Myth #3 - Speak Only English at Home

I have heard many teachers with good intentions tell immigrants that they need to speak English at home to their child so the child’s English and school work will improve. This is not good advice from a linguistic and cultural point of view. 

While it is true that the key to success in a new country is language, children will learn a second language best if they have a firm foundation in a first language and a first cultural identity. From there, they can transfer knowledge to the new language and the new culture. It is important to have a strong foundation in a first language and a first culture so that what is learned about the new language and culture can be built upon that foundation.  This creates true bilingualism where both languages are strong and both cultures and cultural identities are valued.

If a parent’s proficiency level in English is not good, it is far better for them to give their children the gift of a solid first language by speaking and reading the native language to them in all its richness and complexity.  This language richness (the idioms, the rhetorical devices, the proverbs, the vocabulary, clichés) is the foundation upon which the child’s knowledge of a second language can grow. A rich first language will help the child succeed far better than trying to speak to him or her in not-so-perfect English.

Essentially, the important point to remember is that language learning is all about INPUT. You’ve heard of “garbage in = garbage out” for computers? The same is true in learning a second language. If you have good quality language going in, you’ll have good quality language coming out. So, if poor quality language input (broken English without idioms, expressions, proverbs, cliches) is going in, the child will not have a good first language foundation to build upon.

In a past life, I spent a year or two teaching children of Mexican immigrants. These children’s parents spoke to them in a mix of poor English and Spanish. The children had extremely low English skills although it was, for them, their native language. Socially, they had difficulty as well because they didn’t really belong to either culture. Healthy bilingualism means there is a strong identity with both cultures and both languages.

The final lesson: Don’t listen to teachers who say immigrants must speak English to their children at home. It is a myth that this helps a child succeed in school and life.  Give children the gift of true bilingualism by speaking, reading and writing in the first language and showing the value and richness of that language and culture.

Myth #2 – Best Teaching Strategy = Grammar

Learning a language by studying grammar can be traced back to the 19th century Grammar/Translation Method of language instruction. This method has been proven consistently to be one of the most ineffective language teaching strategies — and yet it is alive and well in many parts of the world, including (and surprisingly so) the capital of a bilingual country (ahem, C_n_d_-- your French language programs, particularly). 

This grammar-based teaching strategy has been justifiably criticized for teaching about the foreign language without ever teaching how to use the language. Learners can take foreign language classes based on this teaching strategy for years and years, yet never know how to communicate in real life. 

Why do language schools continue to use this teaching strategy despite its ineffectiveness?

• It’s the easiest way to teach a language.
• The teacher is in control the entire time.
• It lends itself to relying on a textbook and exercises.
• It is traditional. Many people think this is the only way to teach a language.
• It doesn’t require specialized training on how the brain acquires information.
• It is very easy to assess.

Using a method or combination of teaching strategies that are appropriate for language development is much more difficult for the teacher. It requires:

• understanding how to analyze needs and assess language proficiency (apart from a written test)
• giving up control and allowing students to practice
• much more student-centred structure and teaching strategies
• a significant amount of effort being put into the design phase
• willingness on the part of students to participate in classes with teaching strategies other than lecture, notes, written exercises and tests.

A combination of methods and teaching strategies are the tools of a professional second language instructor who is more than just a native speaker of the language. And it results in learners being able to do more than just conjugate verbs and answer grammar questions in the new language. They can actually understand and use the language to communicate.