Category: Languages

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The NEST v NNEST Conundrum

Lately I’ve come across lots of discussions on the NEST (Native English Speaking Teacher) versus NNEST (Non-Native English Speaking Teacher). Even this quarter’s issue of the Braz-Tesol Newsletter dedicates most of its pages to articles written by Brazilian teachers (notorious NNESTS) in defense of language teaching not being limited to the place one was born.

Non-Native English Speaking Teachers
Non-Native English Speaking Teachers

I even found this site defending TEFL equality http://teflequityadvocates.com

Being Brazilian I couldn’t agree more: A good language teacher will have learned the structure of the language and is aware of steps and techniques that will allow learners to overcome hurdles along the way in their language acquisition process.

However, it must be pointed out that many NNESTs also lack enough language skills to teach highly advanced levels, Ilá Coimbra a NNEST wrote  that “In the Brazilian context, the general level of our English language teachers is B2 (or intermediate – high intermediate English)  far from being enough”; which would justify a language learner’s desire to have lessons with a NEST.

In the English teaching world prejudice against NNESTs or those who look like NNESTs is rampant. Many people would object to hiring a Japanese-American teacher simply because he or she looks “Japanese” no matter the language background they have. In China, Korea, and I’m sure other countries, an African-American teacher will find it hard to overcome prejudice no matter how big their NEST egg is (please, forgive me my pun).

Because of my light skin complexion and light brown eyes, I haven’t suffered – as far as I know – much discrimination as a NNEST. But a case that comes to mind was when I was a Program Director at Literacy Volunteers of America in Danbury, CT. To become a tutor I had to take their Certification Course (a 4-week program and was the only NNEST in a group of about 15 people). After my certification, I was hired as a part-time Program Director/Teacher Trainer/Tutor and I had to interview many prospective students – many of whom had come from Brazil. I knew that they wouldn’t discredit me for being Brazilian but they would immediately start talking to me in Portuguese. In order to encourage them to speak English I’d just say that my name was Mo and proceed with the testing. I taught many of them and always with the condition that they should use English in the classroom. It came to a point when out of a class of 6 students, 4 were from Brazil and sometimes they would talk among themselves in Portuguese. I’d ask them – “what are you talking about?” and they’d say “It’s not for you to understand“. At their graduation – I  finally came out – I told them I could understand everything they had said and I actually WAS from Brazil.

They were mortified, but that taught them a lesson about the possibilities in learning a language really well.

Literacy Volunteers of America
Literacy Volunteers of America

So NEST or NNEST? it will depend on the students’ needs and teachers’ skills and qualifications.

Good Lessons,

Cheers,

Mo

http://teflequityadvocates.com

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Is time money? So invest it wisely!

We live in times when it’s almost a status symbol to say we don’t have time. We’re constantly in a rush. Sometimes it feels we’re running like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland: “I’m late. I’m late. I’m late for a very important date”!

Invest your time wisely
Invest your time wisely

This week, a student of mine, Rodrigo, was saying that to his defense he hadn’t had time to do his homework. He has 2 young daughters and a wife to care for at home. And his work is very demanding.

It sounded as if I gave him homework as a form of punishment. Actually, I couldn’t care less about it. Do it. Don’t do it. I won’t be any wiser because of that.

The only reasons I give students homework is to give them direction to review what was seen in class, to practice reading and writing and to expand vocabulary.

I asked Rodrigo: “Ok, let’s have a math class (incorporating other subjects to English): how many hours do we have in a week?”

After fumbling a little  – 24 hours in a day – 7 days in a week … and spilling some zeros on the floor, we settled at 168 hours a week. He has 1 hour of English class per week.

“Ok,” he said. “But I have to sleep”. “Right”, I said. “So let’s be very optimistic and say you sleep 8 hours a night – in a week? 56 hours – that still leaves you with 112 hours to expose yourself to English”.

In a year? 8760 hours – if he never misses a class he’ll have had 52 hours worth of  English classes. Will that be enough for any student to gain fluency?

You know the answer. So dear students, if you want to learn you will have to devise your own ways to better use your time – be creative, think out of the box.

Rodrigo likes football/soccer – great hobby – listen to podcasts about it. Read a news article online every day about the British League, translate one paragraph from the sports section in his local newspaper into English, etc.

The secret is not setting aside some crumbs of minutes to “STUDY ENGLISH” but to incorporate English in your everyday life.

Cheers,

Mo

Invest your time wisely
Invest your time wisely
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How can I say…?

I constantly insist with my students that learning a language shouldn’t be their goal – their raison d’être. They study English or French or Spanish because they hope to use it when traveling, or for professional and personal development, for instance.

Today I’ve been reminded of Alice – a great, hardworking student in her professional life but who refuses to review or practice anything taught in class.

Alice loves to talk and her professional vocabulary is quite good since she is involved in billing international clients and can write quite well, having a good grammar domain. But she’s got a limited vocabulary when outside her professional jargon.

Her favorite question is: “How can I say ___X____ in English?”

One day, in a 20 minute interval, she asked the following list in Portuguese:

“Teacher…, How can I say…

1. ócio

2. sovina

3. contestação

4. juventude

5. garra

6 pegadinha

7. sangue frio

8. costurar

9. não pisque!

10. sensível

11. sensato

12. retina

13. estar acordado

14. fábrica de dinheiro

15. medo

16. acompanhante

17. tenho o costume

18. sou banana

19. catarata

20. cicatrizar

21. médico

22. particular

23. meta

24. avental

Knowing that so many words would be gone with the wind as soon as she had walked out of the room, I decided to play a game with her. Instead of being her

Words carried by the wind
Words carried by the wind

human super dictionary faster than google translator, I wrote down the list on a sheet of paper and gave it to her. I told her: “Remember that words must be used in context, so look up the translations of the words but check the meaning in English to see if they fit the context you want to place them in. By looking them up and writing them down you’ll be able to remember them in the future.”

She agreed and left – this was in March – now June 2015 (at least we’re in the same year) she hasn’t done the so-called “homework”. I’ve challenged her a few times but she says she doesn’t like to be pressured. She is hard pressed enough doing her job.

So, for our next class we are going to sit down (or stand up – if based on the latest studies on how standing up is better to your health) and go over the list and see how much she remembers and can use in context.

Keep on trying,

Cheers,

Mo

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CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN, THE MONK AND THE TEACHER

Having taught all sorts of students along the years, ranging from athletes and high school students to top executives in Brazil, the US and Ireland I have grown to appreciate the importance of how the teacher dresses himself. Nothing fancy, but a smart casual as they say in the UK and Ireland would be perfectly fitting for most occasions.

Clothes do make the man, the monk and the teacher
Clothes do make the man, the monk and the teacher

Of course, common sense rules, but what I’ve observed along my career with other teachers of English as a second or foreign language is that many don’t care about how they are dressed. They’ve embraced that “raggedy doll look” of torn jeans and a T-shirt although much appealing as a uniform they might be, I don’t think they are the right fit for a meeting room. There’s a case of a teacher who, not satisfied with the piercing and the tattoos, (not there’s anything wrong with them), also wears a bloody cap. DURING CLASS – INDOORS.  hello… has he not had time to comb his braids?

So, my advice to any teacher is:

1. dress properly (not talking about designer clothes)

2. Cleanliness is next to godliness (I kid you not)

3. Take off that bloody cap once indoors.

Good lessons to you all,

Cheers,

Mo

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When enough is enough or not

How long should a student stay with the same teacher? That’s a question quite often asked.

Answers may vary – some schools rotate teachers at the end of a stage/level. Others change teachers month. There are schools which rotate teachers every class (which is a strategy to keep students attached to the school not to a particular teacher, given the high turnover in the industry).

My wife started learning English at a language school years ago, which rotated teachers at the end of every stage, but she had a teacher – Wallace* – who had noticed that students were not reaching higher levels at the expected pace. So Wallace tried an experiment staying with the same group of students from beginner to advanced in order to identify where the weakest link was. When reaching the Advanced level -C1 – students were more confident in language production and more fluent. But the experiment  was inconclusive whether the positive outcome was due to the same teacher or whether Wallace was a better teacher than average, or the rotation made students fluctuate and slide back in their progress.

A few weeks ago, my Student Rosie* told me of a dream she’d had that I was in her bedroom answering phone calls on her landline and had asked her not to disturb me. What would have triggered such a bizarre dream?

Well, the night before she’d been talking to her mother saying she’d have to get up a little earlier the next day because she had English class. Her mother asked her if she was still having lessons with that teacher who wore glasses and had a captivating smile (author’s imagination) and Rosie* nodded. Her mother asked how long she’d been having classes with me and she said “nearly 10 years maybe”.

Then I told her that it would be around 19-20 years – on and off of course. I moved to the US for a period and then to Ireland. But it made me wonder what would make someone pay a teacher almost long enough for the latter’s retirement.

For many years she was what we would call a regular student – using textbooks, doing or trying to do homework, etc. But in recent years, we’ve been basically having “communication-based” lessons, sometimes throwing in some work-related material or presentation she would have to go through.

She has achieved a fluent advanced English level – which does not eliminate mistakes. She still confuses he/she  and his/her/your. Sometimes, tenses are a nightmare, but she feels perfectly capable of carrying on a meeting or phone conference, or making a presentation.

Now, am I taking advantage of a situation and should tell her to terminate her classes? or is she still benefiting from those classes?

After a serious and hard analysis, I came to the latter conclusion. Both psychologically and linguistically she still can improve and she does, although slowly and haphazardly.

Sure, most people will benefit from a 3-5 year language program, but the same way that some professionals seek continuous improvement so some language learners require and can afford long-term language assistance.

Cheers,

Moknowingwilling

* all names have been changed to prevent any legal issues.

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“You’re just a number”

I’ve been a self-employed teacher for over 20 years and have never looked back. Well, … with the exception of a few times.

Working for yourself, you can “choose” your students and working hours – in a certain way, set your fees and run after Teacher Conferences in order to network (which I rarely do) and get new ideas (which sometimes do come).

Being self-employed one must be constantly updating one’s expertise, getting familiar with latest trends and materials – books, apps, pills, etc.

I’ve always prided myself of my ability – by God’s grace – of never being without a student portfolio – never been unemployed – if you get what I mean.

During all this time one of my main corporate clients has been the Arab Banking Corporation in Brazil – having taught past and present Presidents and a wide array of directors and VPs since 1994.

During this time I’ve been loyal to the bank having translated several of their annual financial reports and enjoyed some perks – had a badge that identified me as an outsourced worker which allowed me access to some areas of the bank. I could also have my parking validated. Well, basically that was all.

Now apparently, Human Resources –  under new management – has decided to wage a war against Language Teachers – alleging that we take up unused meeting rooms during lunch time – that’s when classes take place or after 6pm when most meetings have already ended.

Now they’ve taken my badge away, so every single day I have to identify myself at the reception in the lobby and wait for authorization to go up. They are also requiring that I must wait downstairs for my respective student to come down to “collect” me and if I’m thirsty or need to go “powder my nose” in the gents’, said student should accompany me as well. Adding salt to the wound, if the student is late because of a meeting or any other reason, I must stay downstairs waiting, standing in a seat-free lobby. After all, we can’t tolerate loitering, can we?

So, this is one of the few disadvantages of being a self-employed teacher – I was complaining to my wife and she, the very commonsensical she is, just commented: “That’s the corporate world – you’re just a number”. And after rendering educational services for over 20 years at this fine financial institution I have nothing to show for it – not even a badge.

But I refuse to end this post on a grumpy note – after all these years I’m proud to show many students at that bank who today are fluent and feel comfortable when using English in the toughest business situations.

Cheers,Badge

Mo

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7 Podcasts every ESL Teacher needs to know

Having upgraded my iPhone 5s to an iPhone 6, I was afraid I’d lost all my files including all my list of podcasts -but, God bless the iCloud team. Everything was backed up and recoverable.

But after procrastinating for a few weeks I’ve finally come round to listing the podcasts which might be interesting to all ESL/EFL teachers and students as well.

1. KKLC ELT Podcast  there are only 5 episodes available dating back to 2013 but still relevant dealing with learning styles or language and technology.  http://www.kkcl.org.uk/category/podcast/

2. Masters of Tesol – Andrew Bailey introduces tough topics on language teaching – the latest episode tries to show how to teach English intonation. https://mastersoftesol.wordpress.com/category/podcast/

3. The History of English podcast  an in-depth study on the origins of the English language  dating back to when everybody spoke Latin – http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/

4. Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing- always useful tips to help students  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl

5. TEFLology – three self-appointed Teflologists discussing TEFL – discussing all TEFL issues and news plus interviews on different TEFL themes. http://teflology.libsyn.com/

6. Edgycation – two funny teachers discussing all things ESL/EFL – unfortunately the series ended in 2013 – but most of the topics discussed are still relevant today. http://edgycation.org/

7. ESL Teacher Talk – great podcast series for ESL teachers – ended in 2010 but still great talk and input on all things ESL. http://www.eslteachertalk.com/

There you have it… hours of great teacher training material within your reach.

Hope you enjoy these podcasts. Although some are no longer produced they are not gone.

Ok, I confess. I just wanted to share with you guys that I’ve got a brand new iPhone 6 as a wedding anniversary gift from my Sweeheart – woohoo – but these podcasts are quite useful and will provide you with many hours of information and education.

Cheers,

Mo

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Travel English

One of these days, a fellow teacher, Paschoal,  who’s starting his solo  career in ESL teaching, asked me if it was ok to accept some students who don’t REALLY want to learn English but just be handed the most basic phrases for a trip to the U.S. The students want only to learn what to say when checking into a hotel, or going to a restaurant, or at the airport, or when shopping (a Favorite for all Brazilian tourists).

Paschoal said he felt extremely uncomfortable taking on students who didn’t want to be students. They wanted to be travellers, or for a narrower concept, ” Touristers”.

Not everyone wants to learn a second language and if they are willing to learn some basic phrases just to get by, why not? Maybe after their travel experience they will change their mind, if not, at least, they will have expanded a little their horizons. Hopefully!

So, Paschoal, go ahead and teach them situations at a restaurant , for example. Roleplay dialogues such as:

Waiter (speaking 100mph): hello, my name is zzzzz, I’ll zzzz. are you zzzzzzz or do you need zzzzz? Can I zzzzz?

student: uhhhhhh, Yes. image

Got my gist?

So, be ethical and tell them the importance of properly studying English as a second language and let them know they’ll be getting what they’re paying for…

Cheers,

Mo

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Preparation makes all the difference

Last Saturday at Sabbath School I was not in charge of teaching the lesson so I had the opportunity to “observe” another teacher’s presentation.

I’ve seen Teacher G on bad and good days. On bad days, he’s arrived late, or started off by apologizing for not having prepared the presentation (because he’d forgotten or hadn’t had time), but I will have to say last Saturday it was a great day for him. Like me, Teacher G is not a native English speaker, actually first he was a Math teacher but for reasons I’m not familiar with he decided to become a language teacher.

My piece of advice:

When you’re presenting something to 60 – 80 people you’d better prepare ahead.

The title of his lesson was “What you get is not what you see”  dealing with perception and reality. Teacher G took great advantage of his powerpoint presentation, choosing images to assist him in conveying the idea.

IMG_1643
What you get is not what you see – perception vs reality
IMG_1650
Which one is out? – a plane crash – an earthquake – a car crash – a swimming pool

If you have already prepared a PPT presentation you are quite aware it is not an easy task. It’s not just “throw in” a few paragraphs of your talk and that’s it.

1. Introduction:

Teacher G used images from a movie – Shallow Hal (which students had seen and could identify with).

2. Teaser

By showing 3 similar “disaster pictures” and one luxury swimming pool he led students to choose the easiest answer – thus emphasizing  – perception over reality – all the pictures were actually related to deaths – with the swimming pool leading in the number of casualties in a year.

3. Delivery

4. Conclusion – and practical application

In 25 minutes, the teacher was able to present a great talk on the opportunIMG_2823ities we have to develop critical thinking, not to judge a book based on its cover, not to be prevented from doing things because of “prejudgment”. And all of that in a highly heterogeneous group of people in terms of age, education and language fluency.

All of that supported by his preparation. He didn’t walk in rushing fearing he was late, carefully selected images and number of slides.

His preparation made all the difference.

Cheers

Mo

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The olden days – effort vs technology

I’ve been a Language teacher from the time of the record and cassette players (1985 to be precise). I remember when teaching an adult class at night (my first EFL group ever) I wanted to share with them this gospel ballad – Reach out – you can listen to the original recording on Yoututoca discosbe http://youtu.be/BSqAbVtHf2Y – I only had the record and the school had no record player, so I carried a “portable record player” by bus to school and played the song  with students busy  filling in the blanks. My students really loved the song and it gave the lesson a more vibrant pace and rhythm. Generating entertainment, in a way.

Since then I’ve tried to embrace technology in the classroom – the cassette player was replaced by the CD player, the VCR by the DVD player, the CD player by the iPod and the iPod succeeded by the iPhone and iPad.

Today I can “entertain” my students with videos and songs, I can record them (which they abhor), they can say their teacher is using the latest technology to assist them in learning.

It’s true that students can now independently listen to podcasts and watch videos in their target language but at times I feel that we cannot ignore the centuries-old tradition of translation, grammar explanation, repetition, etc.

I can show my students the picture of a sweetener sachet but they still will call it “sweety or false sugar”. I can play them a children’s song but they will still be saying “many childrens” or “many childs”.

I can show them a picture or video of a supermarket checkout counter with a 20 or leitemsorlessss items sign and they will still be saying “I have fewer work today”. “I drove less kilometers last week”.

My point is that technology is a tool to assist us in opening the students’ minds to whatever we’re trying to teach but people are NOT technology – they still have the same basic needs as 6000 years ago and some teaching methods used ages ago should be revisited and adapted to today’s world. Learning DOES take effort and time.

One point that must be emphasized is that no pill has been developed for an effortless silhouette_of_climber_original_900English learning process. No escalators or elevators to help you reach the top of the hill. You may have state-of-the-art mountain climbing gear but it won’t replace your arms, legs, lungs and brain in the slow climbing process towards Language Fluency.

Enjoy the journey.

Cheers

Mo