How do you feel if your teacher, aware of your native language, occasionally uses it in your class?
6 answers from our tutors
Best answer
It's both good and bad. If the Teacher can speak and use the student's native language, it can help the student to understand quickly and in more detail and depth. But It can make the student lazy and feel like they can always communicate in their native when they fail to communicate in the language they are learning. I had a teacher who couldn't speak my native language when learning Russian, and that challenged me to work and study harder.
To my mind it matters whether a student understands you or not. THis is the vital quesstion. You may not any words but your student has to take a lesson
This is usually known as code switching and the teacher uses it with the intention to help make learning easier for the student. It may be helpful when used in moderation. For instance, when the student completely does not understand what the phrase means. However, you should also note that it is an English classroom, hence, we need to practice the language because that is the only way to learn.
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- Robert PickacardRobert Pickacard Certified English Teacher / Professional Magician
As an English teacher in Thailand I took a diploma in English as a Foreign Language at the Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok. They stressed that if the students knew you could speak their language they would get lazy and only speak Thai to me. Best is to have a co teacher to give them instructions in the their language.
A teacher who is language aware, thinks about school settings and circumstances and the language profiles of their learners as they are the priorities
It is a way of enabling the student to understand much more quickly. But it can also be detrimental
Other student questions
- Which phrases do you find useful when making small talk in English?
Describe a specific situation where you will need to make small talk.
Best answer
A good way to do this is to discuss weekend plans. What do you usually enjoy doing on the weekends? Any fun plans for this weekend? How was your weekend?
Best answer
"The dark side of the light chasers" By Debbie Ford. Simple and easy to understand for an intermediate-level student. (Self-growth)
