Teaching English Abroad

[Villa]

Originally Posted by Awaken

Won't it depend on the speakers? I can't imagine if I walked into my Spanish 1 class and the teacher only spoke Spanish. Starting from zero, it would have been a nightmare. In high school, 2nd semester Spanish 2 is when the teacher switched over to full Spanish.

Awaken, I taught English to adult Spanish speakers for 15 years and to Spanish speaking children for 30+ years. Most of the times it was level one or level two with Spanish speakers that knew no English or very little. They always told me that they appreciated it so much that I could explain things to them in Spanish. It meant so much to them that I was a Spanish speaker like them. I felt like a part of them. We talked about that a lot. In addition I taught Italian to adult Spanish speakers for 7 years. They also liked how I would explain things to them in Spanish.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by Awaken

Won't it depend on the speakers? I can't imagine if I walked into my Spanish 1 class and the teacher only spoke Spanish. Starting from zero, it would have been a nightmare. In high school, 2nd semester Spanish 2 is when the teacher switched over to full Spanish.

If you're seriously interested in teaching English as a foreign language, maybe you would like to take a training course first. There you would be taught how to make language more simple for beginners and more complicated for advanced levels. Also, the teacher is the person who speaks the least in a classroom, so long explanations are out of the question.

[Aprendo]

If Awaken or anyone has questions, feel free to ask. I've been teaching English as a foreign language in Central and East Asia for 12 years. I'll try out South America soon.

No, you don't need to know the local language, and usually you strongly advised to not use any L1 (first language) of the students.

As for learning the local language of the country you're teaching, that is almost entirely up to the foreign teacher. Motivation, time dedicated to it, strategies, making friends with locals and/or practicing the language. It also depends on your learning style.

I avoided classes because it was a tonal Asian language and had a one-on-one teacher that was great. I then could practice and improve my skills by speaking and listening with people after work and watching TV.

For Spanish study I think my 2 years of high school helped with basic grammar functions and vocab expansion, but I later studied one-on-one with a teacher in Guatemala and that one-on-one really allows for faster acquisition.