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Teaching languages a way to also learn. | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Mooby Senior Member Scotland Joined 5914 days ago 707 posts - 1219 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Polish | Message 1 of 2 30 December 2010 at 2:26am | IP Logged |
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If you're a teacher or do a little tutoring, how does it help you with your own
language learning? I've been teaching English as a private tutor (no charge) to a number of Polish immigrants for two years. Teaching has made me a better student, and studying has made me a better teacher. By studying Polish I appreciate what my students want to practice and what things are less important. As a student I crave practice in speaking my target language, and this has altered the way I teach. I used to be very teacher-centred, but now I say less and get my students to practice speaking, do listening exercises and read for pronunciation. Teaching also forces me to understand the anatomy of languages, and I'm also a lot more empathetic with my students' difficulties with pronunciation and grammar. In addition I'm a lot more organised with my learning. The only frustration I've encountered is that I want to hijack the lesson I'm supposed to be teaching in order to practice my target language! Until I find my own tutor or language partner, I'll just have to bite my lip and speak English only. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5035 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 2 of 2 30 December 2010 at 4:24am | IP Logged |
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Well, at the beginning (~4/5 years ago) both my L1 and L2 levels were boosted in the sense that I always made sure there was nothing I didn't know / I couldn't explain / translate / analyze for the students before each lesson. Now I write my own materials when needed, which forces me to ensure everything is under control anyway, and also there's a clear limit to the stuff you really have to explain, especially at the lower levels, so after a while I didn't keep improving _because of my classes_.
As a lifelong student with an extensive background in tutoring others, I wouldn't say teaching languages had any other important effects. I was always very aware of most obstacles the students would face because I had to get there myself in the first place. In general, I'd say if you stay on both sides of anything they help each other to improve a lot at the beginning, and after that experience shapes/helps your ways on each side better than anything coming from the other one. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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