The other
day I was asked for the translation of a particular English word, and I
honestly answered that I didn’t have a clue. As a consequence, we started a
debate about the knowledge English teachers should have about the English
language.
Sometimes I
think we are expected to know the entire dictionary, but I reckon we should be
better at successfully teaching what we know.
The better
we teach, the higher level students will reach instead of the better English we
have, the higher level students will reach.
I base my opinion
on my own experience. I am Spanish, but my vocabulary is quite poor. Do you
know those language learning methods based on a certain amount of words? ‘Learn
English in 1000 words’ is one of the most popular ones. I think that if I
analyse my own Spanish, I probably use just… 400 words? But I’m fluent, I’m
Spanish, I mean, I’m a native speaker.
So,
couldn’t this happen to me in English? I mean, am I not fluent for not having a
very rich vocabulary? I completely disagree.
I think
that English teachers must be fluent and their English must be very good, but
they will never succeed as a teacher if they are not better at teaching.
Teaching
implies sharing your own knowledge, making it be understood, and helping students
to learn those concepts. Teachers should teach I order to better students’
learning and each student should develop their own way to understand and
remember things.
Undoubtedly,
and all this comes after a deep student observation.
