TEACHERS DISCUSSION FORUM
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#1 Parent lingujisticus - 2007-08-15
native English speakers - Teachers Discussion

I don't quite get you...could you couch your message in slightly more elaborated language?
If I follow your arguments, you were saying that the "wrong" people get hired - those who have TRAINING.
Do you seriously object tyo having teachers with a grounding in their occupation?
My point was that native English speakers get privilegted over others for the mere fact that they are born into an ENglish-speaking country, and no professional teaching background is made conditional on their being hired.
I don't believe any of the Baltic republics is saddled with the problem so many Asian countries are saddled with: Poor teaching skills of local staff coupled with the over-ambitious goal of making a whole nation virtually "bilingual" by government decree; for reasons only the national educationalists understand, local teachers are employed to impart pure theoretical knowledge about the target language; the fact that they can seldom communicate in the foreign tongue they are teaching doesn't seem to bother their own superiors. As a remedial action, foreign nationals from English-speaking countries are hired to do the purely practical part of using the foreign lingo, albeit only the spoken version. These foreign teachers seldom succeed in effectively communicating with their charges, have to speak their own language at an excruciatingly slow rhythm and speak a simplified English most of the time. THey are exposed to local variants of English that are bastardised new forms of English with a heavy dose of the mother tongue of their students. The students' local variant of English gets reinforced because remedial action is not possible under such time constraints and other limitations.
In Lithuania, people probably acquire English in a more effective way as their teachers teach the LANGUAGE rather than just the ENglish words and grammar rules; also Lithuanians (and other Europeans) have the added advantage of studying English as their second or third foreign tongue (Lithuanians after Russian). The difference is obvious: They are more autonomous learners who haven't learnt the language by rote only.
So long as rote learning is the norm in Asia, foreign teachers can make no serious dent in the general English proficiency; the laughable end result is that everybody now is focussing on speaking ENglish ever faster, irrespective of the qualikty of their English or how it is enunciated. Unfortunately, native English speakers often are unsuspecting partners in a crime that fools the whole nation and all visitors to it. We shall learn more about the fabulous "English level" of Beijing's Olympic organisers and hosts...At least for the time being, they have become aware of the embarrassingly poor image they are generating with the zillions of ridiculous Chinglish signs in public places all over the country... BUt for foreigners to point them out would until recently have been unwelcome... because the national psyche and face would have suffered.

#2 Parent Extefler - 2007-08-15
False mentality - Teachers Discussion

It is a false mentality of so many people that think they can teach effectively, even after several years of training and experience. But they get hired anyway.

#3 Parent Ele - 2007-08-14
Native vs Non-Native Speaker of English - Teachers Discussion

Short background: I am Lithuanian. I've been learning English since school times graduated in 2000). I've got 2 degrees in English philology plus IHCTL/CELTA.

Where do I stand here...this topic calls for another article, one day I might go for it. But as for today, from my own experience, I can draw the following conclusions:

1. Native English speakers can be a big soap bubble. "Oh, we hire many native speakers, our teaching standards are very high, come to study and bring your money to us!" Pure self-promotion. However, I do agree that qualified teachers do a good job. Meaning, they have more teaching background than a 4 week course on how to use communicative activities!

2. Some schools have standards to maintain, meaning they must hire a certain number of native speakers. BUT once they can hire a person who is less qualified, they can pay less and save more! Especially if visa requirements do not have a firm say about the education of the emploees, now we are in EU, open borders, no visa to some countries!

3. If I were a native speaker and asked to teach but I had no qualifications, I would be afraid to do harm. It is a false mentality that everybody can teach! Parents and students complain about lessons because THEY just know better! It's a great deal of so called teacher's mentality. Some see it as a challenge, some as a fraud. However, I admit the fact that exeprience comes with practice, nobody is endowed with it from their birth. Starting with CELTA/TESOL/ other is a good idea.

So much for now.

Ele

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