Job Discussion Forums

[druidhills404]

Hey folks,

First time EFL (ESL, whatever) teacher here. (2 years teaching elementary school in the States.)

What is your policy on students speaking Chinese in the classroom?

My own feeling is that Chinese could be useful when lower students are clueless, perhaps their partner could help get them on track. Also, top students could plan out more advance dialogues, etc.

BUT my gut feeling is that the benefits of an "English-only" class outweigh the items mentioned above.

Do you allow Chinese in your class? If so, how much? If not, what techniques do you employ to ensure 100% English?.....

Thanks in advance homies.......

[anthyp]

I am answering this query in spite of your use of the dreadful word homey ...

[Roger]

I am strictly against it.
Remember, doing so-called "oral English" is not about teaching anything new but about jogging their over-stuffed memories and recycling the English they have been amassing over years and years of formal classroom teaching. THeir own teachers fail to use English tp any significant extent and don't even speak it properly themselves. So, what exposure to English do these kids get? Next to zero!

Besides, if you have them act as YOUR interpreters you are abdicating your role as the classroom manager and teacher. From then on it's always up to them to decide whether Chinese is needed in class, and they will always find an excuse.
The chattering that always goes on in your class has very little to do with translation; it normally is nothing but idel private conversations.

[randyj]

In my opinion, a teacher should attempt to limit the use of Chinese to situations where progress of a lesson might otherwise be delayed. Sometimes just one student fails to understand a point. At such a time I prefer to explain in Chinese and move on, rather than delay the entire class. Discouraging the use of L1 in an EFL setting is a constant struggle, but it has to be done. Otherwise what's the point?

[kev7161]

Well, it would be nice, but I harken back to my HS days trying to learn Spanish. By Spanish III in my Junior year, the teacher was speaking almost entirely in Spanish and we were expected to respond in kind, but definitely Spanish 1 was about 70/30 leaning towards English and SpII was about 50/50.

I agree that when it comes to instructions on a certain task or project, it is much more efficient to have a student explain it quickly. Then we can move on to the actual practice of English. Besides, as much as I'd like it - - there's NO way my little darlings are going to be English-only little darlings!

[druidhills404]

Thanks for the help.....Homies (lol)......I think that I will stick to encouraging English in my class, without sweating the little Chinese that is being spoken. Thanks again for the opinions, I have benefited from them....Peace! - Andrew

[rickinbeijing]

Once again anthryp hits the nail on the head. Astute comments. I think it is not only impractical but ridiculous to ask Chinese students to refrain from speaking their native language in EFL class, regardless of their level (unless, of course, postgraduate English majors). It depends on the objectives of the lesson, really. If you want them to think critically and imaginatively or communicate in an expressive way, sometimes it's not only necessary but desirable. I often model language for them, pairing synonyms in my speech (one familiar; the other less so) and sandwiching in Chinese words and phrases, especially with middle school students. Fluency is a winding wide road, not a narrow straight one.

[rickinbeijing]

Once again Roger takes the draconian pedagogical path despite ostensibly being a liberated pedagogue. Nothing in the serious EFL literature (i.e. research) advocates strict adherence to English in the classroom. And if you manage your class well you don't need to play the role of interpreter. As for idle chatter, or jiang hua, that is far from always the case. Many a college student is engaged in actual exchange of language input when doing so.

[Alex_P]

First, the simple title of this thread is unbelievably culturally imperialistic and very politically incorrect if not downright culturally insensitive and pedagogically abrasive.

1. Chinese is the language of their country.

2. You are a guest in their country.

3. It is their country that is paying your salary.

4. It is their government, which speaks Chinese and which is the government of the Chinese people, which has given you right of abode.

5. You are teaching in a Chinese school, to Chinese students.

If I have to resort to Chinese now-and-then to get a point across, I do not it without hesitation. And I have no problems with learning in my classrooms, no problems with morale, etc., etc. I have been teaching for many years and sometimes there are ideas, or sequences or thoughts that cannot be unilingually conveyed.

To even talk about banning Chinese in a Chinese classroom is so "Rule Britannia", so "Semper Fidelis, America First" that it just is bombastic.

If you are having problems in the classroom, ask for a Chinese assistant. Or restructure your lesson plan. Or see if TPR will work. Or the communicative method, etc.

But to resort to thinking, albeit discretely, along culturally imperialistic ways, well, it smacks of Shanghai 1930 and the Foreign Concessions.

[william wallace]

Nothing to say.

[Alex_P]

william wallace wrote:

I bet you all the money I have that you CAN'T stop chinese from being spoken in the classroom!

1. I do not want to STOP Chinese from being spoken in the classroom.

2. I would encourage, however, good English on this board i.e., Chinese and not chinese.

3. I have no problem at all with Chinese being used in the classroom if it helps foster a positive learning environment. After all, we are here to serve the students and the country, aren't we?....

[Roger]

[Alex_P]

[rickinbeijing]

Alex,

Thanks for lambasting Roger for us. You see, Roger doesn't want anyone to know his nationality so that he is free to criticize everyone else's.

Roger believes that his students are lucky to have him. His thinking is very neo-colonialist if you read most of his posts (but that would take you months as he has over 5,000 of them).

Roger has posted on this forum that Chinese is not allowed in his classroom, that Chinglish is almost a criminal offense, that Chinese food is nothing compared to French food and only something for poor people's palates (yes, he has said as much), ad nauseum.

And Roger dismisses the arguments of those of us who hold earned Ph.D's in EFL education while rarely offering any counterevidence from the research literature. Apparently, his long experience with teaching in China suffices for him to criticize us.

All well and good. But remember, Alex, the best revenge against a cynic is his own cynicism.

[Roger]

[quote="Alex_P"][quote="Roger"]