Teacher Discussion Forums

I am a very new ESL teacher; as a matter of fact, I am not really an ESL teacher, I am a Senior Software Engineer who seems to have become an ESL teacher kind of inadvertently. I am going to have exactly one student, approximatey one to two months from now. She is my fiancee, soon to be my wife, and I am looking for some help on the best approach to teach her english.

My fiancee is Thai, living in HK, and working at at old folks home. How we met and fell for each other is kind of a long story, and my sister thinks we should sell it to Harlequin. She is a Thai native-speaker, and has been in HK for 5 years speaking Cantonese.

I speak a fair amount of Thai, which is how this happened, but what is important now, is to upgrade her language skills so she can get by here in the USA. Her english vocabulary is about 200 words, at best.

I guess what I am asking is what is the best place to start with a non-native speaker, who comes from a tonal environment? I have tried to teach her some things, and sometimes, it is just like she does not hear the sound. Some things work, and some do not. After 10 tries on the same sound, you have to wonder if your approach is wrong.

I am wondering if spending some time drilling with a computer and some software like http://www.esl.net/pronunciation_power.html is of value? Before she starts an ESL class? To get the english language down, it seems as though understanding and being able to replicate the basic phonemes is pretty important, because everything else is built upon them. The ability to compare your voiceprint to a native-speakers also seems helpful to me, but I would really like the opinion of some professional educators. Does this help?

So what do you think folks? Given my situation, how would you attempt to teach the english language? Almost a blank slate, and the girl is from a tonal environment. What is the most effecient way to get her started? After we get started, there are a lot of local resources to help her advance, but her skills are pretty darned limited right now.

Thank you all for any help you can give,


Best Regards,

mds

It's very difficult to teach a close relative, but not impossible. You didn't mention where you will live, but if it is in the United States, for example, there are many places that offer free English classes to adults. (California is one of them, which is where I teach.) If she can go to a school where there are other new speakers of English (Yes, there are many new immigrants who don't speak any English.), it may help her realize she isn't alone.

If you have time, you can read some of the threads in our various Forums. With regard to pronunciation, most of us think it is not necessary to concentrate on getting the accent perfect; rather, what is important is being able to understand the person. I think if you spend your time worrying about pronunciation, you and your wife will get very frustrated. I think it would be much better to work on what she might need, for example, how to shop in the store, how to take a bus, how to be polite, etc. Feel free to post here any time, and you can no doubt get advice from ten different people (who will say ten different things!)

Oh--And Congratulations!

Hey mdsvanc and Lorikeet!

I am in total agreement with Lorikeet. She ought to go to class where she will find others in the same boat as she is. You can help her with her homework, but you're not an ESL teacher and might be more of an obsticle than a help giving private lessons. I don't doubt that you control English grammar as any American with a "standard" education should, but you admit to having few pedagogical resorces for teaching English. I wouldn't try to teach computer programming, as I only program....though I might know a lot about program language and its uses and results, I wouldn't be able to answer those difficult questions that come up. Your wife-to-be needs professional help (that sounds horrible, doesn't it? but you know what I mean) and your part is the patience and love and homework help she'll need when she finds herself inmersed in that big, ugly monster that is American English! (Horrors!)

peace,
revel.

Lorikeet wrote:It's very difficult to teach a close relative, but not impossible. You didn't mention where you will live, but if it is in the United States, for example, there are many places that offer free English classes to adults. (California is one of them, which is where I teach.) If she can go to a school where there are other new speakers of English (Yes, there are many new immigrants who don't speak any English.), it may help her realize she isn't alone.

I live in Vancouver, WA.

My girl is absolutely going to an ESL class as soon as she gets here. She is very excited about it. I already found one close to our house. I do not think I was clear. If the teacher is not a Thai or Chinese speaker, I am worried she is not going to understand them. I know zip about ESL, but most of the ESL classes here are taught by people who speak Spanish. Does this matter?

If you have time, you can read some of the threads in our various Forums.

I read the forums for a couple of hours to get a feel for the place before I posted. Great resource. It is kind of humbling to hear non-native speakers ask questions about my language that I do not remember the answers to. I think it is time to hit the library and do a little review.

With regard to pronunciation, most of us think it is not necessary to concentrate on getting the accent perfect; rather, what is important is being able to understand the person. I think if you spend your time worrying about pronunciation, you and your wife will get very frustrated.

Interesting. This is not what I would have assumed, but I am not a language teacher.

I think it would be much better to work on what she might need, for example, how to shop in the store, how to take a bus, how to be polite, etc.

Ok. I think we will try this. Thank you for the advice.

Feel free to post here any time, and you can no doubt get advice from ten different people (who will say ten different things!)

As with any human endeavor...heh.

Oh--And Congratulations!

Thank you very much. I had such trouble learning Thai that I am really worried she will have a hard time learning English. I just want to give her the best chance to succeed.


Best Regards,

mds

revel wrote:Hey mdsvanc and Lorikeet!
--snipped --
Your wife-to-be needs professional help (that sounds horrible, doesn't it? but you know what I mean)

I totally agree. I am just trying to figure out what she needs to know to be able to understand the teacher. I am not so arrogant as to believe that I could teach her as well as a professional teacher. (Re-reading my previous message, I can see how you got that impression)

That being said, we are going to be together 24x7 (I work at home, mostly) and some questions are bound to arise. She is highly motivated to learn, and she will have plenty of time.

I have several spare computers, and if there is software she could use to practice, I think I should get it.

and your part is the patience and love and homework help she'll need when she finds herself inmersed in that big, ugly monster that is American English! (Horrors!)

Until I read this forum for a few hours, I had forgotten just what a nightmare our language is.


Best Regards,

mds

A good teacher can teach students from all different language backgrounds without knowing the language. In this case, she will have you to check with when she comes home, in case there are any problems. You can ask her what she thinks might be useful. She is lucky she will have you at home to practice with. I wouldn't worry about correcting things, as long as you understand. Communication is really the key. (Of course, if you see what she has for homework, and you notice she's making mistakes in the same areas, you can also correct that if you like.)

As for computer programs, I'm sure anything you decide to get could be useful. There are also lots of sites on the Internet that are free. (This is the place I can plug my site, http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried ) I currently have a rather low class--the next semester up from zero. A lot of them like to practice vocabulary. There are a lot of links on this page: http://fog.ccsf.edu/~lfried/call/extraactivities7.html
Some of them would be too hard but some could prove useful. (They are links to other people's pages.)

As for preparing for class, you could go over some simple things if you like. (She may already know some) Please repeat, read, say, spell, How do you spell.... If she doesn't know the letters of the alphabet yet, how to say and write them, you could do that too. Sometimes the most beginning level starts there, and sometimes it starts expecting that students already know that.

Here are some sites that talk about teaching husbands. Hopefully wives are easier.
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... ht=husband
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... ll+husband

Thank you very much for the advice and the links.

Best Regards,

mds

The others have already given excellent advice. I agree with it completely. I just wanted to add something, from the perspective of one who brought my (somewhat English-speaking) spouse to the US a few years ago.

I'm sure you know this, but just in case: you can't be everything for your spouse. And she won't learn English that way either. A really useful thing you can do is to help her make other local contacts. If she has friends who speak English she will practice more and learn more. For my spouse, a job was what really did the trick. As soon as work started the English skills just skyrocketed--as did the self-confidence and general happiness of my spouse. Which is to say, ESL classes are really key. But don't forget to think about what sort of social/professional/religious/hobby-oriented activities are available as well.

BTW, if she is now working in a nursing home she may be in luck, professionally. There is a huge demand for nursing home workers nationwide. She may need to take a test to be certified, depending on her specialty, but then again maybe not. A huge portion of the nursing home workers in the US are immigrants, so she wouldn't be alone. You might want to look into this for her.

All the best,
-EH