Job Discussion Forums

[AjarnIam]

[rogerwallace]

In china I ve had all this too. When confronted by these so called PHd's, I ask them to tell/write "WHAT" their degree entailed: if english major= all classes where english and chinese . when I explained my MEd was: liberal core curriculum+education+ teaching+ science++++ they were taken aback and it was obvious that they hadn't a clue about anything, let alone teaching english. As for grading, it didn't matter what grade I gave-it was changed because failing students paid for their grade.
Even english majors -it didn't matter if they could speak,write,read,understand-because they would also "teach" their students in chinese/L1 too. It was about having round eyes and making the students pay and pay and pay...

[AjarnIam]

Great discussion...

Back to the smoke and mirrors..The Phd'ers make living by flying all over to world to present their crap....ooooops I mean research, to any kind of public forum that will sleep through their presentations..ie Tesol, and rush back to the uni with bells on bragging about the latest in teaching philosophies, like Dogme. All good right?...except for the fact that we still have to stick to old assessment methods like 1/4 terms, midterms...finals..ect ect....pointless in my mind..

[Linguist]

Boy! I think you should get out of Thailand for a while and see other countries.

[AjarnIam]

[Kootvela]

[AjarnIam]

[spiral78]

I really like our radical teaching world here. The teacher is most often expected to sit at the back or to the side, and students are responsible for the class. We're just the 'resident experts' when language input is needed, or when/if they get off track, or undervalue some point. We explain as needed...but it's their class.

Hurrah!

[AjarnIam]

[csfek]

Most of the non-native teachers I have worked with have been very professional and very qualified. Non-native teachers sometimes have a better grasp of the grammar and structure of the language than native teachers because they have had to study the language and master it. Also, for the non-native teachers that I have worked with and trained, teaching English is their career, which they have studied and prepared for, not something they've decided to do just so they can travel and see the world.

[Justin Trullinger]

I'd hate to generalize. I hate working with crap teachers, irrespective of language background.

Some of my most cherished colleagues are non-native English speakers, though.

And I've also learned from the experience of working with crappy teachers of both the native and non-native types...


Best,
Justin

[jpvanderwerf2001]

This is a very interesting discussion. I'd like to add a bit of a different angle to it.
As an academic director, I'm asked by about 80% of incoming students (mine is a language school) if they'll have a native speaker as their teacher. As there just aren't that many native speakers around here--especially not many qualified ones, I have to be judicious in divvying out my native-speaking teachers' hours. Therefore, many students (though they might still decide to study here) are disappointed.
I understand the desire of upper-intermediate to proficiency level students for practice with a native speaker; however, what I don't get is students of all levels want a native speaker, and harumph if I tell them it isn't possible at the moment.
Quite frankly, many of my Russian colleagues are better-qualified, more experienced, and know the English language (from the perspective of teaching it at least) than some of the native-speaking teachers. When I try to explain that our school's Russian teachers are excellent and professional students sort of roll their eyes. I think one difference is--at least in my experience, the students here don't see much difference between local teachers, whereas they obviously understand there's a difference when an American or Brit gets in front of the room.

[robertokun]

Qualifications and experience being equal, a non-native can't teach the L2 as well as the native speaker. Probably no groundbreaking revelation there.

That said, non-natives are an essential part of teaching L2's, as has been pointed out. Another reason that I haven't seen come up yet: inspiration. I think it can be inspiring for students to learn from someone from their own background that "did it."

[fat_chris]

[Sashadroogie]