A native speaker student in my class

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ESL forum > Ask for help > A native speaker student in my class

A native speaker student in my class

marykate

A native speaker student in my class

Hi dear partners, I hope you can help me. I �m an English teacher at a school in Spain. I have an English native speaker student in the 5th grade of Primary Education. He also can speak Spanish perfectly. For me it is great that he is in my classes, because the rest of children are listening a native pronunciation everyday and he can provide us with very positive things. Sometimes he acts as a teacher in my class, giving them instructions, pronouncing words, helping his partners, etc... The problem arises when I have to teach the rest some contents he already knows, such as grammar points, vocabulary practice, copy some activities... He always asks to me.. "but.. Teacher.. Must I also do that? I already know it.." Indeed, he is completely right.. He knows everything I explain, but what can I do?? I don �t want he gets bored... Could you give me some ideas or tips to solve this situation?? Thanks 😊😊

4 Oct 2018

Istruka

Hi!

I �m an English teacher in Portugal and last year I also had a native speaker in one of my classes. She was raised in Portugal but she was a fluent speaker with a Manchester accent. She was great speaking but not so good in writing.

In my opinion you should test him to the limit and then start from there. You will probably have to use advanced materials with him, or maybe focus more on cultural aspects rather than grammar and vocabulary. But the important thing is to know how much he really knows.

I hope I helped you! Good luck...

Marta

4 Oct 2018

stiofan

In Spain, Spanish students also have Spanish language classes where they have to look at all angles of the language. Your student although has a very good grasp of how to communicate in English thanks to the fact that his parents are from England and he too may be from England but the question you should ask your self is does he understand the reasoning behind the use of grammar etc, can he express his ideas in writing. I have had the experience of working with children of native parents, it was fantastic, but only when the student realised that he was just another student in the class and had to pull his weight just like the rest. No matter how good his English is there is always something new to learn especially when it comes to theory. I am sure he makes mistakes which along with his classmates must be shown where he is going wrong or he will have problems when it comes to doing exams. Whether it is an exam set by you or another institution. At first it seems wow a native student and look how he talks and understands but it is important that the student understand he needs to be able to replicate those abilities with the other parts of language learning. I �m sorry it I am waffling on too much, simply put see how good his other skills are and try to show him that he does have a lot more to learn about his glorious language.

5 Oct 2018

FrauSue

I agree - native speakers are often good orally, but need support in writing. I would suggest that you get hold of some workbooks for British schoolchildren of his age and get him to complete the tasks in them while his classmates are completing their classwork.

The CGP series is very good. Click here and scroll down to the Year 5 workbooks - there are workbooks for reading comprehension, writing skills and word power, all of which could be useful for your student.

5 Oct 2018

lenilele

One of tricks in a multilevel classroom that I use is to make them teach the others. When they are getting prepared for a presentation, they usually find something that they had not learnt before. You can use them as your assisstant and ask them for example how much is needed to teach the students. But of course, the student needs to mature enough to be handed over with such responsibility. (Otherwise I agree with all above stated.)

5 Oct 2018

RabbitWho

Give him a book to read or a project to work on, find out what he �s interested in and give him a book or magazine article on that topic then have him write about it or do a mini-presentation for the class. So many teachers are two insecure to do this, or the principal of their school doesn �t allow them. The students end up learning nothing in class and when they become teenagers they start to act out in frustration.

5 Oct 2018

RabbitWho

*too

5 Oct 2018

dawnmain

I am English and live in Galicia. My son is biingual in theory, but he can still learn from studying at school. He knows what grammar feels right, but not why.

Find out what your student is interested in, ie football, music, whatever.

As suggested above, he needs to have material that would be used for a native speaker in UK or for an advanced ESL learner.

In the international school I work in, we use Cambridge Primary books for the primary natives and Cambridge Global or Macmillan English for the ESL students.

Reading comprehension and writing is what he probably needs, but also grammar and vocab gapfills could be useful. Collins Reading Comprehension books are good.

Im sure he wont know all the irregular verbs and may not get conditional sentences totally correct.

hope that helps

5 Oct 2018

marykate

THOUSANDS THANKS for your answers, you are really nice partners!!

I totally agree with you, I will look for an advanced book speacial for him. I loved the books you recommended me, I think they can be a very good possibility, Actually, I am going to buy some of them to try and apart from this I will look for topics related to my student �s interests, he loves subjects such as Artificial Intelligence, robots, space and so on. Therefore I will focus my syllabus for him on that ideas.

Thank you very much for your opinion, they have been really useful for me. Kisses

7 Oct 2018

ldthemagicman

Marykate:

I am a native UK English speaker, who teaches English. I usually teach TESOL, but I also teach English to native English speakers, children and adults.

Very generally speaking, large numbers of English people of my acquaintance speak English ungrammatically. Their ability to explain grammar, and to use grammar correctly, especially written grammar, is often almost non-existent.

I agree with all of the excellent suggestions that you have been given by the other teachers.

In addition, if your student is as good as you say, at both English and Spanish, put him to the test!

Obtain four books, (preferably Children�s Stories, suitable for your class), with identical text, two in English, two in Spanish. (A good alternative, would be to buy ONE dual-language book for you, and photocopy appropriate pages from it for your student, for each lesson.)

In class, you let him use one book, for that lesson, in Spanish. You have two books, with identical text, in English and Spanish.

At the end of the lesson, he DOES NOT keep the book, he RETURNS it to you.

You have the ADVANTAGE over him! You have previously read both copies of both texts, and now have a good knowledge of the grammar, vocabulary, etc. IN BOTH LANGUAGES!

He reads the first sentence in Spanish ... you correct his pronunciation where necessary, ask questions about Spanish grammar, etc.

If you wish, you read your copy to the class, aloud, in Spanish.

Now, you ask him to translate the sentence into perfect English ... and ask questions about English grammar, spellings, pronunciation, etc. (because you have the English text in front of you!)

If you wish, you read your copy to the class, aloud, in English.

You invite the other students to ask questions of him, etc.

Continue with the next sentence.

If you wish, pass HIS book to the next student to have a try.

At the next lesson:

He is given one book, in English. You have two books, in Spanish and in English.

Now, he reads in English and must translate into perfect Spanish!

You correct his Spanish, and so on.

You are learning, he is learning, and the rest of the class are learning.

I hope that this helps you.

Les Douglas.

8 Oct 2018

marykate

Thank you very much for your suggestions too, Les. I �m so grateful for all your help.

9 Oct 2018

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