Does this sound familiar?
Have you as a teacher been
paired with native speakers
(NSs) who have never taught before?
Have you been frustrated working
with them: wanting to take advantage
of their knowledge of English, but
discouraged because you have to continue
to create your own lesson plans
and additionally have to teach the NSs
how to conduct basic activities in your
classroom? Or are you nervous in your
classroom now because the NSs know
English fluently and you think you
don’t, and you find that your nervousness
is hindering your teaching?
What do you do? The answer is
this: work together with the NSs. You
now have the opportunity to share
your experience and knowledge, both
of teaching and of how English works
in your country, with NSs in order to
develop their teaching abilities for the
benefit of your students. The benefits
for you are the increased use of English
as you interact with these NSs
and an increased knowledge of their
culture.
Granted, many NSs do have a great
amount of English teaching experience,
but this article focuses on the
ones who don’t. One resource for these
NSs who now want to teach English
is Snow’s (2006) More Than a Native
Speaker: An Introduction for Volunteers
Teaching English Abroad. But what happens
when the NSs must begin teaching
right away? They may not be able
to access this book in time. This article
will discuss two important aspects
that an NS should know before teaching
English in your school: cultural
development and educational development.
In this article, the term “cultural
development” means the culture of
English in your country; meanwhile,
I define “educational development” as
the most important assistance that you