Job Discussion Forums

[wildnfree]

Hi All,

How much Spanish should be/can be spoKen by English teachers in the classroom? Does the administration looK down on it or encourage teachers to speaK/learn spanish?

I will go to LA shortly. However, I have this language phobia, thanKs to Hong Kong. I have taught here for 3 years. I learn Chinese for about 7 years and thought I would be worKing in a bilingual environment, using chinese to enhance the English teaching. Boy was I wrong!

I have been almost fired from one job for letting students here me spea chinese. Every school I have worKed at (over 6) ban the use of chinese among non-chinese people on school grounds. You can be fired for speaKing chinese to students. I was once. In every job interview I have been to, I have had to hide my chinese ability. I worK in fear of people finding out and occasionally 'endure' local staff talKing bad about me without the right to reply. Yep, this would leave anyone with serious issues.

I am not exaggerating. Schools will hire overseas chinese (ie American chinese) should they want a bilingual. Else you must speaK English.

Unfortunately, this obviously hinders your intergration and contact with society in general. I feel guilty for understanding my students when they speaK chinese.

So how is the situation in LA? I hope to feel a part of the local community, not be officially segregated from it.

[wildnfree]

excuse the spelling errors - been a long day.

[ls650]

[thelmadatter]

I would say that based on what Ive read and heard about China and LA in general that folks in LA are far less picky about such a thing. In fact, part of the reason I was hired here was that I have a BA in Spanish. They had had a spate of problems with some foreign teachers (complete monolinguals) not adapting well and they figured that someone who had studied the language would have an easier time adjusting. While I cant call my experience "easy," they tell me Ive fared a lot better than most.

That being said, I am not supposed to use Spanish in the classroom; however, I teach advanced levels so I dont need to. Outside of class, I can use whatever I want. Depending on the student, I either use pure English or "espanglish." Rarely do I use pure Spanish.

[Guy Courchesne]

I'll try to use Spanish as a last resort, or like ls650 says, to not bog down a class. It depends on the school, but from what I've seen, few school insist on English-only.

[Justin Trullinger]

There's been a lot of research done on the use of L1 in the second language classroom, and most of what I've read comes down on the side of some, limited L1 use being an advantage. Obviously it's not necessary, but I believe it can be a good thing. (I say it's obviously not necessary, as I have taught multilingual groups, and I can't speak all those languages.)

But that's a separate issue to what schools expect/demand. Here, our policy, nicely weasel worded, is that English must be the principle language of communication in the classroom. I have seen problems, particularly with beginners and young kids, caused by teachers who were unwilling or unable to understand any Spanish, but I have seen at least as many problems with teachers and students who relied on it too heavily for classroom communication.

I tend to use Spanish, in which I am fluent, in the following circumstances.

Talking to young children in a serious way about serious discipline problems.

Letting young adults and teens know that they cannot say unnaceptable things and assume I won't understand.

Reassuring adult beginners that as a last resort, we always have a way to communicate. (Especially important with shy people, new language learners, or people who haven't studied anything in a long while.)

Quick explanations of "red herring" questions. (When the keen, but distracted first row student wants to know what "agency agreement" means when I am trying to start an activity which has nothing to do with her question...)

Examples to aid in explanations of some grammatical quirks, or errors based incorrect attempts at direct translation. (L1 Spanish speakers have a terrible time grasping that the present perfect simple can be used for actions which have not ended. Explaining the difference between this tense and a similar appearing Spanish one can require examples. )

Any time there is blood, vomit, urine, or any other unexpected bodily fluid in my class. This includes, but is not limited to, any occasion where emergency medical attention is required.



When I observe teachers, I would expect Spanish to comprise no more than 10 to 15 percent of the communication in a preschool group of children. Adult beginners, I would think 5 to 10 percent, maximum. Adults who are intermediate or better, I would really expect no more than the occasional word or phrase.


Regards,
Justin

[Brynita]

Justin, you've hit the nail on the head! Where I used to teach, the policy was NO SPANISH, but in practice, there were some situations (almost all variations on the ones you listed) that really truly required it. The administration worried that once a teacher "showed his/her weakness" by speaking Spanish with a student, the student would never use English again with that teacher. But frankly, that has far more to do with respect and discipline than anything else. If you maintain consistent discipline with your students and there is mutual respect, they will quickly understand that Spanish is only to be used when *absolutely* necessary, and preferably only when the teacher says so.

[Justin Trullinger]

Very true- discipline and a positive attitude towards learning DO minimize any problems you could have due to L1 use in the classroom.

Although I will admit to keeping advanced students guessing as to exactly how much Spanish I can speak. And in one or two cases with private students who tended to become too dependent on Spanish, I have given them new teachers who "didn't speak" Spanish. (It was true in some cases, not in others, but it has the same effect, as long as the student believes it and the teacher maintains the pretense.)

In short, there is no magic formula. No two classes or students have the same needs, and any hard and fast rule will be wrong some of the time.

Regards,
Justin

[Tiger Beer]

You should ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS use English.

For them to learn a language, they need to use their listening and practicing skills!

If they don't understand the English you are using, then your material is too tough. But with a book as their guideline, the directions should be in English.. particularly stuff like 'can you repeat that?' and 'what did you say?' and everything else.. all of that is incredibly important as basic to English conversation and communicating as well.

[Brynita]

The tricky bit about the school I was at, was that their method was strictly "oral-audiovisual." There were books, but they had only pictures along with the sentences or vocabulary the students were supposed to be practicing. There were no explanations or glossaries or workbook lessons for students to practice making their own sentences. All that brings up a host of other issues I won't address here, but the books were not much "help" in getting things across to the students that they didn't get from the recitation part of the lesson. I must say, even so, I managed to get along pretty well with little or no use of Spanish in most cases. I did become a very quick sketch artist with the whiteboard marker, though!

[Guy Courchesne]

[Justin Trullinger]

I say:

[jpaulin11]

Im working in an institute in Lima, Peru and even though my ability to speak in Spanish isnt that flash, I can understand probably 85% of the language and know lots of words and little phrases. For my beginners classes there are times where I have to say something in Spanish, only vocab really but I refuse to be a translator. In all my other classes I have an English only rule, but of course I do allow exceptions. Because my job is more of an advisory/explanation job, I sometimes have to explain the programme to basic students with no English so that has to be done in Spanish. Also there are many students of mine that think I dont speak much Spanish so that means they try speaking English more. I have noticed that my accent is really different here (I come from NZ) and some students just dont understand me at all, there are other advisors that dont either! Sometimes you just have to use Spanish but English should be 90-95% of everything without a doubt.

[Gregor]

Times seem to have changed.
When I was in Mexico in the late 90s, many schools would refuse to hire you if they even SUSPECTED that you could speak Spanish. It was certainly not tolerated in the class.

I'm afraid, as much as I respect Msrs. Trullinger and Courchesne, I cannot agree with them on this one. Not even with little kids. The one time I can condone the use of Spanish is in a medical emergency, and even then, it could potentially be coped with by a teacher that spoke no Spanish. I'm with Tiger Beer on this one.
The reason I think this is important is obvious. How can you avoid it? You get the students to like you, and really want to communicate with you.

I laugh to remember some of the times when my students would catch me outside the school, or else in the school on the phone, using Spanish. Their jaws would hit the floor. I made sure to make them think that I was some sort of idiot savant (that's an exaggeration) who knew English backwards and forwards, and I was a friendly, helpful English teacher who they would want to get to know, but completely hopeless with learning the Spanish language. The had no idea I could speak any at all, and I do the same with my Chinese here in China.
I think if it's not important, it at least speeds the students learning up considerably, once they can get into that habit.

[Ben Round de Bloc]