Is it possible to do English Language without a teacher?

[dekoyl]

I've done English Language units 1 and 2 but due to teacher resignation, English Language will be discontinued at our school.
The only option was Distance Ed., but I think it's basically doing the work and sending it back to the centre on a weekly basis.
In other words, not much teacher/student contact.

If I happen to do Distance Ed, I might try get a tutor for this as well however since there aren't any teachers available, I doubt there are any tutors out there as well.

I was wondering if this would be a sensible option to take - doing Distance Ed.
I find English Language is a lot less work than mainstream English and yields a better reward.

Caramel? Anyone who's doing/have done English Language? What do you think?

[JL_91]

I have been doing English Language through Distance Ed this year, due to a timetable clash.

If you are desperate to avoid Lit or English, it is the choice for you. But things can get very tough, especially in terms of time management, when you're doing Distance Ed. You really have to make an effort to stay on top of the workload, which you would find a little heavier than if you were doing the subject in a classroom. You can call the teacher there and ask questions anytime you want, so it's up to you to establish the amount of teacher/student contact. I was "threatened" with a fail for Unit 3 purely because I was so many weeks behind on my weekly worksets, despite my high SAC results. And on the note of SACs - they are ALL open book in Unit 3, but closed book in Unit 4. I suspect VCAA would not moderate Distance Ed's SACs all too favourably at all, so I feel a little under pressure to score very high in the exam at the moment.

I have been working one-on-one with a tutor for this subject this year - you are right, there aren't many! But my tutor holds a PhD and is a lecturer in Linguistics at Latrobe, and he is excellent. He is based in Doncaster East - I can PM you his details if you want.

[dekoyl]

I guess the extra workload would be okay. If I didn't do English at school, it would leave quite a few spares to do the Distance Ed. work.

The point relating to the SAC moderation by the VCAA is interesting. I wonder if past students can shed some light on this?

By the way, I PM'd. Can't thank you enough.

[JL_91]

No problems - I replied...and just as I was typing this I got your reply lol!

Trust me, extra spares at school does not necessarily equate to definitely getting all that work done...I, and most other Distance Ed kids I've spoken to, found that we were sidetracked and/or ended up doing other subjects instead. I also forgot to mention in my previous post that Distance Ed will hold several seminars throughout the year for the teacher and all the students to get together and review stuff.

All I know about the SAC moderation stuff is, schools which set really tough SACs tend to get their SAC marks moderated up, as compared to schools which set easy ones, but I don't know much beyond that. At the end of the day, if you score well on your exam, that would be more significant.

[Flaming_Arrow]

i don't get how sacs work in distance ed?
do you go to a certain venue and do it?

[brendan]

try the CAE in the city

[JL_91]

i don't get how sacs work in distance ed?
do you go to a certain venue and do it?

No you don't - if you're a school-based student, you do them at school "under supervision" (but my "supervisor" never stayed around to watch over me lol...). If you're a home-based student then you do them at home.

[AppleThief]

From someone who's doing a 3/4 subject (not EL, I do that at my home school) through the DECV: it's NOT like doing a subject without a teacher. You DO have a teacher. You can call/email/see* them whenever you want; they're happy to help you. You can really have as much or as little teacher contact as you want.


* Depending on where you live. DECV is in Thornbury.