It was more than a decade ago when I decided to become a language teacher. My eventual success in learning some languages, and spectacular failures to learn others made me realize the importance of the quality of instruction, and it became a real passion for me.
After completing my masters degree and gaining a lot of actual teaching experience, I became an increasingly confident Chinese teacher, but for a long time it didn't occur to me that I could also teach my native language. But after living in the States for a while, I started to meet people who were interested, and soon I got my first request to teach.
As a Chinese teacher, I am a proud representative of non-native speaking language teachers, and I have been working on debunking myths and misconceptions about the value of the first language of a teacher. This issue is so close to my heart that I wrote my masters thesis about non-native Chinese teachers in the US. In it, I strongly argue that native speakers are not automatically better teachers just because of their language abilities, and that it's the attitude, the professional experience and teaching skills that make a teacher efficient, regardless of their language background.
So when I got the first request to teach the language I speak the most naturally, I actually got nervous. After spending so much time understanding the ways in which a native speaking but inexperienced and/or unqualified language teacher can be less than helpful to their students, I suddenly found myself at the other end of the equation. I realized that I felt more prepared to teach a language I started to learn after I turned 20, than to teach the one I have been listening to since the day I was born. And although that feeling made me uncomfortable, it helped me to stay professional and to do my best to prepare for the new teaching task.
My first students saw me going slowly and carefully, and they would hear me answering their questions with a "let me get back to you on that", but I always did, and I spent a lot of time exploring and pondering. With time and experience, I eventually discovered a lot of hidden gems about my own native language, things I have been taking for granted and never thought about in a structural way. I developed a new passion for teaching this wonderfully complex language, and now I am dedicatedly working towards becoming the best teacher I can be to help my students.
If you would like to know more about this wonderfully rich language, please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you!
After completing my masters degree and gaining a lot of actual teaching experience, I became an increasingly confident Chinese teacher, but for a long time it didn't occur to me that I could also teach my native language. But after living in the States for a while, I started to meet people who were interested, and soon I got my first request to teach.
As a Chinese teacher, I am a proud representative of non-native speaking language teachers, and I have been working on debunking myths and misconceptions about the value of the first language of a teacher. This issue is so close to my heart that I wrote my masters thesis about non-native Chinese teachers in the US. In it, I strongly argue that native speakers are not automatically better teachers just because of their language abilities, and that it's the attitude, the professional experience and teaching skills that make a teacher efficient, regardless of their language background.
So when I got the first request to teach the language I speak the most naturally, I actually got nervous. After spending so much time understanding the ways in which a native speaking but inexperienced and/or unqualified language teacher can be less than helpful to their students, I suddenly found myself at the other end of the equation. I realized that I felt more prepared to teach a language I started to learn after I turned 20, than to teach the one I have been listening to since the day I was born. And although that feeling made me uncomfortable, it helped me to stay professional and to do my best to prepare for the new teaching task.
My first students saw me going slowly and carefully, and they would hear me answering their questions with a "let me get back to you on that", but I always did, and I spent a lot of time exploring and pondering. With time and experience, I eventually discovered a lot of hidden gems about my own native language, things I have been taking for granted and never thought about in a structural way. I developed a new passion for teaching this wonderfully complex language, and now I am dedicatedly working towards becoming the best teacher I can be to help my students.
If you would like to know more about this wonderfully rich language, please leave a comment, I would love to hear from you!
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