Is my accent a crime?

[Michael Covarrubias]

On Aug1, 2010, at 6:06 PM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:

> I went to a universty to talk to linguists.  The head of the department had a German accent.  She taught German.  The French teacher had a French accent.  The Spanish teacher had a Spanish accent.  Possibly it's a good idea to get native speakers of a language to teach it.  Or maybe it's a crime not to?
>


how many students in arizona are learning to actually speak english from their teachers. not reading, writing, spelling or learning an academic register, but basic language vocabulary and structure?

your comparison is flawed, even if we were to accept that native speakers are the best language teachers for adult students (and i don't accept that) what students are learning in college language classes is not analogous to what children are learning in elementary and high school english classes.

michael

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