FIRST DRAFT ESSAY
Better Level of
English in Private Education
I have studied in both, public and
private schools and I can say from my own experience that most of English that
I knew when I got to the university was learned in private school. Students
from private schools get better level of English due to the intensity and
quality of English classes. In fact, most of teachers are better prepared to
teach the language in private schools than in public ones. That belief could be
a cliché, but I think that it is true as I have experienced it by myself.
“According to the last inform of the State of the Education (2013), just 3% of public schools teach high levels of English” (Barrantes, 2015, p.1). One of the reasons of that deficient percentage is that in private schools the intensity of English classes is higher than in public schools. In public schools students have at least four English classes weekly and each class lasts about forty five minutes, while in private schools they have about six English classes of sixty minutes, or more if it is a bilingual private school. Besides that the poor amount of English classes in public schools, most of those English classes are in Spanish, thus the English class becomes a boring reading class of texts that they do not even understand. It increases the lack of motivation in students and that is one of the reasons why most of them hate English class.
Teachers are the main responsible of that type of classes that make students get bored and demotivated. Many English teachers in public schools do not have the appropriated method to teach English and I can reassert it by my own experience. I studied in a private school, and I really looked forward English class. There were about twenty two students with me and the teacher made the class very entertaining. She made us play games, interact with classmates, make presentations, learn songs in English, etc. Those didactic activities made me learn most of the grammar and vocabulary in English that I knew when I started the university. I can remember that my partners loved English class too. On the other hand, when I moved to a public school at ninth grade, the environment was totally different. Each class lasted forty five minutes, that passed very slowly, and there were about thirty five students in the classroom, it made that the teacher’s attention was focused just on some students. Also, the teacher made us use a text all the class and we rarely practice speaking and listening.
Maybe my experience is different from others’. In other perspectives, it is believed that in public schools students get higher English levels if they want as they can be more autonomous in their own education than in private schools. That could be true as the learning process depends mostly on the learner’s discipline and desire of acquirement of knowledge. But I think that teachers are the guide to make students have that motivation and autonomy to learn, mostly when it is about learning a second language. Students need to get confident and familiarized with the language and it is directly related with the method used by the teacher in their lessons.
In conclusion, the education in private schools is better due to the amount and quality of classes and teachers. Besides, the preparation of the teacher to increase that level of English in students using the motivation as a tool in classrooms. Those facts and comparisons between public and private education makes us question about the quality of “free” or public education. According to a report by La Nación magazine, private and bilingual schools just represents barely a 17% of schools in Colombia, what means that the rest of this percentage are public schools. In other words, the vast majority of students are graduating with a regrettable level of English. All in all, is a challenge for us as future teachers to improve English teaching and learning process for students with no economic resources to have personalized or private education.
“According to the last inform of the State of the Education (2013), just 3% of public schools teach high levels of English” (Barrantes, 2015, p.1). One of the reasons of that deficient percentage is that in private schools the intensity of English classes is higher than in public schools. In public schools students have at least four English classes weekly and each class lasts about forty five minutes, while in private schools they have about six English classes of sixty minutes, or more if it is a bilingual private school. Besides that the poor amount of English classes in public schools, most of those English classes are in Spanish, thus the English class becomes a boring reading class of texts that they do not even understand. It increases the lack of motivation in students and that is one of the reasons why most of them hate English class.
Teachers are the main responsible of that type of classes that make students get bored and demotivated. Many English teachers in public schools do not have the appropriated method to teach English and I can reassert it by my own experience. I studied in a private school, and I really looked forward English class. There were about twenty two students with me and the teacher made the class very entertaining. She made us play games, interact with classmates, make presentations, learn songs in English, etc. Those didactic activities made me learn most of the grammar and vocabulary in English that I knew when I started the university. I can remember that my partners loved English class too. On the other hand, when I moved to a public school at ninth grade, the environment was totally different. Each class lasted forty five minutes, that passed very slowly, and there were about thirty five students in the classroom, it made that the teacher’s attention was focused just on some students. Also, the teacher made us use a text all the class and we rarely practice speaking and listening.
Maybe my experience is different from others’. In other perspectives, it is believed that in public schools students get higher English levels if they want as they can be more autonomous in their own education than in private schools. That could be true as the learning process depends mostly on the learner’s discipline and desire of acquirement of knowledge. But I think that teachers are the guide to make students have that motivation and autonomy to learn, mostly when it is about learning a second language. Students need to get confident and familiarized with the language and it is directly related with the method used by the teacher in their lessons.
In conclusion, the education in private schools is better due to the amount and quality of classes and teachers. Besides, the preparation of the teacher to increase that level of English in students using the motivation as a tool in classrooms. Those facts and comparisons between public and private education makes us question about the quality of “free” or public education. According to a report by La Nación magazine, private and bilingual schools just represents barely a 17% of schools in Colombia, what means that the rest of this percentage are public schools. In other words, the vast majority of students are graduating with a regrettable level of English. All in all, is a challenge for us as future teachers to improve English teaching and learning process for students with no economic resources to have personalized or private education.
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