Teach English in Shihua Jiedao - Shanghai Shi

Problems For Learners in QuebecGiven the vast majority of my teaching experience has come from my home province of Quebec, I will address difficulties encountered for learners in this province for this article. While Quebec may not be known as a hotbed for english Second Language instruction, one should not forget that this area of Canada is overwhelmingly french speaking?to the tune of 84.5 % of the population. As a result, there is still a huge need for ESL in this province. One can break down the major aspects facing french Canadian learners into common grammatical challenges, pronounciation issues and socio-political factors relative to the issue. Firstly, french itself is a Latin language while english is of Germanic descent, and thus encompasses a different set of rules and structures which can be confusing for the french Canadian student. Primarily, plurals in french are not pronounced in the noun itself. The noun is said the same way whether in singular or plural form, as it is the article which denotes this aspect of the concept. In english however, articles themselves are not singular or plural. On occasion a plural is stipulated such as with the adjectives ?these? and ?those?, but regardless, this does not change the fact that all countable nouns themselves outside of a small minority of exceptions must be altered in both spelling and pronunciation. Therefore, french speakers have a major problem overcoming this structural difference in their speech and will often leave the ?s? off a noun when stating it, or use the singular form of an irregular noun (such as saying 2 child instead of children). This dilemna also translates into areas where an ?s? needs to be pronounced on the end of a word although it does not stipulate a plural. french Canadians are notorious for not pronouncing their ?s? on third person singular verbs, or being able to use proper auxiliairy form for the third person when needed. Furthermore, with respect to verb tenses, the Present Perfect is also a problem for french Speakers as the Passe Compose tense is not a direct equivalent for them in their language. They often have difficulty differentiating between this tense and the Simple Past. Also, the french language for the most part does not use the continuous form of the Present tense when speaking of actions in progress. Consequently, french Canadian Speakers often use the tense inappropriately, or merge the two so that you get utterances such as ?I?m go to the store?. There are other issues when it comes to grammar but these are the major ones which should suffice for now. In terms of pronounication, the ?th? sound is seldom used in the french language, and the phonetics are different when it is employed. As a result, many french Canadians have great difficulty with words such as ?three? which comes out sounding like ?tree?, or ?the? which ends up sounding like ?da?. The second significant point of concern is with the ?H? sound. Simply put, french Canadians have a tendency to put it where it should not be (?ask? becomes ?h-ask?), or not put it where it should be (?he? becomes ?e?). Depending on the word or the application this can either lead to confusion, or plain not sound good and effect the perception and esteem of the speaker in the eyes and ears of the listener. Finally, Quebec?s acrimonious socio-political relationship with the rest of english Canada, as well as the reality of being the lone bastion of the french Language in north america, has led to primordial concerns of assimilation and loss of culture. The famous Bill 101 in Quebec, laid out after a Quiet Revolution led french Canadians and french Canadian nationalism to reclaim social and political predominance in Quebec in the 1960?s and 1970?s, limits the use of english in official capacities and on signage and advertising. Most pertinent for this discussion, it prohibits french Canadians from sending their children to english schools unless one parent is english or was instructed at Elementary or Secondary levels in english somewhere in Canada. All of this effectively makes english difficult for french Canadian Learners, as even though they live in canada, direct exposure to the language can be limited. When students grow up with limited language abilities and are then forced to take classesin their adult lives with all the distractions, commitments, and stress that entails, it often results in a drawback or disadvantage both career wise and in general.