Using a student’s native language when teaching English

It’s a common belief in the ESL community that when you teach English, you should not use a student’s native language (it is thought that their native language, also called L1, will become a crutch). Personally, I believe that this view is sorely misguided. Judicious use of a student’s native language can accelerate their learning of English and increase their retention.

               Let’s make a quick analogy. Say you wanted to learn a new language, German perhaps. Would you choose a teacher who can speak English or one who cannot? Clearly you would choose someone who can speak English. Someone who cannot speak English can pretty easily teach you words like apple, broccoli, house, cow, rain. (Anything you can see is quite easy to teach.) But what about the words for “peace,” “entropy,” or even “learn.” Of course there are ways to teach these words without translation, and in some situations it must be done because there is no other choice. But teaching through translation is definitely going to be faster.

               I’ve been learning Chinese for a few years now, and my primary method for learning is to use flashcards to add words to my vocabulary. I have a flashcard app on my phone and I also use physical flash cards. These cards allow me to connect Chinese words with English words in my mind. Over time as I use the Chinese words, they come naturally without thinking about the English words, but in the beginning, that connection is critical. For this reason, when I teach my students new words I often tell them to practice the words as a “Chinese sandwich,” which means: say the word in English, say it in Chinese, then say it again in English (English-Chinese-English). The purpose of this is to develop two connections. The first is from the English word to the Chinese word (thus why they say the English word first). This helps them to remember what a word in English means when they hear it or read it. The second connection is from Chinese to English (thus why they also say the English word last). This helps them to remember what word in English to use when they are speaking or writing. If it’s a new word for them, they will naturally think of the Chinese word first, and this connection guides them into the English word they need. Over time their mind will go straight to the English word. I believe this technique is very helpful to them for learning vocabulary.

               There’s another reason that using a student’s native language can be helpful which is more about emotions. When you use a student’s native language, you show that you are also trying to learn a language (theirs). This helps to make a connection with the student because they can see that you are going through the same thing they are, the very difficult process of learning a language. Also it shows them that you see the value in their language and culture, which can cultivate a feeling of mutual respect.

               I want to talk about ways to use a student’s native language but first let’s talk about when not to do so, because those situations exist as well:

1.      Your employer forbids it. There are quite a few employers or schools that have a policy of forbidding the native language. It might even be part of their advertising pitch. While I think this policy is misguided, if you’re in this situation, it’s better to follow the policy.

2.      Your student doesn’t want to use their native language. Sometimes your student will request that you only use English. This is a good opportunity to discuss with them the pros and cons of such a policy, but if they only want to speak English, that’s actually not something to discourage, so stick with English, even if sometimes you could go faster the other way.

3.      Your students have several native languages. Sometimes, especially in an English speaking country, an ESL class will have learners from several different countries or language backgrounds. In this situation, trying to use the native languages of all of them would be a waste of time and using the native language of one or two of them would be unfair to the rest. Best to just use English. If you teach in this environment, my hat is off to you. I know from experience that it is quite difficult. It’s like scaling a mountain that has never been climbed before. If you are looking for training on this type of situation, I found that the CELTA course was very helpful.

How to use your students’ native language

Here are some ideas for how to incorporate your students’ language into your teaching. The first three can be done by anyone, even if you know hardly any of the students’ native language, because it just means you are learning vocabulary words in their language at the same pace that they are learning English. That’s doable, right?

1.      Chinese sandwich: see above description. Adjust the flavor of sandwich to fit your students’ native language. I tell my students to use this technique to practice vocabulary, and I use an “English sandwich” to practice Chinese vocabulary myself.

2.      Vocabulary teaching and practice: When I teach some important words, I will often pass out a sheet with those words in English and Chinese. I will also include the English definition, because it’s also important for students to be able to understand and make their own definitions in English. When I am reviewing vocabulary, I will sometimes put the words in a PowerPoint. One slide will be the Chinese word and I will say, “What is this in English?” (or vice versa). Then the next slide has the word in English. Or during a class, I might mention a word in Chinese and ask, “What is that in English?” or sometimes say the word in English and then say, “What is that in Chinese?” However, if I ask someone to tell me the Chinese word, I will usually also ask them to define or explain the word in English as well, so as to make sure that they are not too dependent on translation.

3.      Tests: Usually the first section of my test or quiz is about vocabulary. I will sometimes structure the question so that it says, “Here are some words in English. Provide the Chinese translation then give a definition in English. Half credit for the Chinese translation. Full credit for the translation and a correct definition.” Or I might to a similar thing with Chinese words (but they always have to use English to define) or mix English and Chinese words.

The following two techniques require a bit higher level of knowledge of your students’ native language, but are quite useful. Use these ideas as motivation to improve your skill in their language. It’s worth it, especially if you live in a country that speaks that language.

4.      Translation practice: I used to teach a class of very low level English speakers. When they would read something, I would have no idea whether they understood it or not. So I started an activity in class where each student would read a passage in English (after I pre-teach the vocabulary from it), and then the student would translate it into Chinese. This class only had a few students so I was able to have every student do it in one class period. This technique was very effective because every student would have a chance to practice reading (and pronouncing) an English passage, and by his or her translation I would know whether the passage was understood. I would have the better students go first, which would give the very low level students I guide to follow when they did the exercise.

5.      Explanation: Although this article talks a lot about using a student’s native language, when I teach, I mostly speak in English. That’s what the students are there for, after all. Occasionally though, there might be a concept which flies right over the heads of your students, even if you explain it repeatedly. In this situation, I might use Chinese to explain what I’m saying then go back and explain it in English. This allows everyone to get on the same page without delaying the class too long. Generally, this will occur in a lower level class. For higher level classes, you can stick with explaining in English.

Those are my techniques for using my students’ language in my classroom for teaching English (or teaching another subject, if my students have a different language than the subject matter). I hope these ideas will be useful to you. If you have always held the idea that when you’re teaching English you should only use English, I suggest you take a second look at that idea. I think their native language is another tool to help make your teaching more effective.