English Majors or English professionals don't approve simple people teaching english, why?

Question

Why is it English majors or people with perfect english grammar are full of themselves, and think that i shouldn't teach english to foreigners? I know i have bad grammar, and i have an accent(i'm hispanic american) but i have good teaching techniques, i make it fun, and in fact i've taught several japanese and chinese people and they are really happy that i help them. i also speak japanese so i can explain concepts to some of them. Whats wrong with teaching even if i'm not perfect...Some people in yahoo answers think that to teach i should have perfect american accent, have perfect grammar, and be talkativve outgoing like many new yorkers i see in tv. but i feel i can teach even if i m not like that

Answer 1

I have a bachelor's degree in English and I have rather poor grammar myself. I don't think you shouldn't teach. However, I think we should always be trying to better ourselves. So, if you know something wrong in your grammar, you should notice, embrace it, work on it, and fix it. Don't be so stubborn that you won't work on bettering the very language you want to teach.

Answer 2

I think what you are contributing is admirable. The purpose of learning another language is not perfect grammar, but conversation and assimilation. They want or need to learn English in order to become a part of their new community. Your students benefit from your own experience of learning Japanese.

Now, having said that, I think that good grammar is essential to be understood. Good grammar, not perfect grammar. Most people in this country do not use perfect grammar and they get their message across quite well. Slang, mispronunciations, and improper sentence construction can lead to misunderstandings. As I'm sure you've noticed, some people are more quick to judge the sentence instead of questioning to confirm the meaning of the ESL speaker.

Keep up the good work and don't let the Grammar Police get you down.

Answer 3

I don't think the accent has anything to do with teaching a foreign language. In France, English is taught by French people who are far from having a good accent. They'll get the accent once they go abroad for a while, if they ever get it! It would be ridiculous to think that they can pick up an accent with 3 hours of English a week!

What's important is that the teacher knows more gramar than he/she is going to teach, because students may ask questions that the teacher must be able to answer.

I think that it can also be easier for someone to teach a foreign language as he has learnt himself some rules that mative speakers don't know about. For example, if you ask me the difference between "savoir" and "connaître" (= to know), I wouldn't be able to explain it. Of course, I would find the explanation in a book. But it's sometimes easier for a foreigner because he has learnt it before so he hasbeen in the same situation.

The most important when you are teaching is of course to be able to speak and write that language fluently without mistakes (I mean, you don't need to be able to make extremely complicated sentences, of course), but most of all to have good teaching techniques. In a class, the teacher is not supposed to talk that much. But he must find material which will make students want to talk. Of course, he also needs to be able to explain grammar rules, which in France are explained in French, not in English, as it would be too complicated.

I'm French, so maybe I'm wrong, but your written English is pretty good, so I don't see why you wouldn't be able to teach.

Answer 4

I am majoring in English. I think having the ability to speak with perfect English grammar is a necessary quality in an English teacher.

That said, it is only the ability to speak perfect grammar that is important. If the vast majority of the class is taught using colloquial English, that is fine. However, an English teacher should be able to answer his students correctly if a question is posed.

Accent doesn't matter in the slightest, unless it is strong enough that the words cannot be understood.

Answer 5

These days you can learn how to speak French over the internet. Check out this online course, it's voted as the best French online course of all time: http://www.rocketlanguages.link/french The course is very easy to follow, I was able to learn French in just 3 months.

I live in New York City, I wanted to go to a French language teacher but that would have cost me over $800 per month. Good thing with this internet, $800 it's a lot of money for me.

Answer 6

Let's imagine that I want someone to teach mathematics. I sit down to interview a potential teacher who tells me that he or she has never studied mathematics but is able to count accurately. This person can add and subtract reasonably well, but has not had much experience with multiplication or division. Do you think that person would make a good teacher of mathematics?

Answer 7

Lo siento.

I'm sorry. Folks can be cruel.
Jealous.

Countryguy