English by Immersion

[cdevine]

When we all learnt our mother tongue, it was via the immersion system. That is, the language was all around us and we rapidly absorbed it.

So why is there a place for non-native English speakers to teach English?
Why do some students learn English from Japanese / Korea / Chinese English teacher's for example?

Where I teach, it was preached to us all to only speak English in the classroom. Yet, a few months later, the company hired non-native English teachers that use the mother tongue of the student to explain English. Eg: A Korean English teacher teaching English but using Korean as the method of instruction. Isn't this wrong?

[ESL Teacher]

Unfortunately, we all have time constraints when learning English as a second language. The average lesson may only last 1 hour and held only once a week.

So, if we spend the most part of the lesson explaining something in English which would otherwise be more productive explaining in the mother tongue, then here I see it fit to use the mother tongue.

But we should be careful not to rely on the mother tongue of the student too much.

[doogie]

I think it's always a good idea to use a bit of Japanese, Korean or whatever language you know to assist in explanations to students.

A class should focus on drills and communication. We should not waste too much time explaining the task at hand.

[AndyH]

It's not "wrong" to use your learners' first language in the classroom. With very low level, monolingual classes, it's often useful to use SOME L1 to save time and avoid total confusion. Non-native speakers have other strengths also...they know what it's like learning English as a second language, and are often more aware than native speakers of specific problems that their students will have and ways to overcome these.