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Ed and I are constantly marveling over how good the writing instruction in Britain is. Not only are well-educated Brits very good writers, they're fast and their output can be immense.
One of the teachers on proteacher.net recommends Basic Writing Skills. I'm not sure what Basic Writing Skills is, but I did find a British program by the title.
It has a writing test (mostly usage & grammar) I may give to C. later on. I liked it.
I missed number 10.
school decline in UK, too
School leavers lack 'basic' skills
I love the teacher's photo.
12 comments:
I missed #23, darnit.
So close...
I know!
1 lousy question!
I missed 3, including #20. I protest.
I am definitely going to have my son take this test. Since the time he was in elementary grades, I’ve often been critical of the low standards by which his writing is graded. However, I told myself that I couldn’t expect a child to write like an educated adult so I mostly let it go.
Now he’s in high school and this test will be interesting.
When I was managing a group of 20-somethings, I was horrified at some of their writing. I could rarely ask many of them to write a memo on our department’s behalf without having to personally proofread and correct. They were clueless about my concerns.
Hey, this test would make a good pre-employment test. Probably illegal.
Yikes, now I feel I have to go back and check my comments for errors! We are forgiving here, right. This is the internet and these are quick comments, right. I’m starting to feel a little paranoid.
There are two eduation systems for the English. One for the rich people that is ok, and one for the poor, which sucks.
There early reading skills are actually quite good, but it goes downhill from there.
rory <- lived in England and married english girl (now divorced).
Under no circumstances would I let my kids (dual citizens) grow up in England unless they could go to private schools. English kids are obnoxious.
When I was managing a group of 20-somethings, I was horrified at some of their writing. I could rarely ask many of them to write a memo on our department’s behalf without having to personally proofread and correct. They were clueless about my concerns
That's distressing.
The more I learn about opportunity costs and efficiency, the more anecdotes like this distress me.
The huge amount of time that gets poured into fixing things that shouldn't need fixing....awful.
Rory - you have a colorful past!
You lived in New Zealand, too, right?
#20 is ambiguous - I assume that 'Manic Street Preachers' is a band of some sort, but the sentence could also be interpreted literally.
At least, that's my excuse.
Born in Pittsburg while dad was getting Masters from Carnegie Mellown
6 months - moved to South Island of New Zealand.
10 years old - moved to Los Angeles
19 years old - moved to Delware with Air Force
21 years old - moved to Holland for 3 years
23 years old - moved to England
27 years old - moved to Germany
33 years old - moved to South Carolina
37 years old - moving to Alaska
I also spent several months in Italy, and visited all sorts of other countries as well.
Yep, its been eventful. I have gotten drunk in 14 different languages.
I missed this one:
"The whole family went to hear manic street preachers at Knebworth House."
It's hard to know to capitalize "manic street preachers" if you've never heard of them and have no idea who they are. Nothing in the sentence tells you it's a proper noun.
Anyone who doesn't know who the Manic Street Preachers are, deserves to fail the quiz.
rory <-- MSP fan.
p.s. JK
Rory,
Where were you in England?
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