You can please some of the people all of the time.
You can please all of the people some of the time.
You cannot please all of the people all of the time.
There is no single teaching pedagogy or methodology that fits everyone in every situation.
Some of you have benefited from HE while some have not.
Some of you benefited from ABC day and some did not.
Some of you benefited from English Corner and some did not.
Some of you liked Iron and Silk while some did not.
Some of you have not benefited from HE, ABC Day or English Corner but most of you have.
Some of you do your own work while some copy from others. Some of you have done none of the homework. You only cheat yourself.
I have 700 students fall 2009 which means there should be at least 700 posts on each thread.
Iron and Silk 219 posts
Deng Xioping 356 posts
Trojan Horse 234 posts
ESE at SYSU 640 posts
Mute English 632 posts
English Corner 672 posts
ABC 686 posts
Some of you claim you do not post because I will not accept anything that does not agree with me. You have obviously NOT read your classmates’ posts. Every post is allowed unless it is vulgar or disrespectful.
I give 100% to my teaching responsibilities but many of you do not give 100% to your student responsibilities.
In your future you will reap what you sow today. You must live with the consequences of your actions.
Some of you claim to be afraid of HE class, my emails, and even me. But you are not. You are afraid of something else and to find that something else you only need to look in a mirror. If you have not benefited from HE it is because you decided NOT to benefit from HE!
BELIEVE YOUR OWN LIES!
I laugh when you say there were only a few people at English Corner and they were just talking Chinese so you left. You did not go to the 11-11 English Corner, you just made up a story but I allowed your post so everyone knows you now.
Some of you cut and paste from another web site. You are an IP thief! Check your post for the editor’s comment.
Who is kidding whom? This is a rhetorical question that answers itself. No one is kidding anyone. You are just kidding and cheating yourself.
Although there are many assignment to do, I think it is a good way to improve my English, especially my writing. I learned a lot from my assignment, I think Professor Martin is a responsible teacher.
After read the article ,I thought about the course a lot .I have learned a lot of things from you and your class You are a very strict professor ,but you are also a good English teacher .I appreciate your effort in English teaching for us .Sometimes acomplishing comments is a big assignment for me because I have a lot of works to do .Your class give me more and more confidence to speak English and to use English .And I like English very much .English is a very useful tool in China siciety today .I do not want to cheat myself .
I think so many science students like me try difficult to finish professor Wolff’s homework.Because we have so much work to do,and so much time we stay in the lab.It’s not much time for us to do other things included the oral English homework.The only way we could try to do is sleep less.I think most of us are so hard.So sometime ,if we are tired, we may make a cheat on the homework. Of cause, most of us know whom we were kidding.I hope Professor could forgive the one who make a cheat for one time or two times,but not the one who always make a cheat.
I appreciate it that I can get so strict a teacher like Pro. Martin. I think it is a opportunity for me to improve my level of spoken English. Though sometimes I feel that my homework is a little too much, but I understand. If I can not be responsible for myself, I hope my teachers can.
I smiled when I read this article because I am one of them who benefited from HE, from ABC day, from English Corner, etc. ^_^
When I have read this article,I recognized a problem that we can not envisage it all along.From the kindergarten to now,we follow our parents and teachers to study hard and hard.The standard was grade.We did not to seek the real reason and motivation to promate us to do.We even did not the meaning of the things and the goal of it.The only thing we know was that we must work hard for our parents and made them happy.Studying English was a long process,if we have not the intimate force to urge us to learn.The study process would became dull.I lerande more from the article ,especially the holistic teacher Martin.We must confront ourselves and whether the things have the meaning to do.
In my opinion, the English comments are very beneficial to our English acquisition. Through the articles and the comments that our classmates have posted I have learned a lot of knowledge that not only relate to English learning but also about the society and so on.
Just as the professor Martin said, “Language is not a course you can study a couple of hours a day, a couple of days a week. Language is something you must live 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Eat, sleep, drink and even dream English.” I can’t agree with that more. We must practice our English frequently. Only in this way we can polish our English. This is also the reason why we need an English speaking environment.
Though someone may not like this teaching method, it is really a good way to polish our English,
I appreciate Prof. Wolff for the environment of the oral English class he created to us. I like the atmosphere that everyone can’t speak mother tongue but English, though I felt nervous when I stepped into the room. I got a lot of benefits from that. First of all, I get confidence. As a result of the group discussion, I have the opportunity to represent our group to give the group ideas. My confidence already gets stronger without notice. Secondly, because of the column of phonetics on the holistic English website, I gain the improvement of my pronunciation and tones. Furthermore, my favorite part of the course is ABC day. It turned out a challenge as well as an interesting task. Speaking English is of great fun and full of excitement to my surprise. I no longer take “losing face” seriously. “Losing face” is just like a special way to make advance in my English. It’s a benefit instead of shame to me. Yet, I think the course can be further better. I mean there’s more tension than vigor in class. I suggest combine the discussion with some interesting activities, games or the things like that. Of course, the activities should enclose all the students so that they will be more effective and interesting. Or we can arrange outdoor activities, just being allowed to speak English. In this way, we can benefit from the activities not only English improvement but also teamwork.
Martin introduces a new teaching pedagogy or methodology to us. His teaching pedagogy or methodology is useful if we make best use of it. At first ,I was unfit of it. I think Martin is so strict and autocratic. If we didn’t do what he asked us to do , he would give us a F or even expel us from the class. I was afraid of him. However ,I still try my best to finish his homework. Gradually ,I fitted it. I did an ABC day, I made friends with a foreigner, and so on. All of these improved my English . I won’t try these things without Martin . what Martin asked us to do are useful method to improve our English especially our oral English. I don’t know others benefit from him or not . I benefit from him at least .I have learnt a lot of things from Martin’s in class and after class. Martin is a good teacher with a strong sense of responsibility.
Who is kidding whom?
If I have to answer the question, my answer is, to me, I am not kidding myself.
I must thank Mr. Wolff, for his severity, I do a lot things that I want to do but did not do before, such as ABC day and English Corner.
I do benefit from HE.
I do benefit from ABC.
I do benefit from English Corner.
I do like the movies.
Since our childhood we were asked to do a lot of work, some of which were not we wanted. However, in the college life, I have learned to study by myself. Meanwhile, I have my own plans and carry out step by step.
These homeworks are also part of my plan, I would be happy to finish it by myself and do a lot more to enhance it.
I think, Martin is a earnest and responsible teacher. Sometimes, several students complain that there are lots of homework and assignments, even some students are afraid of his English class. In my opinion, we grow up in China and we never receive such strict and systemic English lessons before. Facing with Martin’s special teaching, we often feel very difficult at the beginning. But I believe, we can accept Martin’s teaching style by degrees and at the end of this term we can get great progresses.
After reading this article, I agree with professor. At first I really couldn’t understand his care and thought, I even thought what he asked us to do is so boring. But when I attend the oral class and read the articles in this web site, I find nomatter my writing or oral English are improved. In fact the most common attitude held by most college students is “So So” which violates professor’s values. I think what the university lacks is severity which leads to a so so attitude towards everything. Martin’s teaching style is worth being promoted.
I once thought that the continuously assignments are a little bit boring. But as I do the homework time after time, I learn much from it! The movies make me know more about others’ life and the different movie styles. The ABC day gave me a chance to have a pure English day, while comments to the threads are improving my writing skill and enlarge my vocabulary volume. Maybe my comments are not so unique, but they do come from my own opinions and be produced after my thinking.
Sometimes I hope that Professor will be nicer when he talk to us or communicate with us on the Internet. However, I know I’d like to thank him, for providing us chances to learn more English, for his patient attitude, and for his hard working as a teacher.
I agree that there is no need to cheat each other. As a student, we are going to study and we are study for ourselves, not your parents or anyone else. So I always think I should work hard. However, I may make a mistake sometimes. For example, if I’m so sad today, I would not be active as usually. But the next day, I will regret. Now I have totally recognized that time will never come back, so I should appreciate everyday.
After read this article, I feel very sorry to Professor Martin, because I don’t think I’m a good student. Professor Martin is a good English teacher, he spend so much time on English teaching, and the same time, he is a responsible teacher, although he requests us so strict, but all of things he do, is good for us. As a student, I think we should pay more attention to learn English. We study hard not for anyone else, but for ourself.
I think we can cheat others but not ourselves.In fact,We aren’t afraid of something else,we are our biggest barriers.No any problem,just yourselves.So,more brave，more confident，more diligent.
Who is Kidding Whom? We’re not a child anymore. We cannot kid ourselves. As Mr. Martin said,” No one is kidding anyone. You are just kidding and cheating yourself.” We should slowly learn to face reality. No matter how difficult the road ahead is, we should strive to overcome. Learn English is the same, too.
I admit that many people copy assignments, and many people do not even watch the films, which may be other things too busy. But at least the attitude of leaning English is not correct.Perhaps many people really think that English is not important, or maybe they do not like this teaching method. But as far as I know, I have learned a lot from your teaching, proving that this method is effective.I agree with you that Students whoes attitudes are not right will taste the results of their own sow today.
I like to accept many things with examples,it makes me more felaxible.when you are hungry,why do you eat food?maybe many answers..I point to two answers,we eat food just to make ourselves full.we eat food because we want to enjoy food and enjoy the time we spend for that.same here for English.do not think this is just our duty..no we are here to enjoy our time with learning English in right way.for example this website if you really want to learn you can get many things from here.