[etni] Re: Hebrew in the English classroom
- From: "Aliza Levanon" <levad@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <david@xxxxxxxx>, <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 18:17:33 +0200
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Hi David and all
As a veteran teacher who is a non-native speaker I always found it helpful
if I related to grammatical patterns in English which do not exist in
Hebrew, like the present perfect or the present form of the verb "to be".
Once we as teachers are aware of the problem Hebrew speakers have of
understanding these patterns we could more easily find ways of explaining
their mysteries to them. Otherwise I totally agree with everything you said
in your letter.
Aliza Levanon
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Lloyd" <david@xxxxxxxx>
To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2004 11:07 AM
Subject: [etni] Hebrew in the English classroom
> **** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org ****
>
> 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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