[bored] ask a freshman english professor - Page 4
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lac29
United States1485 Posts
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Empyrean
16927 Posts
On July 01 2010 12:19 lac29 wrote: I don't think so ... Mandarin has homophones sorta but with different intonations. Mandarin Chinese has homophones within intonations. A lot of the time, words will have the same tones and will be pronounced the same way. People just figure them out by context. Problems arise when you have two people who speak different dialects, and these dialects have differing tonal idiosyncrasies. Even subdialects of Mandarin aren't always mutually intelligible. It's also part of the reason why political discourse in China has usually been through writing. There isn't a great speaking tradition such as with the great orators of the West simply because the majority of the population wouldn't've been able to understand the speech through speaking. | ||
Masamune
Canada3400 Posts
On July 01 2010 06:58 micronesia wrote: Undergrads can sometimes teach college classes too... when I was 20 I was a grader and 21 I taught a physics lab class. imo, any university that allows someone without at least a bachelors to teach a class is not a very good one. | ||
benjammin
United States2728 Posts
On July 01 2010 22:01 Masamune wrote: imo, any university that allows someone without at least a bachelors to teach a class is not a very good one. iirc it's not uncommon at all for students (especially honors students) who are far along in their degree to run a lab class, i think those are more just how to run the experiments you are testing more than teaching concepts, but it's not my field. i just can't imagine any tenured faculty willing to do that. kind of like my job! | ||
Masamune
Canada3400 Posts
Unless by grading he meant tabbing math results and by teaching lab classes, standing idly by and helping people to get their equipment set up, then yeah... At 21 years of age, most people are in their 3rd year of undergrad. If I'm paying money for a course, unless it involves doing mundane tasks, I think it's unacceptable to have someone running a lab class who doesn't even hold a bachelors in the field, instructing me on what I have to do and being the person I go to for help. | ||
s h 1 k 4 i
United States21 Posts
I'm actually at UW right now for a summer program and will be here for the next couple of weeks. do you have any suggestions on places to go on campus and around Seattle? | ||
benjammin
United States2728 Posts
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Jibba
United States22883 Posts
On July 01 2010 22:01 Masamune wrote: imo, any university that allows someone without at least a bachelors to teach a class is not a very good one. By teach a lab, I think he meant that he was a TA. I don't see what extra qualification a grad student would have over a senior, in terms of doing highschool level physics or chemistry labs. | ||
Divinek
Canada4045 Posts
On July 01 2010 22:01 Masamune wrote: imo, any university that allows someone without at least a bachelors to teach a class is not a very good one. for here to teach the lab all you had to do was get really good marks in that class and have that field as your major or something along those lines,(and be like 3rd-4th year) im pretty sure that would easily be a strong enough understanding to teach a first year lab for almost any class | ||
micronesia
United States24351 Posts
On July 04 2010 08:48 Jibba wrote: By teach a lab, I think he meant that he was a TA. I don't see what extra qualification a grad student would have over a senior, in terms of doing highschool level physics or chemistry labs. Actually Masamune is mostly correct. I was the sole instructor of two lab sections... I would explain the lab and equipment, and help the students conduct their labs. I would grade their lab reports. I worked closely with the professor who was in charge of the overall course though and he punched the grades in at the end of the semester based on my recommendation. Masamune is right that there have to be reasonable standards for who can or cannot teach a class. Only a couple of physics students were permitted each semester to help teach as undergraduates. edit: note, the lab design, worksheets, hw, etc, were all already set by the professor at the beginning of the term. If the students needed help in a way that I somehow couldn't help them they could easily go to the main professor. edit 2: this wasn't some junk program I was teaching in... Maryland physics is always well ranked; especially among public universities. edit 3: It's pretty cool that I have teaching experience from seventh grade through college now though | ||
Masamune
Canada3400 Posts
Maryland physics is definitely good! In the X-Files, Scully is said to have gotten her bachelors from there haha. | ||
Oxygen
Canada3581 Posts
I like a lot of freedom in what I write, especially thesis and length, as well as format. I especially like the balanced approach of having the first writing assignment be more rigid, and then give more freedom as you go along. That way you can make sure everyone has basics right and adjust where needed. Also, if you're teaching a class that in any way resembles what Barrin described, which was also my first year of college, please for the love of God try to convey the idea of essay structure as a fundamental idea rather than a formula (Thesis Statement, Topic Sentences, etc.) and demonstrate how importantly literature ties into life, and how much it can help you with your problems and show you how to grow as a person. | ||
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