[etni] Re: Example Please!
- From: "Lev Abramov" <lev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <etnimail@xxxxxxxxxx>, <hezi5@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 22:27:50 +0200
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Dear Tom and all -=20
1. the teacher in question ("pedaling to the metal") is definitely NOT =
an
excellent English teacher - her command of English is lacking in at =
least
two fields (namely, knowledge of idioms/slang and in the ability to
correctly use newly acquired vocabulary).=20
All things considered, the ideal teacher for a "NS" class would be a NS
teacher with a perfect command of Hebrew and solid didactic training. =
Look
around, and you'll find that there are many who fall into a different
category: "a NS who happens to be teaching English," rather than "a
professional teacher who happens to be a NS." But...
2. the so-called "NS" Israeli pupils' grammar is horrendous. You may of
course disagree, but NNS teachers can teach grammar better than NS =
teachers:
the latter "acquired" the language (often with fairly limited explicit
grammar study), while the former learned it through systematic =
instruction
(probably closer to adulthood, when their L1 grammar was sufficiently
well-developed).=20
3. NS teachers have certain ostensible advantages: for example, they =
know
not only the language but also the culture inherent in this language. I
strongly doubt, though, that this aspect is so important for Israeli =
pupils.
At home they will speak a code-switching variety of English littered =
with
too many Hebrew words (which is understandable: English has not yet
developed many notions required to express local realia); they watch =
Israeli
cable, listen to Israeli radio and talk Hebrew most of the time; their
values and cultural preferences are Israeli, not American nor British. =
As
regards the rest of the Commonwealth, they can hardly tell Australia =
from
Austria.
4. Another advantage of NS teachers as perceived by employers is their
accent. May I tell you something: clarity of speech has nothing to do =
with
accent. "Hebrish," offensive as it may sound to your ear, reflects =
spelling
in a much better way than the speech of many NS teachers who often =
disregard
the decoding difficulties experienced by many of their pupils. And =
besides,
what career are you preparing your pupils for if accent is so important?
Spies?!
5. Talking of accents: for 25% of speakers of English it is their L1 =
(native
tongue); another quarter (about 400M) speak it as L2; finally, about a =
half
(800,000,000 people) speak English as a foreign language. So the ability =
to
decode utterances of another NNS is probably more valuable than the =
ability
to speak with a "native accent" (which one?). Read David Crystal for =
more on
that.
Finally (and don't take this personally): you have just made a spelling
mistake: "definAtely" instead of "definitely" (typical "phonetic =
spelling").
So what's the point in being a native speaker? We all make mistakes; =
no-one
speaks or writes impeccably.
Cheers -=20
L
-----------
Lev ABRAMOV <lev[at]schiffman.biz>
The Shiffman Institute www.schiffman.biz
-----Original Message-----
From: etni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:etni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On =
Behalf
Of Tom Balazs
----snip---------
An excellent non-native English speaking teacher asked me what it means =
to
"put the pedal to the metal". I explained that this means to drive =
quickly.
I later walked by her classroom and heard her tell the class, "I'm =
driving
down the road pedaling to the metal."
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