# native versus non-native language teachers



## Philippa

Hello!
*Do you prefer native or non-native language teachers when you are learning a language in a class?
At what stages of your learning? Why do you think this is best?*

This topic is inspired by A Language Teacher Shouldn't Make Any Errors?  and people's comments about what level teachers of different fluency should teach up to. I guess it's also linked to Behold! The native speaker has, erm, spoken...  (I must have another read of this thread!)
I had a non-native speaker teach me Spanish when I was a beginner in my first year and 'near-beginner' in my second year and then natives in the following 3 years. Looking back I think it was quite good to have a non-native teacher as a beginner as perhaps it made for a clearer and simpler introduction and I'm really grateful for the basic cultural differences between Britain and Spain that she introduced us to (horchata, turrón, ...  ). When I was investigating classes for my 4th year of Spanish, I was very concerned to have a native Spanish speaker, but I'm not entirely sure why. I think I thought that I would pick up more genuine idiomatic phrases in some subconscious way with a native! 
Looking forward to reading your opinions and experiences!
Saludos
Philippa


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## ElaineG

I want a native teacher at all levels, but I want a _trained committed native teacher_. If I can't have that, I'd rather have a _trained non-native_.

I blame my nasty French accent to this day on the fact that I spent 4 years of high school studying with the (easy to follow, easy to learn from, BUT...) "Monsieur" Patrick McFadden. 

I think we learn accent, intonation etc. through mimicry, and Mr. McFadden was probably the right person to learn Boston Irish from, but otherwise...

But, last year, not wanting to "lose" my Italian, I signed up for an Adult Ed class in Advanced Italian at the New School. My teacher was native, with a marked but lovely Fiorentino accent, but her "qualifications" were that she was had a laurea in Italian literature (no teaching experience whatsoever). She routinely looked to me to answer grammar questions, and would get bored and annoyed when the class wanted to do dull things like systematically go over the homework and discuss problems.  She really wanted to put on Nek, and ask us what we thought about the lyrics.  I quit after 3 weeks, but of course, couldn't get my money back!

After that experience, I longed for Mr. McFadden and his ugly French accent but command of 1,000 games, rhymes, and jokes for teaching grammar.

Too often, in adult ed programs/"language schools" which don't have to be certified,etc., where you don't need qualifications to get hired, just being a native speaker is enough. Well, we all know that it's not, when it comes to seriously learning a language.


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## DearPrudence

Yes, I agree with Elaine, the question of training, motivation of the teacher is important.
Also what I feel is difficult for a native is to understand the difficulties his or her students can have because for him/her, it's natural. Personally I have never "learnt" French the way foreigners would do therefore it's hard for me to explain many things because for me it's only natural while non native teachers will understand their difficulties and found funny ways to remember things.
In France at least considering the time given to the study of foreign languages I don't really think you will pick up the accent of your teacher but rather have a French accent, even if your teacher is a native. I suppose it's only listening to the radio, films in English <add other methods here, not related to school> that you can improve your accent.
Personally I have never had native speakers during my 7 years of learning English. Oh no, just once. A supply teacher. She could hardly speaks French and so commanded no respect  I don't think it made much difference to my level of English really (awful accent. It's only studying phonetics that I began to improve tremendously).
Now I have some native speaker teachers and I haven't learnt more with them than with non native speakers really.

Oh, and about the other thread "the native has spoken" (sorry, made me think of another thread "as if he were/was" I think). With non native teachers we are told what is supposed to be correct so we will learn "as if it were" and not "as if it was". I don't think everyone will agree but I think it's good to first see what's supposed to be grammatically correct and then see by yourself how rules can be "broken" in colloquial speech. But I think it's better this way than the other way round, which a native could do, not even consciously.

Something else. 
In translation, from English to French, the teacher is French but he does seem to know more in English than the two English students (one of whom has lived in France for 18 years) who are at loss no know if we can say such or such thing in English.
Yes of course talking with native speakers is important but in educational context I'm not sure if that's what's the most important.


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## Miguelillo 87

Well this ns going to be a fast intervention.
In my opinion, if you are a basic student is better to have a no-native teacher so if yuo don't undesrstand something yuo can ask in your own language, and maybe it will be clear.
If yuo're advances is better to have a native one, so, you can polish your language and start to learn the details and the matices of the language,
For exmple in my school we have 3 days with a professor who is mexican.
And 2 with a French one, so on these two days, we ask about culture, about expressions, about colloquial way of speaking.
Do it's a perfect way to learn


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## Hockey13

My problem with a non-native teacher is that I frequently take control of a language course and my professors need to be able to answer point-blank questions about idiomatic expressions. My current professor at Wake Forest is a perfect fit for this kind of style and he plays right along with it, even if I ask him something like, "How does one say 'I ate a stinking pile of crap, but it wasn't really that good' in Italian?" He has a great humor..


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## gaer

Hockey13 said:


> My problem with a non-native teacher is that I frequently take control of a language course and my professors need to be able to answer point-blank questions about idiomatic expressions. My current professor at Wake Forest is a perfect fit for this kind of style and he plays right along with it, even if I ask him something like, "How does one say 'I ate a stinking pile of crap, but it wasn't really that good' in Italian?" He has a great humor..


I think needs differe greatly according to level and goals.

While learning a new language, you can get help from many people, all at the same time, and each person can conbribute something unique and valuable.

There were two people who gave me more help with speaking German than anyone else, though I rarely do it these days. One was a student from Germany who came here with the primary goal of improving his very weak English. He posted a note saying that he would trade help for help with English. We met and worked together until he had to return to Germany. It was great.

Was he a teacher? For me, he was. Not only did he have very good tips about usage, idoms, etc., he was also young and could therfore give me insight into what was used on college campuses at that time. He was well-educated, so what he taught me was correct.

At the same time, I took a course from a German professor—professor whose first language was German—and the things I learned in his class were incredibly valuable. He was a conservative teacher who stressed basics, structure, solid fundamentals.

Later, my wife took a year's course with the same professor. However, because she did not have my background, she was often not able to follow all the things he taught. I tutored her, and she was the best by far in the class.

I'm a teacher, though not a language teacher, and I'm very good at grammar, rules, and breaking things down. But my help was only about basics. I certainly did not try to help her with pronunciation or anything advanced. That I left to the teacher.

So I think you can get first-rate help from natives and non-natives. It depends on what you are looking for. My definition of "teacher" is very "fuzzy", since I think that we have many teachers in life who are not teachers in an official sense.


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## Hockey13

gaer said:


> I think needs differe greatly according to level and goals.
> 
> While learning a new language, you can get help from many people, all at the same time, and each person can conbribute something unique and valuable.
> 
> There were two people who gave me more help with speaking German than anyone else, though I rarely do it these days. One was a student from Germany who came here with the primary goal of improving his very weak English. He posted a note saying that he would trade help for help with English. We met and worked together until he had to return to Germany. It was great.
> 
> Was he a teacher? For me, he was. Not only did he have very good tips about usage, idoms, etc., he was also young and could therfore give me insight into what was used on college campuses at that time. He was well-educated, so what he taught me was correct.
> 
> At the same time, I took a course from a German professor—professor whose first language was German—and the things I learned in his class were incredibly valuable. He was a conservative teacher who stressed basics, structure, solid fundamentals.
> 
> Later, my wife took a year's course with the same professor. However, because she did not have my background, she was often not able to follow all the things he taught. I tutored her, and she was the best by far in the class.
> 
> I'm a teacher, though not a language teacher, and I'm very good at grammar, rules, and breaking things down. But my help was only about basics. I certainly did not try to help her with pronunciation or anything advanced. That I left to the teacher.
> 
> So I think you can get first-rate help from natives and non-natives. It depends on what you are looking for. My definition of "teacher" is very "fuzzy", since I think that we have many teachers in life who are not teachers in an official sense.


 
As is often the case, I agree with you, Gary. You make a good point that a non-native's help is often crucial in the language learning process. However, for myself, I need a native at the helm guiding my along.


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## gaer

Hockey13 said:


> As is often the case, I agree with you, Gary. You make a good point that a non-native's help is often crucial in the language learning process. However, for myself, I need a native at the helm guiding my along.


Always! You can get additional help from non-natives, but it is supportive.

As you know, my interest is German. Where do I go to find answers? The German forum in WR. And my German friends!

In the forum there are natives there who have proved time and time again that any answer they give me, if not the only one, will be *a* right one, sensible, practical and useful.

In fact, I would like to stress that natives often give answers that make them appear to be wrong if we go by the rules in grammar books, dictionaries, etc., yet as we have seen in the English forum, natives are often right because there are times when context and feel trump every rule in the book. 

Having said that, I can remember many times when non-natives have given incredibly interesting, convincing, challenging opinions about English that have forced me to examine what I think is correct. And sometimes these non-natives are RIGHT! 

Gaer


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## Kajjo

ElaineG said:


> I want a native teacher at all levels, but I want a _trained committed native teacher_. If I can't have that, I'd rather have a _trained non-native_.


I agree entirely. Training is absolutely necessary, while a native speaker is only desirable. However, there is no use in a native teacher that has a strong accent -- if native, then clear and almost accent-free.

Kajjo


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## cas29

I would always prefer a native speaker as a teacher - with the caveat that they be trained teachers - I agree with Elaine completely!

I don't agree that everything a native speaker says is correct. Even I (gasp) make mistakes sometimes!   But a well educated, trained teacher is less likely to make mistakes, and more likely to correct their mistakes in front of students than a non-native teacher.

I sometimes hire teachers for programs I can't manage myself, and I won't send a non-native speaker to a client - ever.

With a trained native speaker-teacher you get the accent, proper explanations on grammar, and an organized approach to the program.
Even the best non-native teacher I know, who has a gorgeous accent, still gets prepositions wrong, and uses words in a slightly odd way  - perhaps not incorrectly - but in ways that a native speaker never would consider.

The other aspect of native speakers as teachers is that (as a professional teacher!!) I get very frustrated with people complaining about the cost of courses, because they can get lessons from native speaker who are visiting the country for 15 euros an hour!  Hello!  Just because someone can speak a language does not mean they can teach it - and it messes up our business when they undercut us with these absurdly low prices.


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## palomnik

When I was in college studying Chinese, we had a mix of teachers, all of whom were native speakers, except one.

The non-native taught only two hours of class a week (we had ten hours a week total).  His sole purpose was to discuss grammar and syntax, which he taught in English, and in fact the concept worked amazingly well.  A mixed approach like this was typical of my college (something similar was done with Russian when I started studying that later) and I thought it was quite effective.


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## Hockey13

Kajjo said:


> I agree entirely. Training is absolutely necessary, while a native speaker is only desirable. However, there is no use in a native teacher that has a strong accent -- if native, then clear and almost accent-free.
> 
> Kajjo


 
Whatever that means...


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## Cereth

I think that receiving classes from native and non-native teachers can be highly productive...on one hand native teachers can open your perspective about cultural issues and of course their sharp ear is very useful -when it comes to distinguish and imitating accents from different regions-
On the other hand non native teachers can help you understanding similitudes and differences between cultures and learn from their experiences, specially when you have to translate very local ideas accurately ^^
I prefer to have native japanese teachers, though..I can say that Santi ( a very young and clever argentinian forero on the japanese forum) has helped me to understand japanese better than the natives....
So I think that as long as you have the correct teaching techniques and are able to explain detaily it doesn´t matter if you are native or not.


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## jess oh seven

I think at lower levels having a non-native teacher is acceptable as students are mainly trying to get a grasp of the basic concepts of the language. However, at higher levels (university for example), there should definitely be some influence from native teaching staff. To be honest I would feel the value of my degree were lessened if I had a bunch of non-native lecturers and tutors! Native speakers may not always know WHY something is correct or incorrect grammatically, but what is more important - being grammatically correct or speaking like a native?


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## Qcumber

My preference goes to a competent English teacher because he/she'll know my needs. All the native teachers I have had so far were incompetent. Their only forte was they were native speakers, and used this argument to pass their mistakes as correct variants. Just have a look at some answers you get here on WordReference.com.


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## Etcetera

Philippa said:


> *Do you prefer native or non-native language teachers when you are learning a language in a class?
> At what stages of your learning? Why do you think this is best?*


A bit of my experience:
I started to learn Finnish with non-native teacher. She was of Finnish origin, though - Finnish was her second native language, so to say. After a semester with her, we got one more teacher, this time, a Finnish native who spoke quite little Russian. She came from SIMO, a Finnish organisation which promote learning Finnish outside Finland and provide teachers. SIMO teachers work in several Russian universities.
Both teachers resigned last year, and we have now a very, very good non-native one. To say the truth, I like the current teacher most. She speaks Finnish very well, she knows all the difficulties which may arise before a Russian learner of Finnish... The trouble with natives is that they don't know much about the peculiarities of their language from a learner's point of view (even if they know their students' language quite well). 
In my opinion, a trained non-native teacher is definitely better than a non-trained native.


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## AlliKamikaze

I don't mind whether a teacher is native or not, as long as they know what they are talking about and are dedicated to teaching it.

In the last 2 years, I've had 3 different french teachers. 
-The first was non-native and taught french to all levels in my school.
-The second was non-native and taught french and spanish in my school, although she had spent more years studying french than spanish
-The third, and the one I have now, was born in France and teaches all the French classes at my school currently.

Looking back now though, I don't have much preference of one over the other. My second french teacher and my current french teacher teach at the same school (although my second french teacher switched to teaching all the spanish classes after the previous spanish teacher retired) and they frequently enjoy talking to eachother in French in between classes. My second french teacher told me she was delighted that we had a chance to learn French from a real native speaker, because although she was confident in her ability to teach French, she couldn't give us the cultural education like the other teacher. And culture we certainly do receive from my current teacher. 

If anything at all, one thing I miss about having an American teacher teaching French, as opposed to a native speaker, is the fact that the American teachers have more understanding of how our schools are. I'm not trying to put down my french teacher, or even the french culture, but american schools and french schools are just different. We vary in our length of time, opinions, and just our perspectives of school in general. Sometimes I feel like her lack of experience in American schools as a student, tends to cause frustration on both sides when we're not how she expects we should be and we don't understand how she could expect such a thing. Only a minor difficulty in the end, but something I've noticed from time to time. 

I think that knowledge and dedication are the primary requirements of a good teacher.


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## KateNicole

cas29 said:


> The other aspect of native speakers as teachers is that (as a professional teacher!!) I get very frustrated with people complaining about the cost of courses, because they can get lessons from native speaker who are visiting the country for 15 euros an hour! Hello! Just because someone can speak a language does not mean they can teach it - and it messes up our business when they undercut us with these absurdly low prices.


 
I agree. I know a lot of native speakers that tutor for $20 an hour, and do not understand (even barely) the logic behind the function of an accent mark, the names of the different verb tenses, a way to explain the difference between the preterite and the imperfect, etc. I think it's really audacious for these people to tutor students at the college level, but I suppose they don't even realize how much they don't know. Some people won't ever realize the complexity of language until they study one in depth.

I'm not trying to discredit trained and qualified native teachers by any means, but people as students need to realize that not any old native speaker is prepared to help you get ahead!


Going back to the original question, I think it depends on what the class is, as well. I majored in Spanish in college, and almost half the courses I took were related to literature. When it comes to a literature class, where my main goal is to learn to interpret and appreciate, I have absolutely no preference. If the teacher is non-native, I would obviously expect him or her to still be confident in his/her language ability, but what is most important to me is the teacher's enthusiasm and comprehension of the different works. I don't have any apprehension about being taught literature by a non-native teacher. 

If taking a phonetics course, I would want a native teacher, or a "non-native" teacher who has been speaking the language since a _very_ young age (like, for example, an American who moved to Peru at the age of eight and then lived there until the age of thirty-five.) 

When taking a syntax course, I would want a native and extremely trained teacher.

When taking a post-graduate course, I think that I would, for the most part, prefer to have only native-teachers. At the post-graduate level, it could be assumed that the students would be "on par" with some of the non-native teachers, and that could potentially defeat the purpose. 

If taking an intro course, I think I might actually prefer a non-native teacher. This is a sweeping generalization, but I have found that in intro courses, non-native teachers take a more light-hearted approach and just want you to start to speak and enjoy, whereas native teachers at times take a more rote, mechanical approach and don't spark that much enthusiasm.  I think that native teachers usually do their better work at the upper levels, where their knowledge on the finer points of grammar and syntax can be put to good use.

OK, I'll shut up now


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## Vanda

In my city, it was a trend (some years ago) among English language institutes to replace all teachers by native ones. In the beginning students preferred the institutes that did so. Then, as time passed by, these students realized either the natives didn't understand their particular foreign language problems or didn't know more than _speak_ their native language. These very students made a reverse looking for institutes that had proficient English teachers, no matter their nationality!
I have observed that advanced students that simply want to practice their speaking skills prefer natives English teachers. Most of the real beginner students prefer a teacher of their own language - yet a proficient one. When I was preparing myself for the Proficient Certificates I tried a native English teacher but it didn't work. Anyway, I speak for _my _place only!
Ah! I had another experience. I was _trying to_ study German with a native German but he didn't understand the grammar; being a teacher I do want to know more than simply speak the language, so ...
I agree with the foreros above that said it doesn't matter whether the teacher is native or not, but surely if he/she is proficient.


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## gaer

Vanda said:


> In my city, it was a trend (some years ago) among English language institutes to replace all teachers by native ones.


Some points:

1) Some natives speak and write _*incorrectly*_ with great fluency.
2) Natives who speak and write very well may not understand grammar. They may do this by "feel".
3) Even natives who speak and write very well and who DO understand grammar may poor at explaining and very impatient.

Good teachers are hard to find! There are many native "teachers" who do more harm than good. 

Gaer


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## Kajjo

gaer said:


> 1) Some natives speak and write _*incorrectly*_ with great fluency.
> 2) Natives who speak and write very well may not understand grammar. They may do this by "feel".
> 3) Even natives who speak and write very well and who DO understand grammar may poor at explaining and very impatient.
> Good teachers are hard to find! There are many native "teachers" who do more harm than good.


I could not agree more, Gaer! However, being _not _native, does not make better teachers... 

Kajjo


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## Macunaíma

Well. I'm not a teacher and my English is deplorable, but just let me join in and tell you my experience with a native English teacher.

For years, I had private lessons with an Englishman who was very, very fussy about pronunciation. I think his ambition was to get all of his students speaking like Prince Charles. He was an expert on grammar, could speak excellent Portuguese, had a charming and captivating personality, but the accent he passed on to us...is embarrassing. Until very recently my vowels would last ( laaaast) forever. A few months ago, while I was in the waiting room for the interview for my ESOL examination and I was talking in English with the other students, one of the candidates laughed and mocked my accent. I felt like punching him in the nose, but I have to admit that Francis had this devastating effect on me: I cannot help sounding ridiculous.


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## gaer

Kajjo said:


> I could not agree more, Gaer! However, being _not _native, does not make better teachers...
> 
> Kajjo


Of course. 

Being "native" is one factor, but I do think it is the most important. That's why I ask you and other natives in the German forum for answers to questions regarding German—always! 

Gaer


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## KateNicole

Macunaíma said:


> Well. I'm not a teacher and my English is deplorable, but just let me join in and tell you my experience with a native English teacher.
> 
> For years, I had private lessons with an Englishman who was very, very fussy about pronunciation. I think his ambition was to get all of his students speaking like Prince Charles. He was an expert on grammar, could speak excellent Portuguese, had a charming and captivating personality, but the accent he passed on to us...is embarrassing. Until very recently my vowels would last ( laaaast) forever. A few months ago, while I was in the waiting room for the interview for my ESOL examination and I was talking in English with the other students, one of the candidates laughed and mocked my accent. I felt like punching him in the nose, but I have to admit that Francis had this devastating effect on me: I cannot help sounding ridiculous.


Had you not identified yourself as a non-native, I would have never guessed!  Give yourself more credit.  It's deserved.  

I think native teachers should promote correct and understandable pronunciation, but should not have a "speak exactly like _me_" attitude.


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## paddycarol

German is my third language. I have three German teachers.
First year, a non-native lady.
Second year, a native speaker from Switherland.
Second half that year, a qualified teacher from SWitherland.
I feel quite ashamed now. Because I can only remember what the first non-native teacher has tought me. I'm not trying to put down the native speaks, but they really don't know what is hard for me when I am learning their language. By the way, I communicated with that two teachers in English and it was then that I found English was so sweet!!!!!
It's not important whether your teacher is native or non-native but whether he or she helps!  Ok, I'll shut up.


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## Paulfromitaly

Native speakers all the way!! 
Italian English teachers can be well qualified when it has to do with teaching English grammar, but really awful when it's about conversation and pronunciation.


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## frenchtranslater

In Wallonia ( in Belgium) - french speaking half of belgium, Flemish teachers need to be Wallonian. This leads to lots of troubles. Most Flemish people speak french and english fluently. However, with the Wallonian policy of having exclusively _WALLONIAN _teachers, most wallonians do not speak a word in flemish (my case).

It is quite frustrating when I go to Flanders, because I struggle every time to speak with my flemish of a 4 year old.


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## Etcetera

KateNicole said:


> I agree. I know a lot of native speakers that tutor for $20 an hour, and do not understand (even barely) the logic behind the function of an accent mark, the names of the different verb tenses, a way to explain the difference between the preterite and the imperfect, etc. I think it's really audacious for these people to tutor students at the college level, but I suppose they don't even realize how much they don't know. Some people won't ever realize the complexity of language until they study one in depth.


You're right, KateNicole. 
And that's why I'd rather be teaching English than Russian. 
My future speciality is called "Philologist, Teacher of the English Language and Literature". We're being trained as future teachers. And this makes all the difference: I'd never dare to teach Russian to foreigners. 
(Of course, helping fellow forer@s with Russian is quite another thing!)


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## mytwolangs

I would rather have a native French speaker for a teacher. 
Might as well learn from the masters.


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## Qcumber

There is also the problem of fake native teachers. I mean a person who has the passport of a given country, but is not a native speaker of the language, yet poses as one, and manages to nip in a grammar school, a college or a university as instructor of this language.


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## Hockey13

Qcumber said:


> There is also the problem of fake native teachers. I mean a person who has the passport of a given country, but is not a native speaker of the language, yet poses as one, and manages to nip in a grammar school, acollege or a university as instructor of this language.


 
This happens often????


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## mytwolangs

Well if one has too thick a native accent of the country they live in, there could be suspicion. 
The French teachers I know do not sound american much at all.
I doubt it is a big problem.


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## Qcumber

Hockey13 said:


> This happens often????


In the case of English, it happens rather often.


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## Qcumber

Yet another problem. The "teacher" is a native speaker of a dialect of the language, but never studied or mastered the standard language as he was educated in English in some missionary school.


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## Maja

ElaineG said:


> ...I want a _trained committed native teacher_. If I can't have that, I'd rather have a _trained non-native_.


Here, here!!!



Etcetera said:


> The trouble with natives is that they don't know much about the peculiarities of their language from a learner's point of view (even if they know their students' language quite well).
> In my opinion, a trained non-native teacher is definitely better than a non-trained native.


I agree. We had a native speaker who was a guest so to say, and held  several lessons. And when we asked her things, she would say "I  don't know, but I wouldn't use it", or "I would say it like this" etc. That  really pi**ed me off!!!


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## Etcetera

Maja said:


> I agree. We had a native speaker who was a guest so to say, and held  several lessons. And when we asked her things, she would say "I  don't know, but I wouldn't use it", or "I would say it like this" etc. That  really pi**ed me off!!!


Guess what?
Sometimes, when my students ask me why they can't use this or that English wird in a given context, all I can tell them is "I don't know, really, but that just doesn't sound English!"
Honestly, only when I started teaching English did I realise how often I choose words and make sentences almost automatically.


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

ElaineG said:


> I want a native teacher at all levels, but I want a _trained committed native teacher_. If I can't have that, I'd rather have a _trained non-native_.





AlliKamikaze said:


> I don't mind whether a teacher is native or not, as long as they know what they are talking about and are dedicated to teaching it. (...) I think that knowledge and dedication are the primary requirements of a good teacher.





Vanda said:


> (...), as time passed by, these students realized either the natives didn't understand their particular foreign language problems or didn't know more than _speak_ their native language. (...) I have observed that advanced students that simply want to practice their speaking skills prefer natives English teachers. (...) I agree with the foreros above that said it doesn't matter whether the teacher is native or not, but surely if he/she is proficient.


 
Oh yes, I agree (soo much) with each one of those statements!



Etcetera said:


> Guess what?
> Sometimes, when my students ask me why they can't use this or that English wird in a given context, all I can tell them is "I don't know, really, but that just doesn't sound English!"
> Honestly, only when I started teaching English did I realise how often I choose words and make sentences almost automatically.


That sounds sooo familiar to me! 

You know, Anna? I think I didn't know how much English I _*really*_ *know* until I started *teaching* English. I first learned English in order to communicate. But, ah, what a difference, when I started preparing myself in order to *teach *English! There were so many things that I knew, but I just didn't know I knew them until I had to make others understand them!

Sometimes my students would ask crazy things to which I had no answer, and I would say "well, don't focus on the *why*, but focus on the *how*". The most proficient ones would always laugh! :wink: 

I believe that there are only five things that really matter, respecting this. To me, a good language teacher must:
1) Be really, really fluent and accurate in the target language.
2) Like teaching, enjoy teaching, be madly in love with teaching, be a passionate teacher, be resourceful, love the target language, make students fall in love with the language, bring all kind of aids to the classroom, help students enlarge their vocabulary, take them out and make them "touch" and "taste" the culture they're indirectly learning, encourage them to speak and write and listen and spell and read and.......  (Ok, Ok, I got carried away, yet again... I mean, s/he must be well trained and enjoy what s/he does)
3) Understand grammar rules and be able to explain them.
4) Be deeply in touch with the culture behind the language, and bring it up constantly.
5) Ok, *here* goes being a native speaker.

That's just my point of view, anyway. There's plenty of room for other opinions in here...


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## mcibor

gaer said:


> Some points:
> 
> 1) Some natives speak and write _*incorrectly*_ with great fluency.
> 2) Natives who speak and write very well may not understand grammar. They may do this by "feel".
> 3) Even natives who speak and write very well and who DO understand grammar may poor at explaining and very impatient.
> 
> Good teachers are hard to find! There are many native "teachers" who do more harm than good.
> 
> Gaer



I totally agree with you.
Therefore I think that it would be best to have two teachers simultaneously
- non-native for grammar, understanding of difficulties learning language and writing
- native for speaking, listening and slang/idiomatic words.

And certainly both should be teachers. Being just native doesn't mean that you can and should teach. But the same is with everything, even Maths or singing.

I had a great experience of learning to CAE and having a very good Pole for grammar, and a Canadian teacher, married to a Pole for other purposes.

Michal


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## Prinsesse

Personally I don't care whether my teacher is native or not - as long as s/he speaks the language fluently and knows how to teach


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## JGreco

I have always wanted to go into a program that a native English speakers (as myself) would go to another country and teach English to a class for a semester or two. I know programs exist like that. I have been interested in going to Brazil sometimes to do that but I have always hit a mental wall motivating myself from doing that which sometimes I wonder if it also prevents others from pursuing this too. I wonder if many of these English teachers are being sent to countries where they may or may not be so proficient in the native language enough to teach English to the students on their terms. I am a believer that a teacher going to a foreign country to teach another language such as english to natives of that country has to be proficient enough to teach his or her students while referring to the students native tongue. I always feared going to teach English in Brasil thinking I was proficient enough in Portuguese but only ending up talking like a four year old to my students eventhough my mothers been talking Portuguese all my life to me. Unfortunately, in the U.S there are not many colleges teaching Portuguese atleast in my area of the country. I would atleast like a refresher coarse before I go.


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## Aprinsă

I have only had one serious language teacher, in my opinion - yeah, yeah, took Spanish for three years in high school, but it was a joke as the teachers barely even spoke Spanish. I have learned French online through websites and sporadic conversations... and I like my accent, by the way. Other people seem to like it... Frankly, I just can't imagine learning French in class because the language has limitless (free) online resources.

I also learned Romanian online. I met a Romanian guy in a chatroom who _asked_ me to be his pupil! He had such an amazing command of his native language, and he was teaching me for free... heaven.  I would choose the equivalent of him any day. He explained most things in English because I was just a beginner, so a non-native was not necessary at all. Even though his English had a lot of errors, his explanations always clicked right away, and he had explanations for everything. Certainly I would never have as much confidence in a non-native as I did in him.

But... I think I wouldn't mind a non-native either... a guy like that is indeed hard to come by. I can't say much more than that due to my lack of experience with teachers, but I greatly appreciate all of your comments in the thread. I'm not really bent on becoming a language teacher, but I might do it for a while after I finish college until I find the right job. Certainly I will never teach my native language, so it's good to know that non-natives are appreciated as well.


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

JGreco said:


> (...) I have been interested in going to Brazil sometimes to do that but I have always hit a mental wall motivating myself from doing that which sometimes I wonder if it also prevents others from pursuing this too. I wonder if many of these English teachers are being sent to countries where they may or may not be so proficient in the native language enough to teach English to the students on their terms. I am a believer that a teacher going to a foreign country to teach another language such as english to natives of that country has to be proficient enough to teach his or her students while referring to the students native tongue. (...)


No, you're not alone  

Not too long ago, I was offerred a job in Bordeaux, France, as a Language Instructor.  I was supposed to teach English as well as Spanish, but my French is worse than terrible.  That, and the anti-foreigners policies (and spirit!) in the country, ended up dissuading me from doing so.

Whatever... I just thought it would be nice for you to know that there's someone who understands you, out there...


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