CFIs: THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE!

"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
In a previous article, "Jeff Franks" said:
"You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it
means."

INCONCEIVABLE!!!!!

My name is Rod Machado. You killed my engine. Prepare to die.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/

No more callers, we have a winner...nice!

Jay B

Be careful when flying in CLOSE proximity to other aircraft
"gatt" wrote in message
...


When we were doing touch and goes during a complex checkout yesterday we
had
an incident right after touchdown because of a blue heron in our immediate
path. The CFI said "to your detriment you already had the flaps at one
notch...", which confused me.

Later, he pulled the power on me approaching the pattern. During the
debrief he said "You see what happened? You forgot to do your third GUMPs
check but to your detriment you remembered to do it on final." To my
detriment I remembered to do one last GUMP check? I think he meant to my
CREDIT. (Unless there's some reason you wouldn't want a notch of flaps in
an Arrow II during short-field TnGs or wouldn't want to do the last "three
green, prop forward" before touchdown.) I might have gone home thinking
he
was telling me it's incorrect to have a notch of flaps had it not been for
his later mistake.

My instrument instructor used to like to say, in reference to the DE,
"one
of his pet peeves is to..." "One of his pet peeves is pattern B." If
his
pet peeve is Pattern B, why are we spending so much time on it? "His pet
peeve is to keep you in a holding pattern." Apparently, she believes that
"pet peeve" means "things he likes to do." Entirely excusable, but
another
example of language inaccuracy which might be potentially
counterproductive.

It's important not to confuse your students. Using correct terminology
and
language is important to that end. Please remain vigilante. ;

-c

"tom418" wrote in message
news:1tAJd.20550$B95.16095@lakeread02...
Be careful when flying in CLOSE proximity to other aircraft

Lest you have a near miss.

I know what you mean.
Try a checkout with a foreign instructor, well actually I was the
foreigner a couple of times.
Overhere we have a sort of universal language called 'Euro-English'.
It is a mix of the local language, english, gestures, pointing and the
most important, smiling a lot.
Great for ordering drinks, food, directions and so on but not for
instruction.

I enjoyed every occasion and never felt unsafe, maybe a bit confussed.
-Kees

Oh well.....the correct use of English seems to have been a problem for
more years than most of us have been alive. Schools don't teach it
anymore, because, any more, it doesn't seem to matter?
What a pity. And, of course, writing it does have a different impact in
that we have time to digest the writing and disect it for proper
useage. Allowing for faster fingers than brain with mis-spellings,
improper punctuation, etc, there are ample opportunities for people to
show ignorance of the english language.
Education is just plain dumbing down to use a colloquialism. Teachers
are not being taught so they only pass on their ignorance.
Such a damned shame.
Ol S&B

Just brought up another point...... How about the student who doesn't
have a clue what proper english is? Sure they have been to school but
what does that mean? I'm convinced that our modern education system is
falling into disrepute and decay judging from the dismal results of
testing across the country.
Having the experience to teach is one thing. Being able to convey that
to a student is another. Then, what is the educational level of the
teacher?
Your post illuminates the deficiencies and I agree with you. If a
student doesn't have some good skills with the english language, how
can we expect them to gain anything useable from reading? If a CFI only
serves to accentuate that with poor english useage, where does it go?
There was a comedian years ago who used misuse of English as his
comedic routine and he was very successful with it. Norm Crosby by
name. Norm was partially deaf and used that as his entree to what can
happen with misunderstanding what was said vs what was meant.
Wish I could explain my self more clearly.
Ol S&B

On 26 Jan 2005 07:41:28 -0800, wrote:

Wish I could explain my self more clearly.

I wish I hadn't gotten that D in English..... =(

My wife, Janet, graduated with her Masters in English this past Spring and
was immediately hired to teach College Composition by a local two-year
college. She's always wanted to be teacher and was very excited. She was
teaching first year students, many of whom had just graduated from High
School, and others who were non-traditional adult learners. When she was
grading her students' papers, she was appalled at how poorly written the
majority of them were. She showed me some of them (with the student's
names covered to preserve their privacy). I could not believe how bad the
grammar, structure, punctuation and so forth were in some of the papers.
There was no way they were college-level. Many weren't even junior-high
school level. There was also strong correlation between attendance,
turning in the assignments, and the quality of the work. The poorest
writers also had the most absences and were frequently either late with or
didn't turn in assignments.
Janet had only three "A" students out of four classes, a few "B"s,
many"C"s , quite a few "D"s, and sixteen "F"s. As I said, I saw many
examples of these students' writing, and I do not think Janet was grading
too harshly at all. Janet stressed over, and over, and over again that if
any students needed help, she was more that happy to meet with them in her
office after class. A couple of them took her up on this, and their
grades improved markedly. Janet spent many hours on her own time tutoring
these students that asked for help.
Then an interesting thing happened... About mid-way through the semester
the students were given a teacher evaluation form to fill out. The
teachers are not allowed to see what the students write. Toward the end
of the semester, the assistant department chair told Janet her contract
would not be renewed because her student eval scores were too low.
So Janet had to find another job, and is feeling very frustrated. She
feels the only way she could have kept her job was to have passed
substandard work, and she was just not willing to do that.
The problem cannot be placed solely on the teachers, but rather on a
society (including parents) that does not uphold standards. My wife's
office roommate also worked as a high school teacher and they shared many
stories of administrators pressuring teachers not to teach, but only to
make sure students passed the national tests. Especially because of the No
Child Left Behind Act, these schools are "graded" solely on perfomance on
standardized tests. The ideals of the act were admirable, but the
implementation has been terrible. The students learn how to take tests,
but not the skills necessary to perform in the real world, like my wife's
English students. All of her students had to pass either a placement test
or lower level courses as prerequisites to her course.
Another misconception I hear frequently is how overpaid teachers and
college professors are. Janet, with her Masters Degree would have made
$20,000 a year less than I, a tech school graduate, make as an electrician
working on firetrucks at Pierce Manufacturing. And what people also fail
to see is all the hours teachers spend grading papers and planning lessons
on their own time, in addition to the after class hours tutoring they do.
Janet easily was putting in 60 hours a week.
Scott Wilson
Appleton, Wisconsin

On the nose, Scott!

Either Janet's school did not have a faculty association (i.e. teacher
union) or Janet did not avail herself of the services of that association.
The matter never would have come down like this.

Jim
VP, S. C. Faculty Association


wrote in message ...
Then an interesting thing happened... About mid-way through the semester
the students were given a teacher evaluation form to fill out. The
teachers are not allowed to see what the students write. Toward the end
of the semester, the assistant department chair told Janet her contract
would not be renewed because her student eval scores were too low.