Job Discussion Forums

[fluffyhamster]

I have to slightly contradict the claims that even knowing much Mandarin (or whatever is the students' L1) is somehow a big no-no. Of course, if the school you are applying to is rabidly Direct Method (English only) and all that, that will indeed be what they want to hear during interviews at least, but in my experience, employers are only too happy to be getting somebody who can speak the lingo to any level, if only because it means they don't have to worry and spend time sorting out what should really be pretty basic things. (For example, the phone conversation (in English LOL) upon my arriving in China went something like this: Me: Hi, this is Fluffyhamster, just thought I'd call to say that I've landed safely! Them: Great. Anyway, we've heard that you speak Chinese, right? So you should be able to find your way to the school by yourself... Me: No problem! (And indeed it wasn't)).

Particularly "untrue" IMHO is Chris Crossley's claim that 'once Chinese students know you know their language, they'll keep on pestering you in Mandarin with all sorts of questions and expect you to answer them in Mandarin, thus driving you to distraction.' Most students actually can understand and appreciate any use (of course, limited to "within reason") of Chinese to e.g. demonstrate that there should be a willingness to use 'learner strategies' (that is, to communicate by somewhat circumlocutive and however clumsy paraphrse when one doesn't know a particular word), and how better a way to demonstrate that than by the teacher becoming the apparent learner for a brief instant every now and then? The strategy in English-English terms wouldn't have quite the same impact. Anyway, the point is that I wasn't pestered with questions in Mandarin from not keeping my Chinese a dirty secret - quite the reverse in fact: it seemed to build rapport and earn me a little bit more respect (not that the latter had been my aim, though it was of course a nice extra bonus). One of the most important things in LT (not necessarily just ELT) is to establish clear and natural (genuine-discourse-ally- rather than just classroomesedoolally-faithful) ways of talking that really show and tell the students why you are saying this rather than that, and when to really listen (rather than bombarding them with a non-stop drone of comparatively low-quality, often badly-thought out and completely unrehearsed English/English-only all the time). And let's remember that Chinese communities aren't themselves so monolingual and averse to code-switching when appropriate etc.

And it can obviously help generally, anywhere, if you can anticipate difficulties and make comparisons on the basis of knowing something about two languages rather than just the one (your native) - I mean, why should it just be the learners of English who always become the apparently better (bilingual) and certainly better-respected teachers (in the West at least)? (I don't think it is unreasonable that any language teacher should be wanting to learn the language of the country in which they will be residing, and it would be strange if not "outrageous, your sincerely, a Daily Mail reader" if we really had Chinese native teachers in the UK unable to speak hardly a word of English to their students. But then, perhaps the Chinese really do want it to be English-only in their own country's schools at least, with no linguistic benefits the other way for their foreign guests, which seems to be the implication of the other posts here).

[Glenski]

A savvy employer will recognize the fact that his teachers can speak some of the local language for the sake of personal daily survival if nothing else. They may also want the teacher to communicate to the staff that way.

Knowing any language other than your own shows that you may have some empathy towards a language learner (your students), which is another plus an employer should recognize, even if the other language is not the one where you are working.

However, yes, students will pester teachers in L1 if they know the teacher can speak it. To what extent depends on the teacher and how strict they are in enforcing the "no L1" rule, and how weak the students are.

[mozzar]

I think secretly knowing the language is definately the best option. In my Spanish classes as soon as I found out the teacher spoke English I think it made the lesson easier to explain a phrase, but it wasn't as effective for remembering it as a five minute struggle that probably enlarged my knowledge of other words.

Secretly knowing the language is great because you can understand if the students have actually understood if they talk in their native tongue and guide them to the correct answer.

[fluffyhamster]