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Quote fishead soup These days I'm getting a lot of second thoughts about the whole English only rule. The reason for this is that now that I am in a team teaching situation I welcome much of the input I get from my Korean co teacher this is really useful when it comes to discipline, or explaining how to play a new game. |
Absolutely! I think taking advantage of the native co-teacher can be really useful for the students. When I've had co-teachers I usually explain/say everything in English first, check their comprehension and then, if their are misunderstandings, ask the co-teacher to help. The problem with always using the co-teacher is that the students will come to rely on the translations and never be challenged to try and understand what you are saying in English.
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Quote fishead soup Sure the whole English only thing works in theory but I have some classes with 45-50 students. Not that I want to make a return to Grammar translation syndrome i think that you need to make the transition gradual |
Those are tough numbers. It is difficult to monitor the students in classrooms that size.
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Quote fishead soup The one obvious danger you have with the English only rule is that you might have some students who are just parroting you. In other words they may be repeating without understanding. |
That's where comprehenion checking questions come in. After I explain something, whether it's difficult or easy, I always ask comprehension checking questions to make sure they understood exactly what I meant.
Thanks for the comments, fishead soup!
eric