Chapter 22

Distinguishing Monolingual and

Multi-lingual Classes

In This Chapter

▶ Handling classes in which everyone speaks the same language

▶ Teaching multi-lingual classes

▶ Comparing two teaching situations – at home and abroad

E

nglish is English wherever you go but the nature of classes varies

tremendously. In this chapter I tell you about learning environments at

home and abroad and give you some tips on handling similar and diverse

students.

Speaking the Same: Monolingual Classes

In the majority of EFL courses, all the students speak the same native

language. These usually run in the students’ home land. These classes tend

to be larger in size than multi-lingual groups and the students are quite often

from the same background and age group as well.

Predicting errors

The advantage of teaching monolingual classes is you can fairly easily predict

problem areas, or L1 interference. L1 means first language – mother tongue, in

other words. L2 is a second or foreign language.

Most people who speak another language have an accent which reveals

where they’re from and usually make mistakes typical of anyone from the

same language group. Their mother tongue influences pronunciation, structure

and vocabulary. The good news is that because all the students have the

same problems it’s easier to predict what could go wrong.