English Please! The Monolingual Classroom

To comply with 21^st Century ESL class standards, we should have an “English Only Classroom.”  However, monolingual classes are difficult to execute.  It feels natural to explain in L1, rather than embrace 100% English in the classroom.  Getting the pupils to stop using L1 in class is also a difficult task.  In the face of so many difficulties, how can we create a monolingual classroom?

First, we need methods to (1) encourage English use and (2) creating opportunities to practice English in a monolingual classroom.  Check out these methods from Busy Teacher.

We also need some strategies for motivating students to speak in the monolingual classroom.

There is a controversy over whether it is better to teach in a monolingual versus multi-lingual groups, and I would like to discuss the issue with you further.  Please take the time to look over the  articles above and be prepared to discuss with me on my next school visit.

TQ!

Sarah Higgs, Jempol

This work by Sarah Higgs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Works Cited

British Council. (2014). Bristish Council BBC. Retrieved from Teaching English: Monolingual: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/monolingual

Busy Teacher. (2014). Speak English? But We All Speak Spanish! How to Teach the Monolingual English Class. Retrieved from Busy Teacher: http://busyteacher.org/15097-how-to-teach-monolingual-english-class.html

TEFL Teaching Monolingual Versus Multilingual Groups. (2014). Retrieved from International TESOL & TEFL Training: http://www.teflcorp.com/articles/87-tefl-teaching-monolingual-vs-multi-lingual-groups/271-teaching-monolingual-versus-multi-lingual-groups.htm