{"id":1587,"date":"2011-04-29T14:13:15","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T13:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltchat.com\/?p=1587"},"modified":"2011-04-29T14:13:15","modified_gmt":"2011-04-29T13:13:15","slug":"non-native-english-speaker-teachers-and-their-insecurities-about-teaching-a-language-which-is-not-their-mother-tongue-eltchat-summary-27072011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2011\/04\/29\/non-native-english-speaker-teachers-and-their-insecurities-about-teaching-a-language-which-is-not-their-mother-tongue-eltchat-summary-27072011\/","title":{"rendered":"Non Native English Speaker Teachers and their insecurities about teaching a language which is not their mother tongue #ELTchat summary 27\/04\/2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>On 27 April at 9pm BST, #ELTchat tackled the topic \u2018Non-native teachers of English and their insecurities about teaching a language that is not their mother tongue!\u2019 This was the favourite topic this #ELTchat with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/eltchat.com\/2011\/04\/24\/what-would-you-like-to-talk-about-on-april-27th\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">36% of the vote<\/a>. This summary was first posted on Mike Harrison&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mikejharrison.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">blog <\/a> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/harrisonmike\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@harrisonmike <\/a>on Twitter &#8211;\u00a0and it is reproduced here with his kind permission.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Thanks Mike! <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>At first it seemed that the exact focus of the chat had been missed \u2013 everyone was discussing the relative benefits and disadvantages of being either a native or non-native speaker of English as a teacher, rather than identifying any insecurities either group may have.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 407px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/photo4jenifer\/4273199940\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mikejharrison.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Insecure.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"397\" height=\"265\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Insecure by Photo4jenifer on Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p>@naomishema #eltchat Hi all! I work with a lot of NNesters and they have the advantage of having grown up in the system , know SS point of view well<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>However, after a quick reminder, we all got back on topic. Some insecurities that NNESTs had were identified as (brackets indicate #ELTchatters I think put forward these ideas in nice succinct tweet-form \u2013 and where I have been able to identify this in the transcript!):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>pronunciation, and in particular accuracy thereof and of being able to \u2018pronounce words [they may] never have heard before\u2019 (@hakan_sentrk), and especially\u2026<\/li>\n<li>dealing with different dialects and accents in English-speaking countries and around the world (@ShellTerrell), and\u2026<\/li>\n<li>general confidence using the language, especially when they might be \u2018corrected by someone with a \u201chow dare you\u201d look?\u2019 upon making a mistake (@hakan_sentrk)<\/li>\n<li>dealing with collocations (@pacogascon)<\/li>\n<li>dealing with a climate where the learners (for whatever reason) want a native-speaker teacher<\/li>\n<li>@ShellTerrell also mentioned colleagues she knew who hadn\u2019t been allowed to speak at conferences as they were not native speakers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, I think that areas where NNESTs might be more confident with\u00a0were also identified:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>dealing with grammar (or perhaps, more accurately described, dealing with FORM) (@Marisa_C), because of\u2026<\/li>\n<li>understanding learners\u2019 errors better as they share an L1 and have grown up in an English language learning environment perhaps somewhat\u00a0like their learners (@naomishema)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some mention was also made of the relative NESTness and NNESTness of private and state-provided EFL, that is, the fact that there are relatively few native-speaker teachers in state EFL in some countries and the teaching body is predominately made up of non-native English speakers. When you look at private language schools where EFL is taught, the native speaker is king\/queen. However, that is probably a question for another #ELTchat!<\/p>\n<p>So, how can NNESTs deal with these insecurities. These were suggestions put forward (as tweeted):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>@tarabenwell: @harrisonmike @Marisa_C\u00a0[&#8230;] we can all improve by focusing on \u201cintelligibility\u201d rather than\u00a0 \u201caccent\u201d. #ELTChat<\/p>\n<p>@maikelfontes: RT @harrisonmike: Teachers can get a wide range of accents to listen to from podcasts like the BBC ones:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/podcasts\">http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/podcasts<\/a> #eltchat #pronunciation<\/p>\n<p>@BethCagnol: RT @divyabrochier: #eltchat I think it\u2019s healthy to use materials that show worldwide uses of Eng to debunk the myth that it belongs to any one culture\/nation<\/p>\n<p>@divyabrochier: RT @Marisa_C: So LOADS of listening \u2013 and more listening and more listening \u2013 and KARAOKE! #ELTchat for pronunciation practice<\/p>\n<p>@lolonagi: @Marisa_C\u00a0 recording ur self audacity and listeing to ur recording #eltchat<\/p>\n<p>@japglish: @Marisa_C\u00a0 skype based language exchanges for free #eltchat<\/p>\n<p>@mkofab: Think we should do what we tell\u00a0 r stds.Read,listen,learn,study,travel,communicate with NS in every possible way.Create PLN with NS #ELTchat<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In addition to those above, some great links were shared:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<li>On NNESTs:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/lunas994.blogspot.com\/2010\/11\/raised-by-nnests.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Raised by NNESTs<\/a> by Natasa Bozic<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/kenwilsonelt.wordpress.com\/2009\/10\/19\/in-the-next-post\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The NEST\/non-NEST debate<\/a> by Ken Wilson<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.teachingenglish.org.uk\/forum-topic\/any-obstacles-non-native-english-speaking-teachers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Any obstacles for non-native English-speaking teachers<\/a> on the TeachingEnglish forum<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>On pronunciation:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/iatefl.britishcouncil.org\/2011\/sessions\/2011-04-18\/session-robin-walker-pronunciation-matters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Session by Robin Walker at IATEFL 2011: Pronunciation matters!<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.englishclub.com\/pronunciation\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">My EnglishClub pronunciation activities<\/a> from Tara Benwell<\/li>\n<li>@Cybraryman1 AKA Jerry Blumengarten\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/cybraryman.com\/pronunciation.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pronunciation page<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.englishcentral.com\/register?redirect=\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">English Central<\/a>, which has some good self-access practice activities<\/li>\n<li>Not tweeted, but sent to me after the chat by Elizabeth Anne:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/eannegrenoble.posterous.com\/eltchat-nnests-and-pronuntiation-an-unpublish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Krashen\u2019s conjecture on pronunciation<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: right;\">by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mikejharrison.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Harrison<\/a><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: right;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/harrisonmike\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@harrisonmike <\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 27 April at 9pm BST, #ELTchat tackled the topic \u2018Non-native teachers of English and their insecurities about teaching a language that is not their mother tongue!\u2019 This was the favourite topic this #ELTchat with\u00a036% of the vote. This summary was first posted on Mike Harrison&#8217;s blog &#8211; @harrisonmike on Twitter &#8211;\u00a0and it is reproduced&hellip; <br \/> <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2011\/04\/29\/non-native-english-speaker-teachers-and-their-insecurities-about-teaching-a-language-which-is-not-their-mother-tongue-eltchat-summary-27072011\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[21,63,71,101,102],"class_list":["post-1587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summary","tag-business-english","tag-grammar","tag-language-awareness","tag-professional-development","tag-pronunciation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}