Teach English in MoerdaogA Zhen - Hulunbei'er Shi — Hulunbuir

In the era of globalisation, it is almost essential to be able to understand and speak English. With this comes a high need for teachers teaching English as a foreign language. Especially in non-English speaking countries TEFL teachers are in high demand to teach English to people working in tourism, seeking job opportunities abroad or students who would like to study in a different country. Teaching English is a very good job option for native English speakers living abroad, looking for opportunities to relocate or for those who would like to top up their travel budget. Even for non-native English speakers this can be a lucrative option as teaching beginners does not necessarily require a complete accent free English as long as it is grammatically and pronunciation wise correct. However not being a native speaker while teaching English can come with some disadvantages but also with advantages at the same time. One might think that disadvantages outweigh the advantages. And of course, the level of English of a non-native speaker can’t be compared to the one of a native speaker. But the teaching concept and learning methods can much easier be applied on and transferred to the students when the teacher had to go through the same progress by him/herself. Starting with the disadvantages one problem of course is the vocabulary. Whereas this depends on the teacher’s English level and experience he/she won’t have such a big word pool available as a native speaker. Especially when someone did not grow up with English, he/she would not be familiar with all existing expressions and phrases. However someone who is able to go through the TEFL course should be on a level where he/she is familiar with commonly used ones. Another problem of non-native English teachers can be their accent. Even though their pronunciation and emphasis are correct they most probably won’t be able to speak English accent free. It usually takes years in an English-speaking country to completely adapt the way of speaking and to be able to speak for example a clear British or American English. Whereas for beginners it is very important to hear a clear language from the teacher, the accent – as mentioned before - does not necessarily have to be an issue as long as the grammar, pronunciation and emphasis are used correctly. But the teacher might want to increasingly make use of media during his classes to give his/her students the chance to hear for example a clear British English. By implementing CDs, cassettes and other media into the lesson plan the teachers talking time could be reduced by letting the students watch videos, listen to songs and follow recorded conversations. The teacher could also encourage the students to listen to podcasts, news and watching TV in English in their free time to improve their listening skills and to get used to the accent free English. Whereas these obvious disadvantages exist and can’t be denied there are also advantages when it comes to teaching English as a non-native English speaker. One big advantage is that the teacher already has experience in learning a second language. The teacher knows about the challenges the students might face within the classroom dynamics and his/her experience might help to build up trust and to inspire the students. To be able to understand the student’s feelings, to emphasize with them and to put oneself in the students’ shoes are highly valued qualities of a teacher and the experience of once having been a student of English oneself can help a lot with that. Another big advantage of being a teacher as a non-native English speaker is that the teacher learned the language most probably the same way the students are learning it now. Similar methods and same concepts of teaching the grammar might have been used. For non-native teachers it is a lot easier to understand the way the grammar is structured. As a native speaker it can be difficult to put the language into structure and think in rules as the mother tongue is used intuitively. Even though the TEFL course teaches us how to communicate the language structure and put it into rules a lot of times it can be hard for native speakers not to just answer a question with “this is just the way it is”. When it comes to teaching vocabulary and grammar it can be very helpful when the teacher and the students have the same mother language. If this is the case, it is a lot easier for the teacher to estimate which topics, grammar problems and vocabulary can be easier to go through for the students than others. Especially when a certain grammar problem needs to be explained it can be very helpful when the teacher can explain the issue by using the mother languages grammar as a reference. The only risk can be that teacher and students start to use their mother language which should be avoided under all circumstances. Summing up teaching English as a non-native English speaker involves disadvantages such as a lack of vocabulary or the existence of an accent, but it can’t be denied that there are also advantages like a better understanding for the grammar rules. In general, it is obvious that teaching English requires a lot of knowledge and experience and that is what the TEFL certificate is teaching. After having reviewed advantages and disadvantages it can be said that depending on the teacher’s English level all levels within the TEFL range can be taught as a non-native speaker but the lower the English level of the students the less weight the advantages and disadvantages.