“There is always a Vietnamese teacher in the class with me
so the students won’t listen to me, they just wait for the other teacher to
translate.”
Having a Vietnamese teacher in class with you can be helpful
but can also be a hindrance. Of course you don’t want to be rude and ask them
to leave and also the school may be insisting on their presence at least when
you first start teaching. So, what can you do?
- Talk to the teacher and agree on a signal that you will give her if you need her help. Maybe the class are a bit unruly and you’d like her to settle them in Vietnamese? Or maybe you’d like her to translate a word because it’s really difficult to define or explain? You can signal to her to ask for her involvement.
- Explain to the teacher that as long as she translates everything, the students will never try to understand you. Explain that it is important for their English to get used to someone (other than their Vietnamese teacher) speaking to them in English. Agree that she will not translate instructions for 2-3 lessons and see what progress they make in that time.
- Teach the students some classroom language to use with you, for example ‘Can you speak more slowly please?’, ‘Can you say that again?’. There is a list of useful classroom language on our activities webpage. Encourage the students to tell you if they don’t understand. http://media.wix.com/ugd//4ca3ec_3e46907e056f5dd9209bef35c20c5b2d.pdf
- Use lots of visual support when you give instructions: demonstrate tasks, hold up the paper, point to the activity etc.
- In your first few lessons with a class, focus on developing rapport and making them feel comfortable and confident to speak to you. Praise them a lot for making the effort to speak in English to you. You could even start a reward system whereby individuals or teams get points for using English in class. See our article ‘Encouraging learners to use English in class’ on the webpage. http://pe8119.wix.com/ttv-teaching-blog#!Miscellaneous/c1kqs
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