Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in TiAnjin Ziya Xunhuan Jingji Chanyequ Gongye Yuanqu [Tianjin Ziya Circular Economy Industrial Zone]? Are you interested in teaching English in Tianjin? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
Teaching monolingual versus multi-lingual groupsNon-native english speakers who are taught english as a Foreign Language can be categorized in two groups, i.e. monolingual and multi-lingual groups. Monolingual groups are usually taught in their home country, while multi-lingual groups are mostly taught in a country where english is the native language. One major difference when teaching monolingual and multi-lingual classes are that students who are attending multi-lingual groups come from different cultures and don?t share a common language, while students attending monolingual groups have the same background and all speak the same language. This is an important factor when TEFL where good communication for the teacher with both monolingual and multi-lingual groups is essential. The difference between teaching students in multi-lingual and monolingual groups is that students in multi-lingual groups have no choice but to communicate in english in the classroom as none of their peers understand their language and therefore teaching these groups puts relatively less pressure on the teacher. The medium for all multi-lingual students is english and therefore it is clearer to the teacher whether a student understands the subject or not. Teaching monolingual students english as a Foreign Language can put pressure on the teacher, if the teacher only speaks english and is unable to assist when students start communicating with each other in their own language. Here the teacher might find him/herself at a loss in trying to understand whether the students are talking about the difficulty in the lesson or that they talking about other things. The only solution would be not to allow students to speak their local language in class, but when they are grouped in pairs or bigger groups it is difficult to control. Teaching students in monolingual groups in particular should therefore be clear with plenty of visual aids including mime to show and explain the new vocabulary or grammar as these students have very little exposure to receptive or productive skills in english. All their learning is done inside the classroom. Teaching students in multi-lingual groups on the other hand is more hands-on as these students live in an english speaking country and therefore are continually exposed to receptive and productive skills. Their teaching goes beyond the classroom and they bring back to classroom experiences from outside the classroom. One of the advantages of teaching monolingual students english compared to teaching multi-lingual students in that they are all of the same level of understanding. Students in monolingual groups come often from countries where the Roman alphabet is not used and where their level of english is similar, they are all of the same level. Planning lesson plans for monolingual groups is therefore more straightforward than for multi-lingual groups. Students in multi-lingual groups speak different languages and therefore each of them experiences different types of difficulties when learning english as a Foreign Language. By planning lessons for multi-lingual groups the teacher has to take into account each student?s individual problems. Teaching individual students? problems to the whole group is not efficient. Both monolingual groups and multi-lingual groups might benefit when they have the necessary vocabulary and grammar skills to complete a given task. Grouping students in pairs or small groups in class activities is also beneficial to these groups to build up their confidence. At the start of the TEFL course, multi-lingual students can be grouped in pairs or groups of similar language background, for example there is a group of Hispanic speaking students and students whose language is non-Roman to minimize anxiety to make mistakes in front of the class. When the students display more confidence in their receptive and productive english skills, they can switch groups until all the students comfortably mix together. Grouping monolingual at the start of the TEFL course is easier as all the students are of the same level. Later the groupings can change depending on the progress of students.
