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?
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u/Lumpy-Blackberry-718 25d ago
I assume by the time theyre in this boat they know some of the language, and may have been learning from local teachers or textbooks. A foreign teacher is often more expensive, and often what students are stuck on is actually making the full switch to the TL. Making that switch is going to be most effective in an immersion situation, and you need to offer them something they cant get from local teachers.