[etni] [FWD: NS teachers - another 2 cents worth]
- From: ask@xxxxxxxx
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 22:38:37 -0700
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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: NS teachers - another 2 cents worth
From: "cindy komet" <cindy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
I'd like to share an anecdote with you which I hope expresses my
opinion in
the NS or nonNS teacher issue.
My daughter (NS) had a teacher who pronounced the word 'data' with a
short
vowel sound. One of the pupils 'corrected' her and said it should be
pronounced with a long a sound.
The teacher totally dismissed that pronunciation. Instead of jumping
at
the opportunity to discuss the different pronunciations, she jumped in
attack so that she could be right.
Question: Was she a NS teacher or a NNS teacher?
Answer: Who cares! She handled the situation terribly.
She missed a golden opportunity to talk about English by shutting him
up'
instead of involving him in discussion.
She missed out on many benefits:
1-showing the pupil that she is interested in how he learns English
(she
probably wasn't)
2-showing the class that sometimes there is more than one way to
pronounce
the same word
3-showing the class that even the teacher can learn from a pupil
4-letting the pupil feel good about contributing to the lesson
Just to name a few.
BTW, his pronunciation came from a TV show (Star Trek, The Next
Generation)
which has a character named Data.
My point is that teachers of English don't have to know everything
there is
to know about English,
but they do have to know how to teach, connect, motivate, encourage,
inspire...
Her knowledge of English is irrelevant if her ability to share that
knowledge is weak.
And if you are still reading this...
Another side-effect of declaring that NSs make better teachers is that
it
can (and has) caused excellent/extraordinary NNS teachers to feel
inferior
and that is a disservice to us all.
I was fortunate enough to view a presentation by a NNS English teacher
named L---. She motivated her pupils to LOVE English, to USE English
and
to learn English. Her presentation was inspiring and her pupils were
amazing. BTW, she mentioned that her English teacher was also and
non-native speaker.
And one more thing...
When I studied in Ulpan, sometimes it was hard for me to 'hear' new
words. However, when I got back to the States and took Hebrew at the
university, I didn't have this problem from my (American NNS) teacher.
For
some reason I could hear (decode) the words more easily. Perhaps I
connected with the sound because of the familiar accent, perhaps I
thought
'if she can do it so can I' or perhaps it the great (NNS) teacher I
had.
Enough said.
-Cindy
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