ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Australia here. We have so many different English classes on offer for pretertiary students that it will make your ears bleed.
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Do non-U.S. schools have the equivalent of "English" class?
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matt360
Member
Yup, and then in high school they also have 古文 (kobun), which is basically "old Japanese." Most of my students claimed it was harder than English.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Yes, we do have English literature mixed in our English.
Kind of a random question, but do Kenyans and (if you know) other countries that speak Swahili primarily write in the Roman or Arabic style? I realized I wasn't sure what written Swahili looked like so I Googled it and it seems like the Roman style appeared more often
AzureSkies
Member
In the UK it's just called English Language, Literature and English Media.
Language and Literature kind of fuse into one and when you start Year 10/Grade 9 you can decide between choosing Literature or Media.
Either way, you have to do minor Media courses in Literature and Literature courses in Media.
I'm not sure i quite understand what you mean by roman style sklorenz, but i'm assuming it applies to the direction we write in? That would be from left to write. I'm pretty sure it's the same for other swahili speaking nations. Swahili itself is derived mostly from arabic but we use the normal alphabet. It's a relatively simple language overall and our vowel pronounciation kinda resembles spanish.
Ours was Wangalangadingdong, then Hooroo Class in high school. Taught by Professor Bruce.
That shite bastard. Always so smug. Professor Bruce from Hobart was great though. Worth his weight in Foster's. Last I heard, he had quit teaching. Nowadays he leads tourists on camel tours of the desert.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
"Learning vocab" seems to be a uniquely American concern. Or am I off about this? If you read well, vocabulary will naturally follow.
Foxy Fox 39
Banned
Pas moi.
compulsory English lessons in almost every country (in Europe, at least) starting in kindergarten. Mostly for learning to write, read, speak and understand the language, you read a few books in class but the only goal is to improve your English. We discuss literature in our native language
Same in Korea. I think it's supposed to be about placing more importance on their respective languages, calling it 'The National Language' implies much more than objective, distant terms like 'Korean' or 'Japanese'. I wonder if the Chinese do that too.
We learn English with a focus on basic grammar so it's a cakewalk to anybody who's decently fluent.
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
they do. NZ/Aussie and I'm sure UK, it's all the same
I don't think it's really a "concern" at all. It's just an easy way for teachers to give students pointless busy work. Have them copying definitions for half the class!
Ah, I essentially was asking about writing using English letters, not direction. I saw styles using both an Arabic-derived alphabet and what looked to be essentially the same alphabet as English (which I assumed was adopted due to a combination of European colonization and globalization). I was just curious if the Arabic style was still used with frequency, but as you stated people tend to use the "normal alphabet," which is what I was getting at. Thanks
Though I was familiar with what countries spoke the language, I had no idea it was derived from Arabic until I searched it.The extent of "vocab" I had growing up was learning synonyms, antonyms, and how to use a thesaurus. The rest was standard stuff like reading books and learning to write coherently.
You must have had some shitty English teachers because that wasn't my experience at all.
Been a while, but in Bulgaria we had a course that would translate to "Bulgarian language and literature". Gradually over the years the language part, which was grammar and general literacy would decrease, and literature increase.
The literature itself wasn't only Bulgarian, I think there are like 3 years (including the last two of high school) that are only focused on Bulgarian literature, the rest were others, mostly European literature (very little American, don't think anything Asian and non-Russian). All foreign literature is translated. (So the "Bulgarian" in the course name really refers to the language bit, not the literature.)
Foreign language classes feature some literature, especially at a higher level, but they remain mainly focused on the language and not an analysis of the work.
The literature itself wasn't only Bulgarian, I think there are like 3 years (including the last two of high school) that are only focused on Bulgarian literature, the rest were others, mostly European literature (very little American, don't think anything Asian and non-Russian). All foreign literature is translated. (So the "Bulgarian" in the course name really refers to the language bit, not the literature.)
Foreign language classes feature some literature, especially at a higher level, but they remain mainly focused on the language and not an analysis of the work.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
The last time I did something like that was in primary school. Stripped of context, the ability to memorize words and their definitions isn't a very precise window into your command of the English language.
I think spelling in the English language is important since its such a mishmash of foreign languages. That's primarily what we did in English class early on. It did switch to vocab later though. I think it's good because I don't think alot if people wont actively learn new vocab and just assume they understand the word from context whether there understanding is correct or not.
North Asia puts a lot of stress on vocab because of kanji.
bernardobri
Steve, the dog with no powers that we let hang out with us all for some reason
In Chile its generally called "Lenguaje y Comunicación" (Language and Communication), and it covers basically grammar, composition, vocabulary, literature and all that stuff.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
This is a good argument. I suppose my bias is ingrained though. I went through an old-school phonics system, so anything that smacks of a "whole language" meaning-based philosophy just seems ineffective to me.
Schools are one of the most successful examples of social technology in the world today. And as with all technology, transfer happens all the time. The recent form of modern school is a result of development kicked off during the industrial revolution when schools started to be considered as production faculties (children go in, citizens come out). And like industrialisation spread, so did the basic form of modern school.
The basic form can be found everywhere, it consists of for example:
- Depending on the country children start the school at 5-7 years of age, and continue until 15-17.
- Classroom design is the same: Teacher in the front with blackboard or something similar to write on, children have their personal work space.
- School day is divided in one hour or so blocks, with designated subject for every block
- Core subjects in the curriculum are the same everywhere: school language (can be pupils native tongue), math, history, sciences (can be divided into), as are their standards.
Anyway, the result is that there are schools everywhere and they're easily recognisable as they function roughly the same. It's because the form is easily implemented everywhere - core design stays the same and the curriculum is modular in design (you can tweak the subjects to suit the environment without compromising the whole). Importing it to other cultures is a snap -you just have to find a teacher, a blackboard and pupils, take a look at what is taught at which class and you're basically good to go.
This is why we can have things like Programme for International Student Assesment, where pupils around the world are tested for their performance in mathematics, science, and reading - it's because we're all taught the same things
The basic form can be found everywhere, it consists of for example:
- Depending on the country children start the school at 5-7 years of age, and continue until 15-17.
- Classroom design is the same: Teacher in the front with blackboard or something similar to write on, children have their personal work space.
- School day is divided in one hour or so blocks, with designated subject for every block
- Core subjects in the curriculum are the same everywhere: school language (can be pupils native tongue), math, history, sciences (can be divided into), as are their standards.
Anyway, the result is that there are schools everywhere and they're easily recognisable as they function roughly the same. It's because the form is easily implemented everywhere - core design stays the same and the curriculum is modular in design (you can tweak the subjects to suit the environment without compromising the whole). Importing it to other cultures is a snap -you just have to find a teacher, a blackboard and pupils, take a look at what is taught at which class and you're basically good to go.
This is why we can have things like Programme for International Student Assesment, where pupils around the world are tested for their performance in mathematics, science, and reading - it's because we're all taught the same things
Typhoon_Ex
Member
I have studied both under the Portuguese and Russian systems and in the former there is only Portuguese class which teaches both grammar and literature and in the latter "Russian" class would only teach grammar/writing stuff and we also had Literature classes.
In Finland it's "mothers language" as in native language too.
Dark Octave
Banned
How do you pronounce 国語?
Was LA/Language Arts for me in BC.
Kokugo
Kokugo
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
My ex from Prince George used to make fun of me for calling it "Language Arts"... could be a school system thing? Or maybe I'm remembering wrong...
I remember we called it Reading or something kind of like that in elementary school. Then we called it English in junior high.
The_Hitcher89
Member
In the UK, in my experience at least
English taught until year 9 (compulsary, age 4-14)
English split into Language and Literature (GCSE, compulsary, age 14-16)
Choice between Language and Literature (A-Level, non-compulsary, age 16-18)
Obviously the ages aren't set in stone.
I wanted to do English language at A-Level, but Literature was the only option at my sixth-form
I enjoyed it all the same
English taught until year 9 (compulsary, age 4-14)
English split into Language and Literature (GCSE, compulsary, age 14-16)
Choice between Language and Literature (A-Level, non-compulsary, age 16-18)
Obviously the ages aren't set in stone.
I wanted to do English language at A-Level, but Literature was the only option at my sixth-form
I enjoyed it all the same
Wait, you start learning English in kindergarten? I assume you are from a non-English speaking country? Man, I don't think we started until third grade.
In France literature classes are just called "French" (like you'd expect). You only have them until the second-to-last year of high school though, in your final year you get do philosophy instead (I'm glad I left France to go to New Zealand a bit before that).
In high school in New Zealand (if you're doing NZQA -we have 2 main school systems here, Cambridge and NZQA-) it's just called English, and it also deals mainly with literature. Although, you learn stuff in a way that's incredibly less rigorous than what I was used to before. Basically, from what I remember, before your last year at high school, the only things that are expected of you are 1. being able to give your opinion on the text you've read - showing you understand the techniques used by the author is almost optional and 2. Being able to write a short piece of fiction.
I was doing more in-depth analysis in my French class at the end of intermediate school than in my English class one year before graduating from High School, which is quite crazy. Although, the average level in my class was completely abysmal, I topped my English class a year after arriving to NZ, even though I couldn't even speak English properly (I still can't in a way, I get confused every so often and my accent is still pretty strong ).
In high school in New Zealand (if you're doing NZQA -we have 2 main school systems here, Cambridge and NZQA-) it's just called English, and it also deals mainly with literature. Although, you learn stuff in a way that's incredibly less rigorous than what I was used to before. Basically, from what I remember, before your last year at high school, the only things that are expected of you are 1. being able to give your opinion on the text you've read - showing you understand the techniques used by the author is almost optional and 2. Being able to write a short piece of fiction.
I was doing more in-depth analysis in my French class at the end of intermediate school than in my English class one year before graduating from High School, which is quite crazy. Although, the average level in my class was completely abysmal, I topped my English class a year after arriving to NZ, even though I couldn't even speak English properly (I still can't in a way, I get confused every so often and my accent is still pretty strong
).Guerrillas in the Mist
Member
I want some of what the OP is smoking.
Yep. In Australia, some schools call maths "Numbers" too. They even named a show after them.
Tim the Wiz
Banned
What.
samus i am
Member
OP are you high right now?
In Sweden, what the OP is referring to is called "Swedish". It's basically Swedish language, its grammar etc combined with swedish litterature and history (though there's a separate course for the latter as well). "English" is purely english grammar and learning new words, at least when I was a kid. Strangely enough, I don't remember having that many lessons about Swedish grammar on the other hand 
Isn't 古文 actually Classical Chinese? So I'd imagine in Japan they'd be learning to translate it into the modern Japanese equivalent.
TheLucifer
Member
Yes, it's called Italiano ("Italian"). During elementary school it's mostly grammar, in middle school it's grammar and Italian literature, in high school it's basically literature with a minor focus on history (of course we also have History as a separate class).
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