"A Chronic Shortage of Language Teachers"
That's what the British Nuffield Study found in their survey of the (in)effectiveness of their foreign language education. We have the same problem here, and probably always will have because more profitable options exist for bilingual teachers than teaching. Lack of a suitable teacher supply was cited as the reason for program failure in 50% of the cases reported in the Australian LOTE Report.
We could ignore it or bemoan it, both traditional responses, or we could do some fresh thinking:
Normal primary school practice is to provide general education through generalist teachers, which is both practical and appropriate for young children. The generalist teachers who teach primary science, maths and English are not necessarily qualified to teach calculus, physics and literature, but they are able to teach the foundation concepts on which sophisticated understandings can later be built.
Foreign languages, LOTE, also has foundation concepts that can usefully be taught by a generalist teacher, providing a timely start, a broad intercultural perspective and flexibility for the child to choose later which other languages have enough personal significance to be worth his or her time.
The Silver Lining
Once we start thinking about using what we have (generalists), instead of what we are lacking (specialists), we can see that in many ways, the best person to teach a young child a new language is that child’s own parent or usual teacher. S/he:
Once a child has learned how to learn a language, s/he has a head start in whatever languages s/he choose to learn in secondary and beyond.
The resource which enables any monolingual teacher to teach their class LOTE is " Talking to the Whole Wide World",
A review by Professor Micheal Clyne is here, and an introduction by Professor Alan J. Bishop is here.
It is not necessary to do a course before teaching it, but if you'd like to there may be an option here, or use "Contact Us" to find out about other support options.
We could ignore it or bemoan it, both traditional responses, or we could do some fresh thinking:
Normal primary school practice is to provide general education through generalist teachers, which is both practical and appropriate for young children. The generalist teachers who teach primary science, maths and English are not necessarily qualified to teach calculus, physics and literature, but they are able to teach the foundation concepts on which sophisticated understandings can later be built.
Foreign languages, LOTE, also has foundation concepts that can usefully be taught by a generalist teacher, providing a timely start, a broad intercultural perspective and flexibility for the child to choose later which other languages have enough personal significance to be worth his or her time.
The Silver Lining
Once we start thinking about using what we have (generalists), instead of what we are lacking (specialists), we can see that in many ways, the best person to teach a young child a new language is that child’s own parent or usual teacher. S/he:
- can teach a little bit every day
- knows the child’s abilities, maturity and motivations,
- is appropriately skilled, qualified and experienced to manage the class
- can provide extra time or a new task when needed,
- has close support of colleagues, administration and parents,
- has control over the classroom environment and timetable,
- can integrate language use into classroom life and other subjects,
- has the trust and respect of the child.
- provides a model of a familiar adult who chose to be bilingual and actually did so,
Once a child has learned how to learn a language, s/he has a head start in whatever languages s/he choose to learn in secondary and beyond.
The resource which enables any monolingual teacher to teach their class LOTE is " Talking to the Whole Wide World",
A review by Professor Micheal Clyne is here, and an introduction by Professor Alan J. Bishop is here.
It is not necessary to do a course before teaching it, but if you'd like to there may be an option here, or use "Contact Us" to find out about other support options.
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