Dear English teachers, I'm in bad need of your help?

Question

I am an Egyptian English teacher. I teach English as a foreign language to high school students in Egypt. As you know that our native language is Arabic. My question is: is it necessary to explain the whole lessons in English? Am I allowed to use Arabic during the explanation to clarify some points? Keeping in mind that if I explained the lesson 100% in English, many students would miss some points during the class, so what is the right thing to do?

Answer 1

As a teacher myself, I understand your predicament. I have also taught a foreign language as well, so I can draw from experience to help you out.

Firstly, you must gauge your students' level of comprehension. If the class is doing well on picking up on new concepts in English, then try to conduct the majority of your lesson in English. If the class tends to take a while to comprehend the concept, it might be a good idea to explain some of the material in Arabic. Either way, It is important to set up an atmosphere where students feel comfortable speaking in English to help them learn. If you need to switch over to Arabic, do so, but encourage the students to speak in English as much as possible.

Here's a tip that works really well: Teach your students to ask the question: "How do you say ____________ in English?"
You can also use this question in its Arabic equivalent. (Sorry, I can't speak Arabic!)

Good luck with your English Teaching.

Answer 2

You should absoluted explain it in BOTH languages until your students are confident with the language. English is difficult because of all the exceptions to the rules and the fact that it is derived from so many different languages. You can not just launch into your lesson in English, but you need to model the English language for them.

Answer 3

Try to keep your lesson in English as much as possible, but use quick translations to clarify.
Questions like "What did I just say (tell me in Arabic?) What does blank mean in Arabic?"
If a student asks for a meaning, give it quickly in Arabic and repeat in English.
long grammar explanations would of necessity have to be in Arabic, but the more you can avoid long grammar explanations, the better. Students do not listen to long explanations anyway. If you can come up with short ones (15 seconds) in Arabic, and go back to English, the students will learn better.
Make sure that they know all the classroom procedures you have in English (May I...leave the room, sharpen my pencil? Please open your books, please take out a pen, please take out a piece of paper, please answer in English, how do you say, what does X mean, etc)
Good luck.

Answer 4

This is very touchy. Remember that native English speakers with degrees from highly ranked universities make glaring gramatical errors every day. The inbox for editors of some of the most highly rated publications are filled with notes from observant people pointing out their mistakes. If there is an error so glaring that it would cause your student to be misunderstood, point out the error. It might be most educational if you determine the source of the error. Many mistakes that occur with non-native speakers is that they impose grammatical practices from their mother tongue onto the language they are speaking (or writing). Particularly verb tense agreements, word order, use of gender designations. Then you can use the error to help your students understand by compare and contrast just how this rule works... giving them a device to use in future attempts make a similar sentence or construct.

Answer 5

I would suggest that you contact your supervisor.

If you are in business for yourself - Private lessons and only you are in charge - follow the other people's advice - Arabic if needed, but better mostly in English