Send this man to a TEFL school – for his own sake

Published: March 16, 2014 at 1:24am

sliemacouncillor

And somebody please tell him, too, that liking your own posts on social media is…embarrassing. But not as embarrassing as the content of his post and the abysmally poor way it is written.

What gets me most is the unbelievable, self-deluding self-confidence: imagine having the nerve to write like that without bothering about your lack of knowledge of the language and how you’re butchering it. This lack of self-awareness fascinates me – I see it in so many people. It’s as though the Maltese are born without the gene for introspection, hence so many of our ills.

This man, would you believe, is a Labour Party councillor for Sliema. The Lazy Corner must be even bigger than I thought, or maybe it was the tal-pepe ‘switchers’ who elected him as their representative, just as they voted for Manuel Mallia. They won’t be owning up to any of that now, though, will they?




19 Comments Comment

  1. albona says:

    Worry not. I will not attempt to understand you.

  2. Benny Hill says:

    He also wrote:

    “Misteru kbir fuq dan lajruplan…jien nemmen li nizlu xi aljeni u sparixxewh minn din id dinja! Alinqas tajt teorija ukoll hux…la kulhadd qed jghid x jahseb”.

    I weep.

    As an aside, Daphne, what’s your own speculative opinion on the MH370 flight?

  3. Ernest Meli says:

    This just proves that you do not have to pay attention during English lessons to stand for election on the Labour ticket.

  4. NGT says:

    Maybe it was written in Maltese and your computer automatically translated the text? Google translations can be pretty hilarious at times.

  5. Napljun Bonaparte says:

    Liking your own status is…
    Autofellatio

  6. C Mangion says:

    …’don’t try to understand me’

    Shall we give him benefit of doubt on the possible Freudian slip?

  7. TinaB says:

    Ha jitghaxxqu bih Brussels.

    X’misthija.

  8. Allo Allo says:

    In fairness he did warn the readers not to try to understand him.

  9. bob-a-job says:

    When he finishes from his ‘ting’, someone please inform him that he doesn’t need a passport to travel to Brussels all thanks to the former Nationalist government.

  10. bob-a-job says:

    Too much eh things in his mind – and no space for a brain.

  11. H 21 says:

    Forgive me but I do not see any point in constantly taunting “the switchers” who helped elect the PL.

    A year has passed quickly and, in four years’ time, the PN will depend on these “switchers” to swing back to them if they want to get elected.

    In my opinion, many of them, who have no real allegiance to PL, will vote PN again. In spite of some surveys, I believe that PL is losing ground fast.

    Most switchers voted PL because of some personal grievance they blamed on the PN government and many of them will not have it redressed by the PL government and, in their disappointment, will go back to voting PN in 2018.

    Muscat’s failure to implement the meritocracy he was so vociferous about before the elections is already haunting him and will haunt him even more. Where it concerns personal issues, no amount of reduction in electricity tariffs or day centres for children or other benefits enjoyed by all and sundry will make any difference.

    The aggrieved (in fact or fiction) cares only about his or her personal issues and will only remain faithful until such time as this is addressed to his or her satisfaction. A switcher is often one who expected special treatment and this urge is never satisfied by any measure intended to benefit the generality, no matter how good that measure might be.

    • Rumplestiltskin says:

      Ah, but they should be reminded. As Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” which got us into the mess we’re in in the first place.

      • Tabatha White says:

        Muscat has whispers from invisible sources advising him to spread the word that “those who do remember the past are doomed to be trapped by it.”

        What was that he said recently about “tradition?” – same thing.

        That makes for a great excuse to prod the scam into any excess on a euphoric false wave of invincibility.

  12. Matthew S says:

    In other news, today I checked the expiry date on the milk carton in my fridge. I’m happy to report that it’s still drinkable.

  13. Maltease says:

    “Don’t try to understand me”. I tried; I couldn’t.

  14. rob says:

    He needs a course in self confidence first.

  15. Tabatha White says:

    Teachers themselves should attend elocution classes.

    TEFL courses need teacher supply and though these are regulated to some measure, I do wonder whether pronunciation and sentence structure are fully tested.
    ————-

    This is the same result as having MEPA regulate the aesthetics of buildings.

    Before setting up the regulations, or matching an employee to a position, one should possess fitting competences. What constitutes “fitting” is subjective and varies. This variable needs to be addressed.

    If right across the scale the basic competences, perceptions and concepts are lacking, how is anyone going to realise where the lacunes lie?

    This is not an issue that gets corrected by the enforced PL application of meritocracy, but a core deficiency that will take at least three to four generations of focused treatment from kindergarten level upwards and more perceptually rigorous PGCE setting (as well as general degree delivery) to correct.

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      For Christ’s sake, Tabatha White. This is Malta.

      • Tabatha White says:

        Do you mean to say that Malta, in general, should continue plodding along backwards, satisfied with incompetence and completely blind to just how low the standards have become?

        Yes, I know full well it’s Malta. I’d like to once again be able to live in a Malta I’m proud of. Right now, as a country, it’s going down the drain fast with no brakes in sight precisely because of this “anything goes” mentality that’s prevalent. I don’t see myself mollifying to accept it.

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