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An Institute of International Studies is a true melting pot of people of races and places and all that other good stuff, and it is quite common to hear a variety of languages as you mill around the corridor, have a quick fag up on the roof, or grab some grub under the trees. Here at the IIS the medium of choice is English. Now this can be American English, British English, Australian English, Afro-English, or Thinglish. Quite frankly, I don’t give a flying duck. What does cook my goose, however, is the English used to build a course around, which in turn the whole degree is based upon.
I am not learning English as a Second Language (ESL), and I quite honestly believe that none of the students should be. Now, there are a hell of a lot of students who use English as a second language, and more than a few who do need to be studying it as a second language, but this is a university, an international university, an accredited international university where English happens to be the medium of choice. If you went over to the Chinese program do you think that they would take into consideration that you are not proficient in Mandarin? Would they conduct their Mandarin courses using books designed for foreign students of Mandarin?
I think the answer would be no on both counts, so why does the IIS use these books that are not appropriate for tertiary education?
And who is to blame for it? The person who chooses to use these books or the people who choose to use these books? I believe that the blame is evenly distributed between professors and students; the professors conduct an ESL course because they are ESL teachers first and foremost, whereas the students either appreciate being taught ESL because their level of English needs improving or their level of English is proficient and they will do anything for a quiet life. The latter are not here for an education, aren’t interested in learning, and don’t care about what they are paying for because they want a piece of paper and not an education that leads to the piece of paper.
I’ll come up for air briefly so that I can give you a few examples. My pronunciation course started off as a joke in which we had to stand in a circle and pass around toys in opposite directions. When the teach... sorry, professor said stop you had to read the marker sentence in a certain emotion. Needless to say, when it was my time to shine in the limelight I did a great impression of pissed off. On this particular occasion I can’t blame the professor. They were new to lecturing and were still finding their feet.
Another professor, this one highly seasoned with years of experience cannot get off as lightly. As part of the course we had to read a novel, which was about a 150 pages short. With a break of a whole week our homework was to read about 30 pages.
I’m sorry, but this is bullshit.
A final example involves my favourite novel. Upon receiving the book from the office I was somewhat taken aback by the fact that the book was a genuine one and not a photocopy, and also by the fact the book was from the Penguin graded reader collection. I might have to enroll in a calculus class to learn how to put 2 and 2 together, because as it stands at the moment something doesn’t add up
I’ll leave you with the apt words of one of my favourite professors
‘If you are here to learn English you are wasting your money. Go to a language school.'
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