Home » In The Classroom » Translation In The TEFL Classroom?
Translation In The TEFL Classroom?
I encourage my students to explain (and ideally “think”) in English while in class, but am I being unrealistic? Are people translating in their minds anyway, and if this is the case, am I just slowing things down by insisting on English?
While I do believe many learners continue to try to translate even at relatively high levels, I don’t think it’s a waste of time to focus on using only English. As I see them, some pros and cons of translation:
Pros:
- It saves time. It is often much much quicker to translate many (generally lower level) words than to explain or give examples and then concept check in English.
- Many students translate anyway, so if you allow it, you don’t need to struggle against their instinct. As EFL teachers, we get used to the idea that using English only is a great thing, but I’d guess that most English speakers used translation when they studied a foreign language (but perhaps the argument against this is: look at how well most English speakers speak other languages…).
Cons:
- Plenty of words or terms are not simple translations or may have more than one in the students language.
- As a teacher hired in part for being a native speaker, you are not expected to speak your students’ language and most probably won’t ever speak it at a level equivalent to the level of your students’ English. Accordingly, if you translate vocabulary words, you may not do it correctly; if your students do, you may not know if they are correct. Better to be well prepared in English.
- Most students don’t spend much of their own time speaking English – your class is their chance to practice and it is often better for their communication skills in general that they become competent at speaking enough English to get their point across, even if it means they sometimes miss out on sharing the finer details.
- Many of your students will have already been in classes where translation was used…and here they are still learning English. If it was such as successful method, they wouldn’t be in your class.
By Katie | Permalink
Related Posts
- How Much Translation Do You Use?
- Dictionaries In The TEFL Classroom: Bilingual Or Monolingual?
- English Only
- Should I Speak My Students’ Language?
- From TEFL To Translation?
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share             
|
TEFL News
- Bad News For The British Council In Russia
- Taxes For US Teachers Abroad
- Sudan Teacher Arrest
- Korea Visa Changes
- Korea Visa Changes (Part 2)
- Thanksgiving / US Return Roundup
TEFL Forum
More BootsnAll Travel Network Sites
Destinations
© BootsnAll Travel Network - All rights reserved
[...] Classroom Management / General Teaching Tips Practical Teaching Tips First Classes Teaching My First Class Speaking Skills: The Why And The How, Paul Bresson In MET Homework Using Games In Class:Pros And Cons “Touchy Feely” Speaking Activities Drama In The Teachers’ Room Lesson Plans: Tips For New Teachers Teaching Listening: What To Do About Boring CDs And Cassettes What If I Make A Mistake? Teaching Business English English Only Translation In The TEFL Classroom TEFL Classroom Activities: You Must Believe Dealing With Dominant Students TEFL Tip: Setting Time Limits The Quiet Student (Or, Interview With A School Owner: Sue Of ELT Notebook) Interview With Jessie, An Italian Language Teacher, Part 1 Interview With Jessie, An Italian Language Teacher, Part 2 Should I Speak My Students’ Language? Recycling Classroom Activities Teaching In A Post-Conflict Country Tips For Teaching Grammar Drilling With Modern English Teacher Why I Don’t Do No So Much Corrections How Closely Should You Follow A Textbook? Time Management In The Classroom Spelling: Does It Matter? Is This A Concept Check Question? Concept Check Questions From Modern English Teacher Guided Discovery: What’s That? Insight on TPR From An ELT Notebook And ESL Teacher Talk TEFL Tests: Assessment On ESL Teacher Talk Student Motivation Classroom Management Tip: Grading Your Language Boardwork Tips And Ideas Teaching Advanced Classes Sharing Classes The Student Who Didn’t Pass Dictionaries In The TEFL Classroom – Bilingual or Monolingual? Pronunciation: How Much Time? Teachers’ Meetings: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Confidence [...]