Class TESOL TEFL

Non-native monolingual class Studying English is a heated topic in Japan these days. We used to start studying English when we were at junior high, and most of the classes were taught by japanese teachers. We studied mainly English grammar for a long time, however recently the preference has shifted to conversation skills. And the starting age of studying English is getting younger and more native English speaking teachers are needed right now. I believe that the non-native speaking teacher can be a wonderful teacher however they are not welcomed in a lot of situations for many reasons. English is now required at elementary school for 5th and 6th grade since April, 2011. Also a lot of parents try to have their kids study it when they are younger than 1 year old. Some mothers listen to English for prenatal training. They believe that language development will be finished around 12 years old and for this global world they need to have English skills for their baby?s future business success. Most of these parents also believe that conversation skills are more important than grammar for English learning and tend to put their kids into the native speakers? atmosphere. Most of the schools used to ask ALT (Assistant Language Teacher). These teachers are native speakers but not all of them have teaching experience or a license to teach English. Now the classroom teacher, who is a non-native english speaker, is teaching English beginning April, 2011 at elementary schools. The reason for starting English class at elementary school is to develop japanese people?s English conversation skills. However, a lot of parents have concerns about whether japanese teachers can teach English well enough to develop their children?s skills sufficiently. The need is for native speakers but it?s hard to hire enough native speakers for every school. Under this pressure, a lot of japanese elementary school teachers are uncomfortable teaching English because they think they cannot pronounce or listen well enough to teach English. But I believe that learning English is not just about being able to talk and listen. Understanding English is one of the most important skills and for that grammar is a necessity. In Japan a lot of people say that they don?t want to be taught English by a japanese teacher because native speakers are ?better?, but this is a misunderstanding. They may pronounce words correctly, but they don?t always use correct grammar. This is especially common of those who don?t have any teaching background. japanese teachers may have a problem for speaking and listening but they can teach grammar well because they were taught mainly grammar when they were at school. They also understand the students? difficulties and the main differences between japanese and English. native speakers have difficulty understanding why the students don?t understand or cannot pronounce correctly. It is not their fault, because they have never had such difficulties speaking their own language. I have had experience teaching japanese to japanese learners but sometimes I couldn?t understand the purpose of their question and have said ?just because.? I know that this is the worst comment for the language learners but I couldn?t understand what the problem was. I don?t want to say that non-native speaking teachers are better teachers for TEFL, however I would like to say they can be a great teacher who understand students? feelings. In conclusion, non-native speaking English teachers are also needed to teach grammar, especially in a monolingual EFL class. They are also needed for beginners because they understand what their difficulties are. I would like to say that a non-native speaking teacher is just as important as a native speaking English teacher in monolingual EFL classes. Elementary school English: Ready or Not http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20090305f1.html Nonnative-English-Speaking teachers in the English Teaching Profession http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0209maum.html Everything about Elementary school English http://www.genkienglish.net/basics.htm Assistant Language Teacher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assistant_Language_Teacher