[etni] Re: Fw: re: Close the language gap

Recent posts have talked of the language gap in English in Israel, and
alluded, with some frustration, to the untapped source of English-speakers
outside Israel who could help in closing this gap.

What is the "language gap" exactly? Is it the distance between native Hebrew
speakers and native speakers of english? If so, that gap will always exist,
and it is to partially bridge or fill it that all English language study is
directed in the schools, with greater or lesser success. Research shows that
a judicious mix of native and non-native speaking teachers over several
years works best for non-native pupils, as native hebrew-speaking
teachers have advantages that non-native hebrew speakers lack and
vice-versa. An all native english-speaking staff is not feasible or
warranted.

There are good reasons for prospective english teachers whose mother tongue
is english to study hebrew or Arabic before they begin to teach, both to
understand the hardship of learning a new and very different language, which
is the experience their pupils will undergo, and to gain cultural and
cross-linguistic insights that will be of use later in their teaching.
Obviously this takes time, but schools can hardly be expected to prefer
short-term instructors to fill job vacancies over permanent staff. Still,
there are many ways of coming to Israel to teach for a short time.

Like all other citizens, immigrants wishing to be english teachers must have
an appropriate academic degree and an Israeli teaching certificate.
Accepting unaccredited and unqualified teachers, native or non-native, will
not assist the shortcomings of the educational system, but at most create a
semblance of a solution, with volunteers and low-paid non-professionals as a
cover-up for the true problems (large classes, heterogeneity, low teachers'
salaries and few teachers...), which are major causes for low achievement in
any subject.

Doron


Dr Doron Narkiss
Chair, Dept. of English
Beit Berl Academic College

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