The ELT Gypsy

No, students do not learn English faster if you ban them from using their native language in the classroom. The “English only” approach is racist and xenophobic, in addition to being ineffective.

Think of it this way, you’re at the edge of a cliff – your language. On the other side if the language you intend to learn. You use your native language to bridge the gap. I take that away. That’s “English only.”

English Language Learners (ELLs) have a right to maintain their native language while residing in an English speaking country, and disallowing that is a basic human rights violation. 

Language facilitates one’s access to their culture and history. By disallowing one to use their own language, you are denying them the ability to communicate across generations and maintain their identity.

Not everyone’s goal is to master English, but learning English is necessary in order to access many of the resources in English speaking countries. Learning English is about survival, not about pleasing you. 

In the case of refugees, many want to return to their home country. They can’t due to natural or unnatural causes. Some choose to stay and become citizens, others only want to learn what they need to survive.  

Being bilingual or multilingual doesn’t significantly delay one’s ability to get work done. It doesn’t make one deficient, and treating multilingualism as a problem has ableist, xenophobic, and racist implications. 

While appreciating the skill it takes to be able to communicate in more than one language isn’t a bad thing, treating monolingualism as inferior can have ableist, xenophobic, and racist implications too. 

Not every language has a writing system, so don’t be surprised if you run into adult ELLs who do not have fine motor skills. That doesn’t mean they’re less intelligent than you, though.

Some may have stronger oral language capabilities because oral tradition is more important in their culture. Some may have stronger memorization skills because rote learning is valued. etc. etc. etc.

Similar to evolution, while some languages are certainly more complex than others, complexity =/= superiority. The effectiveness of a language isn’t measured in its complexity. It merely needs to be useful. 

Language needs to be explicitly taught to make content accessible. Math English is different from History English is different from Science English is different from English Language Arts. 

If you want someone to understand a concept taught through English, you need to understand that it’s your job to explicitly identify terms, explain relationships between words, etc. in order to make it accessible. 

Finally, English is not “the most difficult language.” The difficulty of a language is all relative to the learner, e.g. how closely related languages are in orthography, grammar, context, mutual intelligibility, etc. 

Signed,

aberration (n.) Something that differs from the norm

“In 1974 Poland won the World Cup, but the success turned out to be an aberration and Poland has not won a World Cup since.”

abhor (v.) to hate, detest

“Because he always got hit in the head when he tried to play cricket, Martin began to abhor the sport.”

abhorrent (adj.) vile, detestable

acquiesce (v.) to agree without protesting

“Though Mr. Pospieszny wanted to stay outside and work, when his wife told him to come inside for dinner he acquiesced to her demands.”

acquiescence (n.) peaceful agreement, compliance

alacrity (n.) eagerness, speed

“Simon loved to help his boyfriend whenever he could, so when his boyfriend asked him to set the table he did so with alacrity.”

amiable (adj.) friendly

“An amiable fellow, Neil got along with just about everyone.”

appease (v.) to calm, to satisfy

“When the baby cries, his mother gives him a pacifier to appease him.”

arcane (adj.) obscure, secret, known only by a few

“The professor is an expert in arcane Kashubian literature.”

avarice (n.) excessive greed

“The banker’s avarice led him to amass an enormous personal fortune.”

brazen (adj.) excessively bold, brash, clear and obvious 

“Critics condemned the writer’s brazen attempt to plagiarise Frankow-Czerwonko’s work.”

brusque (adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive

“Simon’s brusque manner sometimes offends his colleagues.”

brusqueness (n.) the quality of being brusque, abrupt or dismissive

cajole (v.) to urge, coax, convince

“Magda’s friends cajoled her into drinking too much.”

cajoling (adj.) describes one who cajoles or tries to convince

callous (adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling

“The murderer’s callous lack of remorse shocked the jury.”

callousness (n.) the quality of being callous or harsh

candor (n.) honesty, frankness

“We were surprised by the candor of the politician’s speech because she is usually rather evasive.”

chide (v.) to voice disapproval, to scold

“Hania chided Gregory for his vulgar habits and sloppy appearance.”

clandestine (adj.) secret

“Announcing to her boyfriend that she was going to the library, Maria actually went to meet George for a clandestine liaison.”

coerce (v.) to make somebody do something by force or threat

“The court decided that David Beckham did not have to honor the contract because he had been coerced into signing it.”

coercion (n.) act of coercing or forcing someone to do something

coherent (adj.) logical, consistent, intelligible, understandable

“William could not figure out what Harold had seen because he was too  distraught to say a coherent sentence.”

coherence (n.) the quality of being coherent, clear or logical

complacency (n.) self-satisfied ignorance of danger (or indifference to danger)

“Lucas tried to shock his friends out of their complacency by painting a frightening picture of what might happen to them.”

complacent (adj.) describes a person who is ignorant of danger, one who behaves with indifference

For all my super cool advanced english speakers + some natives (I didn’t know a few of these actually!) out there I made this little guide based on some of the stuff I’ve been learning through my American College Test™ preparation program. I basically just condensed it to keep it brief and changed the examples to be less academic sounding and more realistic, but if you would like more let me know!! 

Accept & Except

(v.) Accept is a verb that means “to agree to receive something.

(p.) Except is usually a preposition that means “excluding”

(v.) Except, used as a verb, means “to omit or leave out.”

Principal & Principle

(n.) Principal is a noun meaning “the head of a school or an organization.”

(n.) Principal, used as a noun, can also mean “a sum of money.”

(adj.) Principal can also be used as an adjective to mean “first, primary, leading,”

(n.) Principle is a noun meaning “a basic truth or law.”

That & Which

That is used before necessary clauses. Do not use commas before that. One uses “that” when the meaning of the sentence would change if one took out the clause that follows “that.”

 + “Dogs that have long tails are very cute!” (If you remove the clause following that, “Dogs are very cute!”) 

Which before unnecessary clauses. Commas are required before the word which, which is used before unnecessary clauses. While a which clause may offer more detail, the meaning of the sentence won’t change if you remove it.

 + The dogs, which I thought were cute, had already ate their breakfast today. (If you remove the clause following which you would be left with: “The dogs had already eaten their breakfast today,” the meaning is unchanged. This is also called an unrestrictive clause.)

Lay & Lie

(v.) Lay means “to put” and takes a direct object.

(v.) Lay means “to build” and takes a direct object.

(v.) Lay means “to produce” and takes a direct object.

(v.) Lie means “to recline, rest, or stay,” or “to take a position of rest” and does not take a direct object.

(v.) Lie means “to be located” and does not take a direct object.

Both “lay” and “lie” have past tense forms—the past tense form of “lay” is “laid,” while the past tense form of “lie” is “lay.” (VERY IMPORTANT)

Among & Between

(p.) Among is used to discuss multiple objects that are not distinct (not countable). It indicates the subject is in the vicinity of objects or people, but does not give the subject’s exact location.

 + “Fear spread among the students upon finding out about a pop quiz scheduled for later that afternoon.” 

(p.) Between is used to describe a set of distinct (countable), separately named objects. It also gives the precise location of the subject - the subject is between specific objects.

 + “She had to choose between skipping class and possibly failing the pop quiz” 

(v.) = verb

(n.) = noun

(p.) = preposition

(adj.) = adjective