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In my experience, teachers often have quite strong feelings about the use of a pupil’s L1 (first language) in the classroom - it is either encouraged or forbidden. Garcia and Sylvan (2011) describe monolingual education as outdated in our current ‘globalized’ world and discourage the practise of imposing only one language. In fact, they suggest that teachers should support students in developing their awareness of their first language as well as the language of instruction. Although this may not feel entirely practical, as in order to do this, the teacher often feels the need to be competent in all of the languages being used in the classroom. However, it is possible to support L1. Have a look at some strategies recommended by Scott (2016):
The importance of developing the mother tongue is now widely accepted among researchers. Cummins is at the forefront of this discussion as he contends that knowledge in one language helps learners to understand information in another language (2000). Other researchers such as Atkinson (1987) and Kim (2011) advocate the importance of the mother tongue in the classroom and suggest that the L1 is an invaluable tool. In Kim’s (2011) study it was clear that the use of the mother tongue, specifically translation, helped the learners to recognize the importance of accuracy and led them to be more objective about their writing.
The accompanying material devised aims to facilitate vocabulary building through translation. It is considered good practice to provide students with vocabulary lists, and these often come with a definition. However, the definition is often too abstract for the pupils to fully comprehend and they would benefit far more from seeing the word in context. The material combines translation with example sentences.
References:
Atkinson, D. (1987) The mother tongue in the classroom: a neglected resource? ELT Journal, Volume 41, Issue 4, 1 October 1987, Pages 241–247, access here
Cummins, J. (2000) Language, Power and Pedgogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters
GARC´IA, O. & SYLVAN, C. (2011) Pedagogies and Practices in Multilingual Classrooms: Singularities in Pluralities, The Modern Language Journal, 95/3
Kim, E. (2011) Using translation exercises in the communicative EFL writing classroom, ELT Journal, Volume 65, Issue 2, 1 April 2011, Pages 154–160
Scott, C (2016) How you can support students’ mother tongue development International School Magazine, Volume 18, Issue 3
This ‘Introduce Me’ activity is a fun and rewarding way to introduce a new topic, while developing language skills.
It’s ideally suited to learners of English, allowing them to hear knowledge presented in different ways, by more than one source, in a non-threatening environment. There’s plenty of opportunity for repetition and rephrasing. This is an adaptable activity to suit any topic where you need to introduce content. This particular example is based on trading goods (see References), but a blank template is provided for you to create your own resource.
Learners with speech and language difficulties may find it difficult to order and sequence their ideas with a clear beginning, middle and end.
Tip or Idea: Ask your learner to tell you about something funny or exciting that they have done. Real life experiences may make it easier for them to describe.
Learning Village resource: Use the Adventure story dilemma flashcards and have fun making up a story together! You can add additional flashcards for settings and characters too!
Learners with speech and language difficulties may find it difficult to use the correct tense or find it hard to understand the concepts of time.
Tip or Idea: Take 5 minutes to chat together at the end of a busy day or lesson. Talk about what you did, what you enjoyed or what made you laugh. This gives learners the opportunity to practise using the past tense and maybe time and order words too like first, next and then.