[etni] Oral skills

Hi,
I'd like to add another side to the oral skills discussion.
Although I agree that it is important for our pupils to be able to carry on a 
conversation in reasonably fluent and understandable English, I do not totally 
agree with the methods for bringing this about.  In particular, I have never 
been comfortable with the method that disallows the use of the mother tongue in 
the EFL classroom.  This is because of my own (and others')  experience with 
the ulpan method of learning Hebrew.  I remember feeling completely frustated 
with the complete waste of time trying to explain the meaning of a word, or a 
point of grammar in a language that was so difficult to begin with, when a 
quick sentence or word in English/Russian/French would have done the job so 
much more efficiently.  
Certainly our children should hear as much English as possible, but they hear 
plenty in the songs they listen to, the TV programs they watch, etc.  So some 
teachers don't know enough Hebrew to use it in the classroom - OK, then they 
will make themselves understood the best they can and probably do just as good 
a job. Also, quite a few teachers have such a horrible accent in English that 
I'd hate any kid of mine to learn speaking skills from them.  So I don't think 
we should make a fettish of speaking only English in the classroom.  Yes, it is 
important for pupils to learn oral skills and they should have plenty of 
opportunity to speak and present in English.  But let's not forget that , it is 
important for them to be able to read and write English as well and this should 
be done by each teacher with the most efficient use of the little time we have 
for the task.
Renee Wahl  

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