- On 12 September 2019
- By Thomas
Learn the local language!
While an EFL teacher can get started without knowing the local language of the country they are teaching in, not knowing it will eventually present its limitations. As someone who has experienced moving abroad and teaching English, I can share some insight on why it is a good idea to start learning a little of the language before you embark on your international adventure.
During my first year teaching in Italy, I taught on my own and offered private lessons in my small town. I initially found that I didn’t need much Italian with my students because I was using the full-immersion teaching method, but I did often need it to speak with my students’ parents. These parents had no real reason to speak English with me because they weren’t the ones trying to learn it and fortunately I knew enough Italian to cover the basics: schedule, cost, and needs. Believe me when I tell you that my Italian was flawed, but we managed.
Logistics aside, one of the best things about knowing the language of your students is that it helps you navigate what they are trying to say in English because they are translating directly from their language. So, when an Italian student says “I have lost the bus” you know that they didn’t actually misplace the bus but that they missed it, and if they say what sounds like “my cat has 5 ears” you know that they are actually saying that their cat is 5 years old. By knowing your students’ language, you start to anticipate trouble areas and become a much more intuitive and understanding teacher. As an added bonus, you learn more of their language by observing how they translate something from their language to English and then reversing it. For example, with my student who said she “lost” the bus, I now understand that in Italian we use the verb to lose and not to miss in this scenario.
If you are interested in developing long-lasting relationships with your students, learning their language fosters a much more meaningful connection. Students are flattered when you take an interest in their language and are always curious about your language-learning challenges so they can compare them to their own. Understanding their language also means that you absorb what is happening around you outside of the classroom, leading to more enriching conversations in the classroom.
The question to ask yourself first is where you want to teach. During your TEFL course, Via Lingua will offer group and individual job guidance to get you pointed in the right direction for your exciting teaching job abroad. Once you’ve picked a place on the map to go teach, start learning some of the basics of the language. When you’re ready to pursue your teaching job, you’ll be happy you got a head start.
A Message from the TESOL President & Executive Director Addressing Immigration Executive Orders
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“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
These words by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., sound more relevant than ever to the TESOL community, as we witness with increasing dismay the impact of the Trump administration’s latest decisions. Friends and colleagues, we cannot and must not be silent.
Last week, the President of the United States issued a series of executive orders that have a direct impact on TESOL professionals, their students, and their communities. One set of executive orders authorizes constructing a U.S.-Mexico border wall, eliminating federal grant money to sanctuary cities, hiring 5,000 more border patrol agents, and ending “catch-and-release” policies for undocumented immigrants. Another executive order imposes a 120-day suspension of admissions to the United States for people who have been granted refugee status and visas, and a 90-day ban on travel to the United States from citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Sudan.
The immediate effect of these orders has been devastating to the populations we serve, in particular international students, immigrant students and their families, and our own TESOL community. The spirit of these orders goes against the core values that guide our work as an organization:
• Professionalism demonstrated by excellence in standards, research, and practice that improve learning outcomes
• Respect for diversity, multilingualism, multiculturalism, and individuals’ language rights
• Integrity guided by ethical and transparent action
• Commitment to life-long learning
TESOL International Association has issued a public statement strongly opposing these executive orders. Although the impetus for this statement has been the events unfolding in the United States, we recognize that policies aimed at marginalizing immigrants and excluding refugees are becoming increasingly commonplace worldwide. To help you respond to and learn about these issues, we have provided a comprehensive list of tools and resources on the TESOL website, that you may use or adapt to ensure equitable treatment of your students and their families.
Please rest assured that TESOL International Association will actively oppose any proposed policy that seeks to discriminate, diminish, or weaken our communities of English language learners and educators.
To this end, the association is taking the following steps:
1. We have set up a special discussion group in myTESOL called “Impact of U.S. Travel and Immigration Changes,” where we encourage you to share stories about how these recent executive orders have affected your ability to promote quality English language teaching. We also hope that you will use this group as a venue for sharing constructive actions teachers can take.
2. We are exploring possibilities for joint action with other organizations serving English language learners and educators, including the filing of an amicus brief as part of lawsuits challenging the executive orders.
3. We are organizing informational events as well as discussion forums as part of the upcoming TESOL International Convention in Seattle, 21-24 March. These events will address this unacceptable climate of hostility and celebrate Seattle as a sanctuary city. More information will be forthcoming in the myTESOL group mentioned above, and on the Convention website.
We encourage you to speak up whenever possible about these issues through public forums, blog posts, online comments, and opinion pieces. We also encourage you to become involved locally and support organizations that defend equal treatment under the law. It is important that we as professionals not be “silent friends” to those we serve and work with.
Dudley Reynolds Rosa Aronson
TESOL President Executive Director
A Message from the TESOL President & Executive Director Addressing Immigration Executive Orders
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
These words by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., sound more relevant than ever to the TESOL community, as we witness with increasing dismay the impact of the Trump administration’s latest decisions. Friends and colleagues, we cannot and must not be silent.
Last week, the President of the United States issued a series of executive orders that have a direct impact on TESOL professionals, their students, and their communities. One set of executive orders authorizes constructing a U.S.-Mexico border wall, eliminating federal grant money to sanctuary cities, hiring 5,000 more border patrol agents, and ending “catch-and-release” policies for undocumented immigrants. Another executive order imposes a 120-day suspension of admissions to the United States for people who have been granted refugee status and visas, and a 90-day ban on travel to the United States from citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Sudan.
The immediate effect of these orders has been devastating to the populations we serve, in particular international students, immigrant students and their families, and our own TESOL community. The spirit of these orders goes against the core values that guide our work as an organization:
• Professionalism demonstrated by excellence in standards, research, and practice that improve learning outcomes
• Respect for diversity, multilingualism, multiculturalism, and individuals’ language rights
• Integrity guided by ethical and transparent action
• Commitment to life-long learning
TESOL International Association has issued a public statement strongly opposing these executive orders. Although the impetus for this statement has been the events unfolding in the United States, we recognize that policies aimed at marginalizing immigrants and excluding refugees are becoming increasingly commonplace worldwide. To help you respond to and learn about these issues, we have provided a comprehensive list of tools and resources on the TESOL website, that you may use or adapt to ensure equitable treatment of your students and their families.
Please rest assured that TESOL International Association will actively oppose any proposed policy that seeks to discriminate, diminish, or weaken our communities of English language learners and educators.
To this end, the association is taking the following steps:
1. We have set up a special discussion group in myTESOL called “Impact of U.S. Travel and Immigration Changes,” where we encourage you to share stories about how these recent executive orders have affected your ability to promote quality English language teaching. We also hope that you will use this group as a venue for sharing constructive actions teachers can take.
2. We are exploring possibilities for joint action with other organizations serving English language learners and educators, including the filing of an amicus brief as part of lawsuits challenging the executive orders.
3. We are organizing informational events as well as discussion forums as part of the upcoming TESOL International Convention in Seattle, 21-24 March. These events will address this unacceptable climate of hostility and celebrate Seattle as a sanctuary city. More information will be forthcoming in the myTESOL group mentioned above, and on the Convention website.
We encourage you to speak up whenever possible about these issues through public forums, blog posts, online comments, and opinion pieces. We also encourage you to become involved locally and support organizations that defend equal treatment under the law. It is important that we as professionals not be “silent friends” to those we serve and work with.
Dudley Reynolds Rosa Aronson
TESOL President Executive Director
A Message from the TESOL President & Executive Director Addressing Immigration Executive Orders
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
These words by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., sound more relevant than ever to the TESOL community, as we witness with increasing dismay the impact of the Trump administration’s latest decisions. Friends and colleagues, we cannot and must not be silent.
Last week, the President of the United States issued a series of executive orders that have a direct impact on TESOL professionals, their students, and their communities. One set of executive orders authorizes constructing a U.S.-Mexico border wall, eliminating federal grant money to sanctuary cities, hiring 5,000 more border patrol agents, and ending “catch-and-release” policies for undocumented immigrants. Another executive order imposes a 120-day suspension of admissions to the United States for people who have been granted refugee status and visas, and a 90-day ban on travel to the United States from citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and Sudan.
The immediate effect of these orders has been devastating to the populations we serve, in particular international students, immigrant students and their families, and our own TESOL community. The spirit of these orders goes against the core values that guide our work as an organization:
• Professionalism demonstrated by excellence in standards, research, and practice that improve learning outcomes
• Respect for diversity, multilingualism, multiculturalism, and individuals’ language rights
• Integrity guided by ethical and transparent action
• Commitment to life-long learning
TESOL International Association has issued a public statement strongly opposing these executive orders. Although the impetus for this statement has been the events unfolding in the United States, we recognize that policies aimed at marginalizing immigrants and excluding refugees are becoming increasingly commonplace worldwide. To help you respond to and learn about these issues, we have provided a comprehensive list of tools and resources on the TESOL website, that you may use or adapt to ensure equitable treatment of your students and their families.
Please rest assured that TESOL International Association will actively oppose any proposed policy that seeks to discriminate, diminish, or weaken our communities of English language learners and educators.
To this end, the association is taking the following steps:
1. We have set up a special discussion group in myTESOL called “Impact of U.S. Travel and Immigration Changes,” where we encourage you to share stories about how these recent executive orders have affected your ability to promote quality English language teaching. We also hope that you will use this group as a venue for sharing constructive actions teachers can take.
2. We are exploring possibilities for joint action with other organizations serving English language learners and educators, including the filing of an amicus brief as part of lawsuits challenging the executive orders.
3. We are organizing informational events as well as discussion forums as part of the upcoming TESOL International Convention in Seattle, 21-24 March. These events will address this unacceptable climate of hostility and celebrate Seattle as a sanctuary city. More information will be forthcoming in the myTESOL group mentioned above, and on the Convention website.
We encourage you to speak up whenever possible about these issues through public forums, blog posts, online comments, and opinion pieces. We also encourage you to become involved locally and support organizations that defend equal treatment under the law. It is important that we as professionals not be “silent friends” to those we serve and work with.
Dudley Reynolds Rosa Aronson
TESOL President Executive Director