TEFL Clintonville Pennsylvania

First I can say that I chose that subject particularly as it represents my own situation. I am someone who decided to study tefl to be an english instructor in my country or in any other country which is not a native english speaking country, although in my country we do have many educational centers which offer native speakers teachers, but not all of them do so. I think non-native english teachers face a lot of difficulties in their careers, as students require them to know and understand each detail in the language, they require the teacher to be aware of expressions and idioms they see in foreign movies (Hollywood movies particularly) or in the slang daily language in the english speaking countries. Challenges face the non native english teacher So the teacher in that case has many challenges, he/she shouldn't just master the language "or just to be fluent in its areas like the vocabulary, the grammar, or even speak fluently", the teacher should be aware of the different cultures of the english speaking countries, the culture of their people, and the daily colloquial speech. That can be happened if the teacher spends extra time in simply watch movies, read books, read daily newspapers…etc. It would also work out fine if the teacher had traveled to an english speaking country before, and had dealt with the daily life of its people. Why non-native english teachers can make effective tefl teachers Most likely they have studied english in far more depth and detail than native english teachers. This will have started at an early age in school and often continued on through university. Some will have gone to an english speaking country to enhance their skills, or had english language training to seek to improve their accent or understand the nuance of english language. Also having learnt english as a second language helps non native teachers to understand the learner's position better. So I think that non-native english teachers empathize more closely with their efl students, because they have been through the process of learning the language, and been trained to teach it, we can say that they are in a better place to help students with particular language difficulties; especially if they are teaching students who share their mother tongue But what level of english do non native teachers need to be able to teach it effectively? Well, very high, this is because if the non native teacher doesn't have a good level of english, students will soon realize this and they may loose the respect of their teacher. So in order of the non native teacher to be a good teacher first he/she should be a good learner and understand what makes a good learner. To do this the teacher should be practicing and perfecting his/her own english well. So we can list the advantage of being a non native english teacher as the following: • Passing through the learning process of the students so they will understand the learner's position better. • The non native teachers went through their own learning process so they should know better what problems their students might have, what mistakes they will make and in this case what teaching method to use, so non native teacher may be more aware of their students' needs and this certainly has an influence on learners. • They will have the eager to search into the language far more than the native speaker teacher, in order to avoid embarrassment with the students. • Students would feel safe when they know that their teacher emphasize with them it may encourage them more. • Also sharing the native language of a learner might be very helpful especially at beginners' level. • Many students do fear speaking with native speakers since they always think ‘I could do something wrong'. Obviously there shouldn't be any reason to be afraid to speak to somebody – especially to teachers – but unfortunately that actually happens. So having a non native teacher may help students to speak in a safe environment. • Also I think native teachers wouldn't know what their students might be passing through in their learning process, which might be an obstacle in choosing an effective learning method. • If the non native teacher shares the mother tongue with their students they can translate a word for students when they know that translation gives a clear idea of meaning and there is a one to one correspondence. But of course there is a list of disadvantages -or we might say obstacles-of being a non native teacher, also they can be a list of advantages that the native english teacher might have: • Facing great obstacles in teaching english in a native speaker country. • They should make a lot of effort to reach the fluency of a native speaker and to know the culture of english speaking countries. • They should always make sure of their pronunciation as it will be a misery if students discover any mistake of their teacher's pronunciation. • Many students would prefer to be learnt by a native speaker teacher, as they feel that's more effective. • If the teacher share the same mother tongue of his/her students, they may choose the easier way to communicate in their native language instead of communication in english with a native speaker teacher. • In some countries, and due to of their very different pronunciation it might be impossible for the teacher to reach the fluency level of pronunciation. • Also native english teachers are likely to have a larger vocabulary than non native english teachers, and most of all they speak more naturally. So as a summary for this research, I can tell that it is not that easy to teach a language which is not your mother tongue, but also it will give a huge motivation for you to master it, and to talk it fluently, the non native english teacher would always has the eager to learn more about the culture of the english speaking countries, and more likely about the teaching skills. We can also say that the non native english teacher has reached a very advanced level as a learner.