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RabbitWho
Joined: 16 Jan 2010
Posts: 30
Location: Spain
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 Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:11 pm Post subject: Re: Non native speaker with experience wants to teach in Spa |
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If you are unable to use articles correctly or distinguish between past simple and present perfect, you'll be taken less seriously as a teacher in Spain, |
| Harvey wrote: |
| lmarkotan wrote: |
| jonniboy wrote: |
| lmarkotan wrote: |
| Did anyone meet non-native teacher in Spain before? |
The advantage of non-natives is that we understand the learners, because we were like them before.
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But you are still like them. |
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Where I come from the perfect tenses are not so much used and "Did anyone meet.....before" is perfectly acceptable. She probably picked it up in Australia.
As for the articles unfortunately those are the last thing any proficient speaker of English with an L1 without articles manages to master. It was a mistake, not an error, I'm sure she knows the rules as well as you do and I think everyone over reacted and was very cruel.
She made one tiny mistake, she forgot an A, and you jumped on it, what is wrong with you?
I hope you do not treat your students that way.
Do you think that being proficient in the language you were born into is some kind of achievement that gives you the right to look down on other people? I'd like to see you try and learn Slovak with all 6 cases 3 genders and almost every part of speech declined in different ways for plural and almost every letter of the alphabet having 12 unique different ways of being declined... and then you come back here and mock her again because she forgot an A.
lmarkotan your English seems excellent, I am sure any school in The Czech Republic or Slovakia, would be delighted to have you, and even though I think you are just as qualified as any of us to teach English in a country where you don't speak the first language; I know your choices are going to be limited, because if they're going to choose a non native speaker they're going to choose a Spanish-speaking one. 
It is possible though, try English speaking countries as well, I know a few non-native speakers who teach English in Ireland.
And if you really want to teach in Spain, try learning Spanish as well! |
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fishmb
Joined: 08 Jul 2009
Posts: 184
Location: Istanbul
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| Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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| The non-native-speakers-know-what-it's-like-to-learn-English argument doesn't always ring true for me. I think it's only an advantage if the teacher's L1 is the same as her/his students' L1, or at least closely related. For example, I teach in Turkey and Turkish is very different from the Romance languages. I don't think a non-native teacher whose L1 is French or German would be able to relate to Turkish students' struggles. Besides, there's plenty of literature on which parts of English are difficult for people with specific L1s, so it's not like that knowledge can solely be possessed by people who learn ESL. |
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lmarkotan
Joined: 05 Dec 2009
Posts: 8
Location: Slovakia
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| Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| fishmb wrote: |
| The non-native-speakers-know-what-it's-like-to-learn-English argument doesn't always ring true for me. I think it's only an advantage if the teacher's L1 is the same as her/his students' L1, or at least closely related. |
yes, you are probably right, but if you have studied a foreign language you can feel for any student, because you know how hard it is to learn a foreign language. |
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jonniboy
Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 751
Location: Panama City, Panama
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| Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 11:40 pm Post subject: Re: Non native speaker with experience wants to teach in Spa |
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| RabbitWho wrote: |
| Quote: |
If you are unable to use articles correctly or distinguish between past simple and present perfect, you'll be taken less seriously as a teacher in Spain, |
| Harvey wrote: |
| lmarkotan wrote: |
| jonniboy wrote: |
| lmarkotan wrote: |
| Did anyone meet non-native teacher in Spain before? |
The advantage of non-natives is that we understand the learners, because we were like them before.
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But you are still like them. |
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Where I come from the perfect tenses are not so much used and "Did anyone meet.....before" is perfectly acceptable. She probably picked it up in Australia. |
You obviously don't come from the UK or Ireland where such tenses are used and anyone using such constructions as "did anyone meet ... before" would be frowned upon. This especially applies to a market like Spain where the owners of schools are far more like to be from the UK or Ireland than Australia. European students are also more likely to be chasing jobs and university places in UK/Ireland than Australia. You do know, don't you, that Spanish has more perfect tenses than English?
| RabbitWho wrote: |
Do you think that being proficient in the language you were born into is some kind of achievement that gives you the right to look down on other people? |
The answer to your question is no. The question though is not about looking down on anyone. The o.p. asked for honest advice on how they would fare in a market like Spain teaching English and competing for jobs against native speakers. I taught in Spain for two years and it's one of the hotspots for native speakers to move to so anyone with less than perfect English will not do too well there economically, particularly if they don't know Spanish.
| RabbitWho wrote: |
I hope you do not treat your students that way. |
If a student with a less than perfect level asked me if they should go and pay to do, say, an IELTS exam on a certain date, then yes I'd definitely caution them against it until they'd built up their knowledge. To do otherwise as you imply would be *very irresponsible.* Same applies here, nothing to stop lmarkotan getting set up in Spain once the conditions are right. Good CELTA pass/English diploma, Spanish language, better economic situation in Spain etc...
| RabbitWho wrote: |
I'd like to see you try and learn Slovak with all 6 cases 3 genders and almost every part of speech declined in different ways for plural and almost every letter of the alphabet having 12 unique different ways of being declined... and then you come back here and mock her again because she forgot an A. |
Thanks, but I've already done that with Latvian (7 cases, 2 genders, multiple declensions etc) so I already know how hard it is. Furthermore, Slovak at least is in the Slavic language family so it helps when learning languages like Russian. In contrast the biggest language that Latvian helps to learn is Lithuanian (circa 3.5 million speakers.) The real difference though is that I don't plan to risk my livelihood at any time in the future competing against native speakers of Latvian to teach it.
This is not some academic exercise in being nice to people, a person is asking if they should risk hard earned cash on a very risky move. My blunt advice, however unwelcome, is far better than your "go for it, sure you'll be fine" advice to the o.p. and is likely to cause them far more disappointment and wasted money in the long run, so I make no apologies for it. |
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Oksana
Joined: 28 Feb 2010
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 9:31 pm Post subject: |
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Hi,
I am going to do a CELTA course next month, and I am planning to move to Madrid next year where I would love to teach English. I am not a native speaker, but have a degree in teaching English and one year of part-time teaching experience in my home country, and I also hold a Certificate of Proficiency in Spanish. I was wondering if having little/no experience in teaching in an English-speaking country matters when applying for teaching jobs in Spain.
What is the ELT industry like in Spain at the moment? Has it been hardly hit by the crisis?
Cheers,
Oksana. |
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