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How to teach an L2

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13 messages over 2 pages: 1
Gallo1801
Diglot
Senior Member
Spain
Joined 4662 days ago

164 posts - 248 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Arabic (Written), Croatian, German, French

 
 Message 9 of 13
16 June 2012 at 12:10am | IP Logged 
I feel so much more confident teaching Spanish to someone than English. (English is my
mother tongue, and Spanish my first foreign language learned young) The reason being is
that we, at least in the states, aren't taught much about our language; we just study
literature. But learning Spanish and learning moods, tenses, and everything else, I can
give people reasons why something is wrong or correct - in English I can only say what
"feels right". I always joke that my German friends speak better English than I do.
5 persons have voted this message useful



Wanabe
Triglot
Newbie
United States
Joined 4096 days ago

18 posts - 21 votes
Speaks: English*, German, Spanish

 
 Message 10 of 13
16 January 2013 at 2:13am | IP Logged 
Gallo1801 wrote:
   The reason being is that we, at least in the states, aren't taught much about our language; we just study
literature.



It's interesting that you should say this. I was just remembering how it was my High School German teacher who in the process of teaching "German Grammer" actually gave me my first remembered exposure to English grammer other than recognising the parts of a sentence.



Edited by Wanabe on 16 January 2013 at 2:13am

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Majka
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
kofoholici.wordpress
Joined 4417 days ago

307 posts - 755 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, German, English
Studies: French
Studies: Russian

 
 Message 11 of 13
16 January 2013 at 9:45am | IP Logged 
In my life, I had only handful of native teachers. One Russian at the college (for one semester), and of course when I went to UK for my very short stay there.

The teacher who helped me most was a non-native in high school. Not even, strictly speaking, my teacher. I needed to pass a school exam in German and I didn't take it in the school. I learned it in "language school" - this was an afternoon and evening school teaching languages exclusively to children and adults. Yet, this high school teacher took 10 minutes in a week to teach me. In short, she taught me how to the learn language on my own, gave tips how to sound better and did very short check on my progress. I didn't learn anything new but I learned to consolidate my knowledge and to speak freely. It was the most valuable lesson in my life in regard to languages.

In my opinion, to teach a beginner you don't need to be at C2 level or native. One doesn't need large vocabulary. Good grasp on grammar and skilled use of limited vocabulary is preferable here, at least for me.
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Sterogyl
Diglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 4127 days ago

152 posts - 263 votes 
Studies: German*, French, EnglishC2
Studies: Japanese, Norwegian

 
 Message 12 of 13
24 March 2013 at 3:20pm | IP Logged 
There are even teachers that have no more than a B1 or B2 level and who teach beginner's classes. I know someone personally who teaches a beginner's French class and I suspect this person to be lower than B2.

When it comes to teaching a great deal depends on the personality. You must love entertaining a group of students. There are people who have attained a very high level in a foreign language but who are unable to speak "freely". (I don't know how to put this, I don't mean general fluency here.)

As a (senior) high school teacher for a foreign language you don't need more than C2, but you need a C1+ level, I'd say. A little bit more than a beginning C1 level.
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baskerville
Trilingual Triglot
Newbie
Singapore
scribeorigins.com
Joined 4006 days ago

39 posts - 43 votes
Speaks: English*, Tagalog*
Studies: German*, Japanese
Studies: Hungarian

 
 Message 13 of 13
07 June 2013 at 4:55pm | IP Logged 
Ogrim wrote:
However, if I were looking for a teacher in conversation at an advanced
level, I would certainly prefer a (qualified) native. At that level you want to know
idiomatic expressions, sayings, and an intro to the finer points in the culture.


Yes, I agree with your point on having a qualified native speaker when studying at an
advanced level. Native speakers would know more of various nuances in
grammar/expressions.

For more basic level, I prefer non-native speakers. Somehow, having a native speaker
teach me at a basic level intimidates me :) That's what happened to me in Spanish class.
On the other hand, I had non-native speakers for 4 modules of basic Japanese and somehow
that inspired me -- if they can do it, so can I.


1 person has voted this message useful



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