[etni] Native vs Native
- From: Louise - <lu_mmm@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Etni <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2009 09:22:57 -0500
Dear All,
I do not think any posting was meant to belittle anyone. Really it is the MOE
who should carry the shame of letting those who cant speak English well into
the classrom to teach. For ex. I heard a story about a teacher writing
"Wenesday" on the board. When the kids in the class said to her that it should
be "Wednesday" - the teacher told them they can write it both ways.
I have said before that my Hebrew is quite limited and it will probably remain
so. While being bi-lingual illustrates many good things to our students - not
being able to speak Hebrew as an English teacher is great. Firstly, the kids
know they can only speak with you in English.Therefore they are constantly
using it in context both in and out of the class. This in turn, gives the
students a sense of accomplishment that they can communicate well with a native
speaker. Secondly, I use my inept Hebrew skills to illustrate a point - if you
don't speak - you will really never feel comfortable with the language. I can
also really empathize with them as I have my own struggles with learning a
language. Lastly - its so much fun to speak with your students only in English.
We all have a good laugh and they can see that what is important is that they
can communicate a message I can understand - not necessarily getting hung up on
grammar mistakes. (if you correct too much - they will stop speaking - a
terrible result). This is true of both 5 and 4 point classes. I have done the
same with 3 points too - which is a little bit of a struggle at first - but
even then, they manage so well.
My son went to a bi-lingual International School in Washington DC. In Nursery
and Kindergarten everything was done in the 2nd language (in his case French).
In first grade - this stayed the same except they had a Math and English class.
By second grade Science was introduced in English. The other subjects were
still in French. THis continued all the way to 12th grade. He came out
bi-lingual.
So I say - whether one is native or not - we should only speak English with our
students.
Louise
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