Education

Have English degree, will travel

Ireland, Turkey, Korea, Italy, Argentina and now the Netherlands, Eamonn McDonagh has taught English across Europe and Asia and now brings his expertise to the TU’s IT&C English group, which offers all students and staffers a range of courses to improve their English-language writing skills.

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Eamonn McDonagh grew up on a farm in Galway, on the beautiful west coast of Ireland. Having graduated with a degree in history and political science from the National University of Ireland, his wanderlust propelled him to pack his bags and leave his native land. “When I graduated in 1983, Ireland was much less “sexy” and developed than it is today,” he says.

As McDonagh traveled around Europe and Asia, teaching English was simply a way for him to make a living in foreign lands; however, after years of teaching in Turkey, Korea and Italy, he realized that he enjoyed teaching and wanted to make it a career. McDonagh then enrolled in a Master’s degree program at the University of Reading in England, where he met and fell in love with an Argentinean woman. “After graduating, I moved to Argentina with her,” he says. “We lived together in Buenos Aires, but things didn’t work. After four years I returned to Europe with a broken heart.”

McDonagh, who found his present job as English lecturer at TU Delft through an ad in the TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) newsletter, is currently one of five members of the TBM faculty’s IT&C (Instituut voor Techniek en Comunicatie) English teaching group. His group offers general English courses at three levels % lower-intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced which are open to everyone at TU Delft.

McDonagh teaches ‘Written English for Technologists’, a course designed to improve undergraduate and MSc students’ written English skills. There are also specialist English courses for PhD students and TU staffers, like the technical English course McDonagh teaches to DTO/MOP (Mechanisch Ontwikkeling en Prototyping) staff members, who need to have a good command of English in order to help foreign students and researchers. IT&C also offers other customized English-language courses, like English for the TU’s concierges and helpdesk personnel.

McDonagh, an Irishman, is joined on the IT&C staff by colleagues from England and the United States. While many foreigners think English is classified into either American or British English, McDonagh sees English as a multi-polar language and says that in academic writing there’s no remarkable difference between American and British English. “Whether it’s American or British isn’t relevant for written academic English. I try to teach international English. There’s no such thing as a native speaker of written academic English,” he says. “If you write a paper for a journal you may well have to follow its own rules on matters such as spelling anyway. I grew up with a kind of English that I used to talk with my family and friends, but I don’t write in that way. Written English is different from spoken English and people use different English when for instance they%re giving a presentation at an international conference or when they’re talking to their parents.”

When asked to name the three mistakes non-native speakers usually make, McDonagh laughs and says, ,,I can’t. And even if I could, I wouldn’t. Learning English is not hunting for mistakes. It simply does not equal to elimination of mistakes. A paper without any grammatical mistakes can still be rubbish. Having perfect grammar doesn’t automatically lead to a perfect article.”

In his written English courses, McDonagh’s emphasis is on teaching how to write an academic discourse, the typical architecture of ideas in a paper and what grammatical and vocabulary tools people need to write a good article. ,,There exist no rigidly fixed formulas in written academic English,” he says, ,,and if they did exist, you wouldn’t need a teacher to teach them.”

People who are learning English often worry about the negative influence their own language background has on their English. And while their ultimate goal is often the ability to write like native English speaker, non-native speakers should remember that most native speakers cannot write scientific papers either.

,,Yes, people’s own languages influences their English. So what? Wanting to be as good a writer as a native speaker is a meaningless ambition,” McDonagh asserts. ,,The question is, is the influence of one’s own language interfering with the reader’s ability to understand the paper? If it does it’ll be because of an inadequate grasp of grammar and/or knowledge of vocabulary rather than the influence of the mother tongue, as such.”

In deciding to come to the Netherlands, McDonagh did not choose the country but rather the job. He enjoys his work at TU Delft, but having been in Holland for less than a year, he’s still adjusting to life here. He’s working hard to learn Dutch, though, and is happy that Dutch people have positive views of Ireland. He also enjoys the mix of different cultures here and the fact that the Netherlands is such a well-organized place.

,,There are no people starving in the streets unless they’re mad or something. Dutch people don’t know how lucky they are to live in Holland,” he says. ,,People complain that trains are five minutes delayed. Go to Italy, England or many other countries, they’re muchworse. People complain about crime here. Go to Argentina, then you’ll know what crime is.”

If you’d like to sign up for an IT&C English course, the next entrance exam is on Tuesday December 16th from 13:00 to 15:00, in Zaal A of the TBM building. Eamonn McDonagh also runs a writing clinic at the TBM faculty. The clinic, free to all TU students and staffers, is open every Tuesday from 11 to 1 p.m., offering help with English-language papers, articles, etc. For more info, contact E.McDonagh@TBM.TUDelft.nl. And finally, Eamonn’s disclaimer: ,,The views expressed in this article are the interviewee’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of IT&C.”

http://www.tc.tbm.tudelft.nl/EnglishCourses/

Ireland, Turkey, Korea, Italy, Argentina and now the Netherlands, Eamonn McDonagh has taught English across Europe and Asia and now brings his expertise to the TU’s IT&C English group, which offers all students and staffers a range of courses to improve their English-language writing skills.

Eamonn McDonagh grew up on a farm in Galway, on the beautiful west coast of Ireland. Having graduated with a degree in history and political science from the National University of Ireland, his wanderlust propelled him to pack his bags and leave his native land. “When I graduated in 1983, Ireland was much less “sexy” and developed than it is today,” he says.

As McDonagh traveled around Europe and Asia, teaching English was simply a way for him to make a living in foreign lands; however, after years of teaching in Turkey, Korea and Italy, he realized that he enjoyed teaching and wanted to make it a career. McDonagh then enrolled in a Master’s degree program at the University of Reading in England, where he met and fell in love with an Argentinean woman. “After graduating, I moved to Argentina with her,” he says. “We lived together in Buenos Aires, but things didn’t work. After four years I returned to Europe with a broken heart.”

McDonagh, who found his present job as English lecturer at TU Delft through an ad in the TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) newsletter, is currently one of five members of the TBM faculty’s IT&C (Instituut voor Techniek en Comunicatie) English teaching group. His group offers general English courses at three levels % lower-intermediate, upper-intermediate and advanced which are open to everyone at TU Delft.

McDonagh teaches ‘Written English for Technologists’, a course designed to improve undergraduate and MSc students’ written English skills. There are also specialist English courses for PhD students and TU staffers, like the technical English course McDonagh teaches to DTO/MOP (Mechanisch Ontwikkeling en Prototyping) staff members, who need to have a good command of English in order to help foreign students and researchers. IT&C also offers other customized English-language courses, like English for the TU’s concierges and helpdesk personnel.

McDonagh, an Irishman, is joined on the IT&C staff by colleagues from England and the United States. While many foreigners think English is classified into either American or British English, McDonagh sees English as a multi-polar language and says that in academic writing there’s no remarkable difference between American and British English. “Whether it’s American or British isn’t relevant for written academic English. I try to teach international English. There’s no such thing as a native speaker of written academic English,” he says. “If you write a paper for a journal you may well have to follow its own rules on matters such as spelling anyway. I grew up with a kind of English that I used to talk with my family and friends, but I don’t write in that way. Written English is different from spoken English and people use different English when for instance they%re giving a presentation at an international conference or when they’re talking to their parents.”

When asked to name the three mistakes non-native speakers usually make, McDonagh laughs and says, ,,I can’t. And even if I could, I wouldn’t. Learning English is not hunting for mistakes. It simply does not equal to elimination of mistakes. A paper without any grammatical mistakes can still be rubbish. Having perfect grammar doesn’t automatically lead to a perfect article.”

In his written English courses, McDonagh’s emphasis is on teaching how to write an academic discourse, the typical architecture of ideas in a paper and what grammatical and vocabulary tools people need to write a good article. ,,There exist no rigidly fixed formulas in written academic English,” he says, ,,and if they did exist, you wouldn’t need a teacher to teach them.”

People who are learning English often worry about the negative influence their own language background has on their English. And while their ultimate goal is often the ability to write like native English speaker, non-native speakers should remember that most native speakers cannot write scientific papers either.

,,Yes, people’s own languages influences their English. So what? Wanting to be as good a writer as a native speaker is a meaningless ambition,” McDonagh asserts. ,,The question is, is the influence of one’s own language interfering with the reader’s ability to understand the paper? If it does it’ll be because of an inadequate grasp of grammar and/or knowledge of vocabulary rather than the influence of the mother tongue, as such.”

In deciding to come to the Netherlands, McDonagh did not choose the country but rather the job. He enjoys his work at TU Delft, but having been in Holland for less than a year, he’s still adjusting to life here. He’s working hard to learn Dutch, though, and is happy that Dutch people have positive views of Ireland. He also enjoys the mix of different cultures here and the fact that the Netherlands is such a well-organized place.

,,There are no people starving in the streets unless they’re mad or something. Dutch people don’t know how lucky they are to live in Holland,” he says. ,,People complain that trains are five minutes delayed. Go to Italy, England or many other countries, they’re muchworse. People complain about crime here. Go to Argentina, then you’ll know what crime is.”

If you’d like to sign up for an IT&C English course, the next entrance exam is on Tuesday December 16th from 13:00 to 15:00, in Zaal A of the TBM building. Eamonn McDonagh also runs a writing clinic at the TBM faculty. The clinic, free to all TU students and staffers, is open every Tuesday from 11 to 1 p.m., offering help with English-language papers, articles, etc. For more info, contact E.McDonagh@TBM.TUDelft.nl. And finally, Eamonn’s disclaimer: ,,The views expressed in this article are the interviewee’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of IT&C.”

http://www.tc.tbm.tudelft.nl/EnglishCourses/

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