THE RANT THREAD!

[JamesByrne]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

It could have been worse Danie. JP once dropped his pants in an interview. I actually think I've told this story before, but it's worth repearting. He once forgot to wear a belt with a suit that is a little large on him (he has a very narrow waist, so it's hard to find anything to fit just right). When he stood up to shake the interviewer's hand, his pants forgot to come up with him! Nightmare! ^^

I'm sure that haunts youre fella Jembru but it made my morning

Danie Ive done great phone interviews and not gotten the job and awful ones and ended up spending years in the job... Making you freak a bit might be part of the interview. If not the next phone interview will be bang on cops of the memory of this one. Silver lining

[Medusa]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

I remember being called to do a phone interview with the district manager for Torrid. I was talking to her all serious buzznazz like. All the while chilling in my pink jammies and fluffy pink slippers!

[Maria de Luna]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Why is it always my room that attracts the bugs? I don't keep filth, I clean, I shower. Seriously. I've had fleas, giant spiders, flies, moths, beetles, ladybugs and potato bugs, and butterflies appearing in my room out of nowhere, repeatedly for the past couple of days, no matter what I do. I seriously feel like I should call myself the Vermin Lord and wear an old burlap franciscan monk's robe while covered in bees, flies, centipedes, beetles, and spiders.

Maybe there is a hole somewhere? That's just yicky, get some plaster and go at the room! Check your corners!
Ehh, not big on creepies in the house...

[DanieMarie]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

It could have been worse Danie. JP once dropped his pants in an interview. I actually think I've told this story before, but it's worth repearting. He once forgot to wear a belt with a suit that is a little large on him (he has a very narrow waist, so it's hard to find anything to fit just right). When he stood up to shake the interviewer's hand, his pants forgot to come up with him! Nightmare! ^^

Oh god, that's worse!

My problem was that I have a lot of performance anxiety. It's what made me stop pursuing singing as a career. I've been working pretty hard at it, but it still rears its ugly head any time I'm put in the spotlight. In this particular case, the part of my brain that speaks German just switched off. I had a lot of trouble understanding my interviewer, and getting answers out. It does happen to me when I'm nervous! This isn't the first time. One of my friends just told me it happened to her in her last interview as well though, so I guess it happens to a lot of English speakers. It was disappointing though. I had avoided English all day, just so that I could really put myself in a grammatically-correct frame of mind. I was even thinking in German....right up to the point when my phone rang.

I do maybe have a chance to redeem myself though. I've been asked to do a task to show some of my skills.

[Caelia]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Homemade pizza for breakfast is a bad idea...or at least a bad idea the way I made it.

[Jembru]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Oh god, that's worse!

My problem was that I have a lot of performance anxiety. It's what made me stop pursuing singing as a career. I've been working pretty hard at it, but it still rears its ugly head any time I'm put in the spotlight. In this particular case, the part of my brain that speaks German just switched off. I had a lot of trouble understanding my interviewer, and getting answers out. It does happen to me when I'm nervous! This isn't the first time. One of my friends just told me it happened to her in her last interview as well though, so I guess it happens to a lot of English speakers. It was disappointing though. I had avoided English all day, just so that I could really put myself in a grammatically-correct frame of mind. I was even thinking in German....right up to the point when my phone rang.

I do maybe have a chance to redeem myself though. I've been asked to do a task to show some of my skills.

Oh it was in German too? Are you also nervous on phones anyway? I can't even call for a taxi in my native language. I hate using the phone so phone interviews are bad for my anxiety too. Luckily only ever had two (also in Germany: are they popular there?).

I never considered nerves affecting language skills but that must happen. It makes me feel sad for the candidates Chi-chan interviewed. She is a translator and needed someone bilingual in English and Japanese to cover her maternity. She found someone in the end, but said no one was good enough in their second language. I wonder if she was taking interview nerves into consideration? Ah well...

[DanieMarie]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Oh it was in German too? Are you also nervous on phones anyway? I can't even call for a taxi in my native language. I hate using the phone so phone interviews are bad for my anxiety too. Luckily only ever had two (also in Germany: are they popular there?).

Yep, phones have always made me nervous. I can do it in English now, but it took me years to be comfortable calling people I didn't know, and I still have to work up to it. Unfortunately, phone interviews are very popular here. Even emails are stressful for me, but at least I can look at it multiple times before I send it.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Yep, phones have always made me nervous. I can do it in English now, but it took me years to be comfortable calling people I didn't know, and I still have to work up to it. Unfortunately, phone interviews are very popular here. Even emails are stressful for me, but at least I can look at it multiple times before I send it.

Be glad you're not some poor schmuck of an English teacher who suddenly discovered that he has panic disorder, causing him to live out the rest of his life in a constant state of terror, at the same time that his government is doing everything in it's power to destroy teaching as a profession, making him continuously fearful about his job.

I guess that's my rant.

[anunitu]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Strange times B. DE,things change and sometimes I don't even recognize my Country anymore. I grew up with the "American Dream" and it seems like that dream is fading. Education is the most important thing we have in this Country,and if we don't educate and train our Children,we will end up having a lost generation.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Strange times B. DE,things change and sometimes I don't even recognize my Country anymore. I grew up with the "American Dream" and it seems like that dream is fading. Education is the most important thing we have in this Country,and if we don't educate and train our Children,we will end up having a lost generation.

Yeah, Anunitu, in 10 years, people are going to say "What the HELL did we do to these kids?

People bitch anout the increasing gap between the haves and have nots. When there is no more public education, that gap will become a chasm, and nearly impossible to bridge.

Hope I'm dead before then.



Oh. And the teachers will be blamed for that too, naturally

[ChainLightning]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

That's an ongoing rant, all by itself - teachers getting blamed for a lack of education. It SO leads me to the mindless cliche about lowering the minimum standards because kids can't pass the minimum requirements. Which, then, sends me off toward a line from the movie Teachers (Nick Nolte) regarding it being the teachers' job, to care about students being educated, and not the parents'. After which, I'm dropped at the feet of latch-key kids, who've now grown up and have kids of their own, with little to no experience with actual parenting at all, thinking, seemingly anyway, that teachers and television are nothing more than free babysitters, that will do all their parenting for them.

At which point, I have to throw up my hands and surrender to my cynicism. It turns out that I'm just as guilty of over-simplification, and vast generalizations, of the inherent problem(s) with education, today.

Gah!!

[Jembru]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Be glad you're not some poor schmuck of an English teacher who suddenly discovered that he has panic disorder, causing him to live out the rest of his life in a constant state of terror, at the same time that his government is doing everything in it's power to destroy teaching as a profession, making him continuously fearful about his job.

I guess that's my rant.

Oddly, teaching is the one time I don't get anxiety. Of course, the bulk of my teaching was adult learning, but they have their own challenges: they are very aware of how much they're paying for your time and demand the highest quality service from you. They recognise a last minute, thrown together lesson when they see one and will pull you up on it. The Germans are worse for this. The Japanese tended to be a bit more indirect with their criticism. Even so, I always felt confident and had faith in my lesson plans and teaching ability. Dunno, why, because neither were that great!

I also did learning support for teens who had problems with mainstream education. Some had asbos (antisocial behaviour order: a pointless system our government invented to 'punish' young criminals, but most just wear them as a badge of honour), some were expelled from school and others just had ADHD or dyslexia that made it hard to concentrate in normal schools. It was definitely a challenge. Yet I found I was able to build rapport with these youngsters and some still contact me now and then to let me know how they're doing.

Ordering a pizza makes me freeze with terror. Even making Magpie's appointment for her vaccinations, had to be done by my mum! But put me in front of a room full of students, and I just transform into a whole new person. It's weird. I really should have done my PGCE while I had the chance. My latest plan is to complete my diploma in Social Care, and then do a Cert. Ed. so I can become a trainer while still doing the job I love! Who knows if it will work out...

[DanieMarie]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Oddly, teaching is the one time I don't get anxiety. Of course, the bulk of my teaching was adult learning, but they have their own challenges: they are very aware of how much they're paying for your time and demand the highest quality service from you. They recognise a last minute, thrown together lesson when they see one and will pull you up on it. The Germans are worse for this.

I have a beef sometimes with Germans in this. I can understand them not wanting a thrown-together lesson, but the same attitude also causes them to question EVERYTHING you do. They will hire you to teach English, write, translate, or edit, but they will continually question your grammar. It REALLY bothers me. A lot of public schools here don't have native English speakers teaching English, and a lot of Germans learn wrong grammar. I haven't taught English, but working with texts, I constantly find my English under question. I'll correct something, and explain why it's wrong, and still get flack for it! Drives me insane. If you don't want someone to correct you, don't hire someone to correct you! If you think you can write so perfectly on your own, just leave it. Don't hire a native English speaker to work on texts for you if you're not going to listen to their suggestions. GAWD.

[Jembru]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Yeah! It is really hard to correct a German who is convinced the wrong grammar he's been using for years, isn't the right way. You also have to try to explain that the 'correct' way, isn't always the best way when it comes to everyday chatting. The Japanese, maybe because of their vast array of colloquialisms and levels of speech, just seemed to grasp that sometimes we'll use expressions that, yeah, might not be grammatically perfect, but which add a friendly, down-to-earth conversational flavour to what we're saying. Tell that to a German and they'll just assume you're making up excuses!

I noticed in Germany that language schools gave you very little space to be creative. The school in Japan provided course material to cover a quarter of lesson time, but we decided what target dialogue we'd use and designed the other three quarters ourselves. In Germany, not that I got any work through the schools that took me on their books, but I was told to stick exactly to the lesson plan THEY provided. Maybe they're scared we'd use too much 'real' grammar.

[Jembru]

Re: THE RANT THREAD!

Sorry: language rant again (give me a break, I only have like, 4 months left to reach my far too ambitious goal). Just want to get this off ny chest before I lose my hair. I don't know why, but I have suddenly began to mix opposite verbs. For example, I just wrote, 'wakeru' (separate), when I meant 'maseru' (mix). It's happening ALL the time. It's not like accidentally using an intransitive verb with a direct object, y'know, like, 'I'll boils the water', which just sounds funny but is otherwise understood. No, this is a genuinely serious error. It's just sprung up recently and I really don't know why. I'll say, 'that's convenient' (benri), when I mean inconvenient (fuben). I'd say it's because I'm speaking to fast and not thinking about what I'm saying, but I speak really slowly and broken: like a foreigner who doesn't really know the language. Which, I guess I am. Guess all I can do is assume this is a natural process of language learning and hope it means I'm pushing through the next barrier... We'll see...