Tdol's English Language Blog

Forum Policies- Clone of banned user

Sun, 27 May 2012 13:05:57 +0000

A number of posts have been deleted in the last few days because they are cloned accounts of a banned user. We're slow to ban members of the forum, but once we ban someone, the ban stays in place and any subsequent accounts that person makes will also be banned. We have two particularly persistent cases that keep coming back. They are different from regular trolls, who come back in hidden guises to try to start trouble.

Forum Policies- Writing Correction

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:52:51 +0000

We have a section in our forum for writing. People can submit writing and people may make corrections or comments.

Forum Policies- Dodgy Profiles

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:07:58 +0000

On an average day, we have to ban at least half a dozen spam accounts, and these are the ones that get through the security- hundreds fail to get this far. Spammers use programs to auto-register with sites and often fill their profiles with ridiculous details.

Custom Essay Sites

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:13:51 +0000

We're currently being bombarded with blog comment spam from people trying to promote cheat sites. Sites offering custom essays as "examples" have been around and have significantly undermined the credibility of many educational courses for years, but the current spam is a cause for hope because it is so illiterate that the barrel is surely being scraped.

DELTA or Master's Degree?

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:55:56 +0000

When I looked at which basic ELT qualifications employers were looking for, someone suggested doing the same for more senior positions. I decided to separate managerial roles from university positions, and here I have just looked at managerial positions, starting from Assistant Director of Studies (ADOS) and moving up.

Which ELT Qualification?

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:41:14 +0000

There are thousands of ESL teaching courses available, with all sorts of claims being made about them and accreditation that can be valid or bogus. One simple test is to look at adverts to see what employers are looking for, so I went through 200 adverts for basic teaching jobs around the world, and a few teaching online. I ignored managerial positions, university and specialist jobs. This does not rate the contents of courses, though it is clear which courses employers trust and prefer. Qualifications are given with the percentage of the teaching jobs advertised that a person could apply for.

Ginger Software

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:59:01 +0000

Ginger Software proofreads your writing, checking the spelling and grammar as you write. You download and install it- it works in Windows with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, and in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Grammarly

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:35:31 +0000

I had a look at the Grammarly automated proofreader and personal grammar coach that claims to be the world's most accurate grammar checker, presumably in the automated category. The bad news is that those who want to post any text and expect it to be turned into perfect English will still have to wait for science fiction to become reality, but the good news is that it could be a very useful tool.

Do not might one's understand to speak

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:11:54 +0000

The title comes from Pedro Carolino's English as She is Spoke (1883), an accidental classic that is meant to be an English phrasebook and conversational guide, but as the author couldn't speak much, or any, English, he created a garbled translation of a Portuguese-French phrasebook that has a charm in its ridiculousness.

Johnny Yesno

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:01:45 +0000

As I no longer live in the UK and only go back a couple of times a year, I may miss some of the changes occurring in British English that aren't easily seen on the web, so I keep in contact with all sorts of sources who try to keep me up to date.

Forum Policies- The Revenger's Tragedy

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:25:10 +0000

In the Jacobean play The Revenger's Tragedy, the central figure, Vindice or Vendice, starts out as someone who has suffered injustice- the murder of his love, but soon the play descends into a bloodbath where the victim has so exceeded any offence that he has become worse than the wrong he set out to right, only far worse. It seems appropriate for the forum context that there are different spellings of the protagonist's name, and doubt about the identity of the author.

The grim reaper

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 12:16:29 +0000

Last year I culled about 500 dead links from our database, but this year the total was lower- 231, just under ten percent. This doesn't include inactive sites like blogs, just sites or pages that have disappeared, and will include some sites that were unavailable when checked but still exist.

Giving Cheating a Bad Name

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:44:02 +0000

According to the China Daily, some sudents from China are getting IELTS ghostwriters to take the IELTS test for them, as IELTS in Hong Kong is run separately and they can circumvent the lifetime ban back home if they are caught cheating. It's a growing business with a lot of people willing to pay someone to take the exam for them.

Forum Policies- Multiple Accounts & Sock-Puppets

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:07:53 +0000

Multiple accounts and sock-puppets, accounts created by a poster to agree and to try to make their views look more accepted, are annoying. Please don't create multiple accounts- there's no need, and where we find multiple accounts, we will block access to the clones and may also ban the main account if it continues after being asked to desist.

Eyeing Berlitz

Wed, 04 May 2011 15:36:58 +0000

According to this article in Elt News, Berlitz in Japan has seen 40% of its teachers become unavailable since the earthquake and tsunami in March, and is looking to change its provision through online lessons.