[etni] Hebrew in the English classroom
- From: "David Lloyd" <david@xxxxxxxx>
- To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 12:07:43 +0300
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Hi all,
In an old ETNI poll, we asked -
"Should English teachers use Hebrew in the English classroom?"
The voting broke down, as follows:
57% - Yes, but only for clarification (all levels/ages).
19% - Yes, but only for clarification (weaker/beginning levels.
13% - Yes, whenever they want to.
7% - No, they should use only English at all times.
4% - Yes, but only for beginning learners.
What we didn't clarify here, was whether teachers felt Hebrew was needed to
explain "forms" in the target language (English) by comparing them to forms
in the student's native language (Hebrew).
How many of you think that English can be taught more effectively if the
teacher relates to similar constructions or similar instances of usage in
Hebrew?
And I feel that this is a valid question for the "Native English Speaker"
classroom as well.
Which brings me to my second question.
Is there such a thing as a "Native English Speaker" in the Israel
educational climate?
The huge majority of students in "native English speaker classes" - even if
they come from English speaking families - consider Hebrew as their "first
language" - the one that they use most in their "natural environment"
(outside of immediate family, if used there). Do we really believe that
their further acquisition/learning of the English language is not affected
in many ways by the Hebrew that they speak and are exposed to? They are no
longer acquiring English in a "natural environment" (no matter how much we
try to create a real isolated English learning environment in an otherwise
totally Hebrew speaking school). And if we thought that they had already
acquired the language well as native English speakers - why continue to
teach them English? Many teachers of Native English Speaker classes will
admit that some of their best students had little exposure to a real English
speaking environment - outside of a family slihut here and there. The
students with the most problems are those who were exposed most to English
speaking environments in their early years (born and raised for much of
their life in an English speaking country). When brought to Israel, their
"acquisition" of the English language was cut short - and they then had to
switch from "acquisition" to "learning" the language.
This - and here I may really may be getting into hot water - relates back to
the - "Who makes the best teacher of a "Native English Speaker" class?:
1) The teacher, who is a native English speaker him/herself - despite
his/her own linguistic competence in Hebrew?
2) or the teacher who has a high linguistic competence both in English and
Hebrew, no matter whether they are a native English or Hebrew speaker.
Will be interested in hearing your comments to any or all of the above.
David
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