I must have misunderstood the idea behind sounder; I would have thought it impossible to be OT on a list that invites people like me to spout off. BTW -- I'm constantly amazed by the English skills of the non-native speakers who inhabit the list. I wish they could say the same thing about Americans. Don't get me started on grammar. My high school students can't pass a simple diagnostic test. If they haven't gotten grammar figured out by high school, it's too late for them. Need to place the emphasis at the lower grades when a. they actually take learning seriously b. are at a point where learning can actually occur c. they can learn other languages at the same time. As the originator notes, learning another langague improves your knowledge of your "mother tongue". My kids complain that (a) it's boring and/or (b) it's too hard. regards <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 9:36 AM, Chan Chung Hang Christopher <<a href="mailto:christopher.chan@bradbury.edu.hk">christopher.chan@bradbury.edu.hk</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im"> > Your point about thinking about words with different origin shows that > you're aware of homophones in grammatical structure, and learning > another language clarifies rules that are almost innate in most > people, but sometimes blurred. I really think that learning another > language improves your mastery of your native tongue too. > > </div>Nah, you just need to reintroduce grammar back into the school curriculum. Then you won't have universities in the UK, Australia and the US lamenting about the level of English of their local students. Learning English will do squat for the kids here in Hong Kong because the local schools have most unhelpfully been told by the local Education Bureau to not teach grammar (not that the schools have teachers who are qualified to teach grammar anyway...they rarely make proper sentences themselves) but to imitate the teaching style of countries which have English as their mother tongue. Is it not wonderful that they are going to follow a failed teaching policy? Hong Kong is doomed. Doomed! <div><div></div><div class="h5"> -- sounder mailing list <a href="mailto:sounder@lists.ubuntu.com">sounder@lists.ubuntu.com</a> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/sounder" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/sounder</a> </div></div></blockquote></div> -- -- Mark C. Miller <a href="mailto:mr.mcmiller@gmail.com">mr.mcmiller@gmail.com</a> [home] <a href="mailto:mcmiller@ologn.org">mcmiller@ologn.org</a> [church] <a href="mailto:mark_miller@mail.nobl.k12.in.us">mark_miller@mail.nobl.k12.in.us</a> [school] <a href="mailto:mmiller@millermc.net">mmiller@millermc.net</a>