Comments on: How do ESL teachers teach foreign students English if they don’t know their student’s language?

By: Joe Fonebone

Joe Fonebone — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:11:24 +0000

Simple: the students are learning English so the teacher gives them as much English as possible. A good teacher can do this easily.

Plus, of course, some classes are multilingual where the only common language IS English!

By: ...

... — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:45:40 +0000

As a past ESL student, I have to say, I learned no English whatsoever from my ESL class (which was mostly composed of Spanish-speaking students - which I’m not). The teacher was a native Spanish speaker as well, and whenever the students didn’t understand something, she would explain it to them in Spanish. I picked up English in my other classes, like science and math, where I basically taught it to myself. Comparing my English level now (several years have passed) to that of my fellow ESL Spanish speakers, my English level is a LOT higher than theirs. I would assume it’s because I learned to think in English, instead of translating my native language to English before speaking. That’s why I agree with others here, it’s better if you don’t know the students’ native tongue.

By: betsy mae

betsy mae — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:34:04 +0000

Some Christian sites are looking for anyone to teach English in China.
most classes are less than 15 or 20.

ESOL is difficult because in the American public schools there are many non-English speaking children.

There are training manuals, practice reading books, almost level grade one to show the word order, the words themselves.

You need to be able to communicate the word with a variety of tools, such as pictures, actions, and analogies.

Think about how you would teach someone the difference between the long A and short A sound. Not as easy as it sounds.

By: old lady

old lady — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:01:55 +0000

Iin a way, it is easier if the teacher doesn’t know the student’s native tongue. Think about how your parents taught you to talk. They didn’t know your language (okay, you didn’t have one) so they had to explain things very clearly. You did lots of repetition - da da, ma ma etc. until you got the idea. Once you learned a few words, the next words came easier.
So when the teacher doesn’t know the student’s language, they have to teach by the same method your parents used. It’s ‘way too easy to give an explanation in the student’s native language, but that destroys the immersion aspect, which is what the school is trying to replicate.