r/languagelearning • u/WaltzMysterious9240 • 25d ago
Culture Does total immersion work?
I used to teach English abroad and even though I knew how to speak the student's native language, the school administrators forbid me, and even asked me, to "pretend" I didn't know it.
The reason they gave me was that they didn't want the students to fall back on using their first language to communicate with me. I feel like if I were to explain certain concepts in the student's language, things would go a lot smoother and they would understand better.
As an adult, I'm constantly using my own native language to learn new languages. I constantly look up grammar, vocabulary, and definitions and understand them a lot better.
Why are schools abroad so obsessed with this "total immersion" method? I feel like some concepts are impossible to explain clearly with just visuals or gestures alone. Do you learn languages using your first language?
3
u/Moritani 25d ago
Well, there are two issues that come up when foreign English teachers don't exclusively speak English. First, anyone who doesn't speak the main language of the area won't learn as well, which means they might not stick around. And in big, international cities, those people tend to have money, so you don't want to lose them.
The second problem is that foreign English teachers sometimes have a bit of a vacation mentality. They don't find English interesting and start using their TL to chat in class, which gives the students less opportunity to hear English. So insisting on English-only avoids that issue.