Job Discussion Forums

[shaner]

Hello. I wish to vent. I teach at a school in Guadalajara, Mexico and I really like it. The problem is that we had a couple of Mexican English teachers who taught all thier beginner - intermediate classes in pure Spanish or sometimes.....Spanglish for months at a time.

Now....my personel nightmare is I have recieved this person's old classes. I as a rule only speak English in class. The students I have can read and know grammar, but they cannot speak a word of English nor can they understand anything I am saying to them.

Any opinions about this?????? I am trying my best, but it really frustrating.

[Guy Courchesne]

Do you speak Spanish? Definitely sounds frustrating...and probably just as much for your students too, to have to switch from something comfortable to something difficult.

Can you break them in? Start slow, use some Spanish then ween them off it, being sure to let them know you expect them to move with you to an English-only class.

[sarliz]

Do you have equipment to play music on? Maybe doing an excersize where they can read and listen to the lyrics at the same time could be useful. I do this frequently, leaving some blanks in the lyrics that they have to listen for and fill in. Then give them some questions to answer in small groups, then as a whole class. You can look for a song with relevant grammar structures, depending on your class level. It seems like using written materials in conjunction with you speaking could be a good weaning tool.

Also, maybe just to asses the damage, you could do a dictation excersize where you tell them several sentences (slowly), and they write down whatever they think they're hearing. It could be a good way for you to really understand the extent of the problem and for your students to understand that they have some work to do, listening-wise.

Oooh, one more thing. Maybe start with a few words, verbs or vocab or whatever, and make sure that they get the pronunciation down pat in class. Then have them go home and say the words out loud to themselves 10 times each (explain that they will feel like morons but it's important), so they get familiar with how they sound out loud.

Good luck, sounds crazy frustrating.

[MELEE]

I teach at a university and our students have had 2 to 6 years of English prior to arriving at the university (a few have had 0 but in extreme cases, like they went to a private school that taught German instead of English, or are from a tiny village where there weren't any actual teachers, just a "telesecundaria"). But most test into beginner level. I usually start off with a conersation (in Spanish) about why after those 2 to 6 years of English study they can't speak any English. Why do they think it is so, and then why do I think it is so. What were their previous English classes like? What did they like about them (if anything) and what didn't they like about them? Then I talk to them about what I have learned, from experience and from readings in Second Language Acquisition about what makes for sucessful language learning. Then in the first week I make classes that are almost entirely spoken--no reading or writing on my part or theirs, entirely in English (as if I were teaching Japanese speakers or some group whose language I can not speak, and often a little below their level, but the point is to show them that they can speak English. At the start of the second week we have another conversation (again in Spanish, so everything is really clear), about how they and I felt about the previous week and their progress, which activities we did did they enjoy the most? the least? What do they remember the most, which things seemed to really stick in their minds. Then we lay out the goals for the semester, most are from the set curiculum, but I stress that they should set one or two personal goals as well, and get on with the course.

One thing that is different in your situation is that your students haven't changed schools, where as mine are at a new school and have a certain expectation that this is going to be very different from their previous studies, they are first year university students after all.

Good Luck, what ever you do.

[ls650]

[cangringo]

Hey shaner, I am having a similar problem except that it's a much smaller class. I mean some very small classes but the old teacher left and I have one class who should know how to speak some English but they just stare at me with that deer in the headlights look...I speak a tiny bit of Spanish but sometimes they still stare at me.

I teach all my other classes solely in English so these ones are tough. I have had only one class with them but I plan to do some review next class. I don't care if I have a certain time to get through the lessons, I can't move on if they can't complete the lesson in English.

[hlamb]

I can sympathize with this. I worked at a school last year where the director, who also taught, spoke mostly in Spanish to the students. When I got his classes, they couldn't understand me or reply to anything. Some had been at the school for five years! I was told that if I spoke to them in Spanish they would understand me and that would be better for everyone. Huh?

I will say that after many months with me, trying to break them of the Spanish habit, they did much better and were able to converse, but it was a hard process-for me and for them!

I'm now at a school where we don't use Spanish, except with complete beginners to help them feel comfortable and to explain the expectations. We move to English-only very quickly and my students here can speak much better. It's a nice feeling.

[ls650]

When I came to Mexico I couldn't speak any Spanish at all. The students were pretty shocked that I was an English teacher and yet couldn't understand any Spanish at all.

Three years later I can speak Spanish at a low intermediate level but avoid doing so in the class. I occasionally throw in two or three words here or there to make sure students are staying "clued in" (Ex. "He went to the wedding last night. Where? Una boda.") but the class is 99% English. When students ask me a question in Spanish I pretend I don't understand and ask them to repeat in English. The students tend to be a bit annoyed by this because they know by now that I understand their Spanish questions just fine.

Spanish ability can be somewhat useful in class, for giving precise examples of a concept or quickly translating a word without pausing in the lesson's flow, but it isn't required. You'll be doing these students a big favor if you wean them off of Spanish dependency in the classroom.