My private student, the Chinese lawyer, really didn't show his English - or his capacity for analytical thinking - to very good advantage on the overseas scholarship application form he had filled out (this was before he'd hired me to help him with his application; I only came on board at the 11th hour to give him some interview coaching) - but he somehow made it on to the shortlist anyway.
I was particularly disappointed, confused by the paragraph he'd written on "an ethical dilemma you have encountered in your practice".
When I quizzed him on why he had chosen the (not obviously relevant) example he had, he replied, "I don't know this word 'ethical'."
Where do I begin???
3 comments:
Did you tell him very few people overseas know the word either?
(Not sure about the use of "either" with "very few" here. It reads funny. Coach away.)
I don't think there's any grammatical problem here. Would you prefer 'not many'?
My first objection to my student here was, "And you didn't think to look it up in a dictionary?" Quite staggering! Particularly given the enormity of this application's importance for him (a full year of study of work experience overseas, which could pave the way to him getting a job in a foreign law firm).
I also have a wider concern that maybe the Chinese just don't get the concept.
So your student isn't an Ethics Boy then? ;-)
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