Teachers are made, not born
Can just any native Chinese-speaking teacher teach Chinese to American students effectively? Do most native Chinese teachers utilize the best methodology in language teaching when teaching Chinese to American students? Can just any student learn a second language from just any teacher of that language?
It is wrong to assume that English-speaking teachers naturally know how to teach English simply because they are native English speakers. It is also wrong to assume that certified Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) teachers are the best English teachers.
Language learning is universal; what separates one language from another is the culture in which it is used. Culture cannot be separated from language.
The effectiveness of a language program depends on the delivery of that language matching the language and culture of the students. The stronger the foundation the students have in their native language, the faster they will learn the second language with support provided in their native language.
It matters very little what color the language teachers are or what languages roll off their native tongues.
What is of the utmost importance is that students have teachers who have an understanding and an appreciation of their students' native language and cultural beliefs.
Kim Woo-Zeller
California
Teachers need much training
Michael Cahill suggests that 1,000 Taiwanese teachers go through a four-to-five-week training course to become master EFL teachers (Letters, Jan 17, page 8). I live in Taiwan and talked, or attempted to talk, to many Taiwanese EFL teachers.
The average teacher would need far more than a five-week crash course. He or she would need at least a year in an intensive program in an English-speaking country.
In that year, he or she would have to achieve a complete reversal in their former pedagogy to reach "master teacher" level in the new pedagogy. An increase in their real reading level (without a dictionary) would be the desired result.
Imagine if I grew up in an English-speaking home and studied Mandarin in school, where my classes focused mainly on the grammar and history of the language. I could understand children's TV shows in Mandarin, but not the adult material.
With a bilingual dictionary, I could usually translate the newspaper, but without it I could only read and write at a level ranging from the third to the fifth grade. My pronunciation would sound more like someone from San Francisco than Taipei or Beijing, and most people would have trouble carrying on a conversation with me.
Would you really want me teaching Mandarin after only a five-week crash course?
Tomas Gault
Taiwan
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