Error Correction

One of the tools we use in ye olde world of English teaching is called delayed error correction. It's a simple concept ... you let the students talk, focusing on fluency vs accuracy (because there's a theory that you can only be one or the other when you're learning a language). The teacher makes notes and then gives the students back a list of things they said and asks, "how could you have said this better?" or "can you correct these sentences?"

Here's one that came up this afternoon.

It's gotta be a comprehensive long-term solution found, found for this problem that Americans facing today.

Oh, but wait. That wasn't a student. That was Sarah Palin during last night's interview with Katie Couric.

One of my students, a 21-year old Turkish girl who has recently graduated from law school in Ankara, said, "but she's not saying anything, is she?"

I know, I know ... being articulate is elitist.

Tags: sarah palin, katie couric, esl, fluency