Search from various English teachers...
Hawash
Do I understand this right ?! I have known that "English Teacher" is different from "Teacher of English".Since, The first one is about the nationality of the teacher but the second is about the kind of course that teacher teaches. Isn't it ?? If yes ,Means that : " Im taking an English course " is wrong ! and "Im talking a course of English " is right !
Jul 12, 2016 6:26 AM
Answers · 6
2
"English Teacher" is different from "Teacher of English" . The first one is about the nationality of the teacher but the second is about the kind of course that teacher teaches. Isn't it ?? No. Not necessarily. In fact, in most cases, they mean the same. You're right that 'teacher of English' means that the person teaches English. But the point about 'English teacher' is that it is ambiguous. 'English teacher' has two possible meanings: It could refer to the person's nationality : an 'English teacher' as opposed to a Canadian teacher or a Mexican teacher. But it could also refer to the subject which they teach : an 'English teacher' as opposed to a 'geography teacher'. In fact, this is the more common use - probably 99% of the time when we say 'English teacher' we mean a person who teaches the English language or English literature to students. Now, here's the clever part... In spoken English, we can usually tell the difference between the two meanings of 'English teacher'. This is why: If we say 'an English teacher' to refer to the person's nationality, 'English' is an adjective and 'teacher' is a noun, so we stress the noun: teacher. But if we say 'an English teacher' to refer to the subject taught, 'English' is a noun ( like geography or mathematics). This makes 'English teacher' a compound noun, so we stress the first noun: English. At least, that's how it should work. Among native speakers, we use and understand stress instinctively, and there is rarely any confusion. If there is, we can then make the situation clear by offering the alternative phrasing, 'teacher of English'. And of course the term 'English course' isn't wrong! Nor is 'English vocabulary'. 'English grammar', 'English exam', 'English book', 'English test', 'English lesson', or any of the other common phrases referring to the language.
July 12, 2016
1
Hi Mostafa Well, essentially the terms are interchangeable. Both an English Teacher and a Teacher of English has to follow some kind of course, although if you are looking for a distinction, I would say that an English Teacher would teach more than just grammar, verbs, nouns and tenses but English culture, Literature and Creative Writing, while a Teacher of English focuses more on the 4 fundamentals of English which are Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing, preferably in that order.
July 12, 2016
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