Mike, I guess this is where you should cue The Flight of the Valkyries... :-) Dear Rob--- I certainly did not find anything you wrote as an attack...actually ...
12722
diamond_fingerz
Aug 1, 2008 7:21 am
Dear all, I'd like to offer a little classroom snapshot - you can decide for yourselves where (or if) it fits within the present discussion... Teaching a group...
12723
Simon Gill
pangill2001
Aug 1, 2008 7:51 am
Dennis writes: "Relatively few English teachers, I would have thought, speak the mother tongue of their learners." While that may be true of many of the active...
12724
diarmuid_fogarty
diarmuid_fog...
Aug 1, 2008 8:08 am
What I have to say is uncharacteristically short: it strikes me that the best way to teach is as it comes naturally. If it feels right or necessary at any...
12725
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 9:05 am
Outblaze powered by Simon prompts me to say that my couple of suggestions that it might be time to end this thread came from a concern that members might be...
12726
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 9:11 am
Peter, An interesting account, and I'm quite sure in terms of your relationship with the class you did the correct thing. But protected by distance and nothing...
12727
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 9:23 am
Why do I go on and on about "English only"? It is because I believe such excellent results can be achieved with it and I'd like colleagues who don't use it or...
12728
John N. Q. Warner
johncrwarner
Aug 1, 2008 9:32 am
Dennis has again pushed the boat out and I hope he doesn't get a large number of e-mails over it. I am paid to be an English teacher but with some classes and...
12729
Jeff Bragg
chalkfacehero
Aug 1, 2008 9:42 am
I agree with Dennis - almost totally, in fact. Â Several months ago I attended, for a brief period, Arabic classes. It's sad to say it, but the class was...
12730
Peter Thwaites
diamond_fingerz
Aug 1, 2008 9:46 am
Dennis, Two points: 1. My students were not "being required" to discuss anything - the topic naturally emerged from an activity comparing traditional to modern...
12731
diarmuid_fogarty
diarmuid_fog...
Aug 1, 2008 10:18 am
Probably going to be more characteristically long this one... firstly, Jeff's experience put me in mind of a Mandarin class that I had once upon a time, at...
12732
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 10:21 am
Peter, It was clear to me from your first posting that the English lesson was enriched in general learning terms from not stopping a limited use of of the MT. ...
12733
Celso Camargo
celsocamargors
Aug 1, 2008 11:53 am
Dear Dennis, the very amount of messages on the topic of L1 x L2 shows that the interest of this list members has actually increased a lot! As Simon wrote,...
12734
Peter Thwaites
diamond_fingerz
Aug 1, 2008 12:41 pm
Dennis, You said: "It's great you want to discuss that with the learners, but first they have to be given the language to do so." Why "first"? By the time a...
12735
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 1:35 pm
Peter, I guess it depends on Diarmuid's distinctions - do you see yourself as (1) a language teacher or (2) an educator. If (2) there is no need to adopt the ...
12736
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 1:45 pm
Celso, I'd be interested in figures of how many teachers of TEFL can speak their learners' mother tongue. I'd maintain, in the meantime, that an awful lot ...
12737
Adrian Tennant
adriantennant
Aug 1, 2008 4:09 pm
Hi Dennis, Figures - well let's take a country like Serbia with something in the region of 10,000 English Language Teachers (at least those were the figures...
12738
John N. Q. Warner
johncrwarner
Aug 1, 2008 4:23 pm
I agree - I suspect that Dennis is thinking of Germany and the non-school system i.e. universities, Volkshochschule (adult education colleges) and the Business...
12739
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 4:42 pm
John, I think that Dennis is thinking of the countries with which he has some contact, and secondary schools rather than universities - Ghana, Sierra Leone,...
12740
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 5:09 pm
Separating languages - on not switching I'm aware of the linguistic view which states that if a person is bi- or trilingual the languages are stored in a...
12741
Patrick Williams
patrickmicha...
Aug 1, 2008 5:18 pm
Aren't most teachers of English nationals of the countries in which they are working? If so, most TEFL teachers can speak their learners' mother tongue. ... ...
12742
Patrick Williams
patrickmicha...
Aug 1, 2008 5:18 pm
Yes, I agree in the main. As a tool it has limited usefulness but it can be useful nonetheless - that's why I am advocating not excluding any technique in...
12743
Robert Haines
romiha1
Aug 1, 2008 5:30 pm
Mike, thanks for the clarification. I would say instead of *not allowing L2* you plan to *encourage exclusive use of L1*. I also like to introduce "classroom...
12744
Adrian Tennant
adriantennant
Aug 1, 2008 5:43 pm
Dennis, I think you need to clarify exactly what you mean. If you are talking about English people teaching English abroad, then yes many do not speak the...
12745
Marianne Dorléac
marianne_dor...
Aug 1, 2008 7:52 pm
I fully agree with Peter here. I reckon that too often, teachers tend to be obssesed by the "target language", more than by the students who are there to learn...
12746
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 9:19 pm
Marianne, I do accept the force of your argument, but I certainly did not when I was a practicing teacher, though I have to say students were eager supporters...
12747
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 9:26 pm
Dr. E.and Patrick, Surely it is clear I've been talking about native/English-speaking teachers working mostly abroad. What sense would it make to be discussing...
12748
Dennis Newson
dnewson2001
Aug 1, 2008 9:30 pm
Patrick, I can easily see that the MT can sometimes be a useful tool. My anxiety was/is that once used learners will want more and see it as an easy way out of...
12749
alastairlambert@...
alastair532000
Aug 1, 2008 10:47 pm
... Celso, I do so agree with what you say in this message that the refusal to allow ANY mother tongue in classes ( which is now happening in ESOL classes up ...
12750
Chorlton Esol
chorltonhall
Aug 1, 2008 11:18 pm
Hi Alastair I don't agree that refusal to allow mother tongue in classes is "happening in ESOL classes up and down the UK". I am quite familiar with practice...
