be sending out correspondence that has any error in it what so ever. There are few things that professionals can be absolutely certain about being correct each and every time and one of them is written communication. It should be flawless.

Sloppy, shoddy and outright incompetent

Is it fifty percent sloppy and only twenty five percent each for shoddy and outright incompetent? If you meant all three equally there should have been a comma after shoddy.

Originally posted by dolphinfan
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

Thats as bad as the inability to actually communicate in the language. Sending something out under your name that represents you and your organization should be absolutely perfect, no exceptions. There is no excuse for a teacher or anyone else for that matter to be sending out correspondence that has any error in it what so ever. There are few things that professionals can be absolutely certain about being correct each and every time and one of them is written communication. It should be flawless.

Sloppy, shoddy and outright incompetent

Oops! I missed your missing apostrophe in "Thats".
Sometimes it's good to cut people some slack. No?

reply to post by dolphinfan

Spanish teacher Jocelyn Raught’s command of the English language and has them wondering if Raught’s spelling and grammar in Spanish may also be lacking

She's a Spanish teacher, and I will assume that means she teaches Spanish as a foreign language.

An English teacher should not use the native language of a foreign student. A Spanish teacher should only speak Spanish during class. I would feel stupid to use English while participating in a foreign language class. .

Maybe they should pay their teachers better, and they might attract better teachers. You know the old saying, you get what you pay for.

If you read the entire article, it sounds like the local taxpayers are even less happy with how the school district spent bond money. I think the Spanish teacher issue is placed in the article to distract from the real issues.

Several district taxpayers, after reading Burdick’s press release about the outcome of the lawsuit, said the district should have thought about prioritizing its expenses and performed the “needed renovations … including roof and fire alarm replacements,” before it decided to add 44 parking spaces to the high school parking lot or purchase expensive electronic marquees.

We also asked why the district registered the trademarks, as we’ve not been able to find another instance of a school district registering its initials as a trademark.

Obviously there are filing fees in addition to the legal fees associated with registering trademarks that the prepaid legal did not cover. However, Burdick did not respond to that question or where the item was budgeted.

Taxpayers personal information was also sold by the school district, according to the same article.

And, parents are still fuming over the district’s sale of their personal contact information to the Political Action Committee (PAC) LearnYes.org.