Steve Oakes is the Head of Teacher Training at International House Budapest. He is CELTA and DELTA certified. He is also an imposter. Here are some of the errors that I found in his latest blog entry.
“The articulation of knowledge, observations, opinion and feeling in a social context (i.e. a context where the speaker is not alone—and speakers are never alone, even when talking to themselves)….”
- This doesn’t make sense. If speakers are talking to themselves, they are, by definition, not alone. Steve Oakes is probably trying to say that a person is not alone, even when he or she talks to himself or herself; however, this would not make sense either. When a person who is alone talks to himself or herself, he or she is still alone.
“Well, guess what: the quality, sophistication, accuracy, length, depth, etc of the students’ speech was significantly better when the interlocutor maintained eye contact.”
- This is an agreement error. This sentence has a plural subject. The verb should be “were,” not “was.”
- Steve Oakes is saying that the sophistication was better. This is not proper usage.
- Steve Oakes fails to cite the research.
“I also suspect that you don’t need research to convince you….”
- I would say “convince yourself.”
“Think of someone whom you regard as a good listener—the best listener you’ve ever known. Try to identify what it is they do that’s different from what most people do. How do they make you feel listened to?”
- This is an agreement error. “[S]omeone” is a singular pronoun. “[T]hey” is is a plural pronoun.
- “How do they make you feel listened to?” is awkward.
“…and focus entirely on the student and what they’re saying.”
- This is an agreement error. “[S]tudent” is a singular noun. “[T]hey” is is a plural pronoun.
“Combine your best powers of empathy with the golden rule (‘Do unto other…’)”
- According to dictionary.com, the golden rule is usually phrased as “Do unto others….”
See more errors committed by Steve Oakes…
Original source URL: http://teacher-training.hu/the-lost-art-of-listening/#more-1134
Copy that I made of original source on 05-12-2013: https://docs.google.com/file/d/14Q0UksU9UmhA-JM-eKslZsHd_wN_kEPhS96ZCg1avZlcwR3TzvHPXHcRXJhj07-smKMjhLXHs5fFHFbP/edit
