I have always wondered how the various teaching paradigms offered by teachers and the distinct learning approaches adopted by students align on this platform.

Are teachers expected to have a solid grounding in linguistics and complete a teaching certification, in addition to showing empathy?

How do you feel about using bilingual texts compared to total immersion?

Setting aside financial concerns, what would the ideal language-learning schedule look like?

What is the most challenging aspect of both teaching and learning a language, based on your personal experience?

Question

I have always wondered how the various teaching paradigms offered by teachers and the distinct learning approaches adopted by students align on this platform.

Are teachers expected to have a solid grounding in linguistics and complete a teaching certification, in addition to showing empathy?

How do you feel about using bilingual texts compared to total immersion?

Setting aside financial concerns, what would the ideal language-learning schedule look like?

What is the most challenging aspect of both teaching and learning a language, based on your personal experience?

Answer

(to be continued)
The most challenging issue regarding the teaching language and the language that students are learning is that the teacher hopes that students can reach the same proficiency level in the target language as they do in their mother tongue. Achieving this is the greatest success for a teacher!

Therefore, the teacher can present the most difficult and complex language (this is easy because this language is the teacher's mother tongue) for students to translate and understand (by breaking it into many simple sentences). By examining these different simple sentences (which may inevitably be wordy), and through the overall logical language effect of these simple sentence patterns, the teacher can tell whether the students have thoroughly understood the meaning of the complex sentence. This is no easy task and requires the teacher to "meticulously carve" their own mother tongue!.

Answer

Even if there are such teachers, their proficiency in the foreign language (the students' mother tongue) is also very limited and far from reaching the level of the students' mother tongue!

④ Setting aside financial concerns, what would the ideal language-learning schedule look like?

My answer:

Let's put aside the issue of teachers' teaching fees for now. Take me as an example. As a foreign language learner (I'm learning English), I'm not satisfied with the current English teaching approach. It must be recognized that when students are learning English, they mainly rely on their own efforts at first. There are English grammar books, and students also have local English teachers. (To be honest, the English proficiency of local English teachers is indeed limited. They only teach the limited content in the "teaching syllabus," and learners can teach themselves just by reading books.) Therefore, strictly speaking, the teacher's task is not about how to teach, but rather to solve the difficult problems raised by students. Different students have different difficulties. Some are very simple, while others are quite complex. They vary widely and have no fixed pattern. So, it's impossible for a teacher to meet the learners' urgent needs according to their own teaching plans. Thus, a teacher should be someone who can "resolve doubts" for students, especially by solving the problems raised by students and providing in-depth explanations. Explain the reasons for the solutions and expand on the problem comprehensively, so that students can find "isotopes or allotropes" of other similar grammatical structures, rather than adopting a narrow teaching method that only focuses on the problem at hand.

⑤ What is the most challenging aspect of both teaching and learning a language, based on your personal experience?

​My answer:

The most challenging issue regarding the teaching language and the language that students are learning is that the teacher hopes…(to be continued)

Answer

① I have always wondered how the various teaching paradigms offered by teachers and the distinct learning approaches adopted by students align on this platform.

My answer:

These questions are better answered by foreign language learners who are currently studying or have already had the experience. Strictly speaking, it is not decided by teachers, because these answers are very effective and practical.

② Are teachers expected to have a solid grounding in linguistics and complete a teaching certification, in addition to showing empathy?

My answer:

Teachers of foreign languages should preferably use their mother tongue as the teaching language. (For example, for American or British foreign language teachers, the language they teach with is English.) They have the greatest command of their mother tongue. Since the language that students learn, speak, or write is the teacher's mother tongue, the teacher can tell at a glance whether it makes sense and conforms to grammar.

However, since it is for teaching, and 99% of foreign language learners study foreign languages through grammar (which is also the only correct way), it is recommended that teachers must also study and be proficient in the grammar of their own mother tongue. Only in this way can teaching be the most effective, enabling students to absorb and understand fundamentally, and helping students improve to the greatest extent.

③ How do you feel about using bilingual texts compared to total immersion?

My answer:
Of course, the best foreign language teachers are proficient in two languages: their own mother tongue and the language that students are learning. However, the latter is rather difficult. So, the most successful teachers are those who become proficient in the learners' mother tongue through their own learning. In this way, a'seamless connection' can be achieved between the two languages during teaching. Unfortunately, there are really very few teachers in this regard. Even if…(to be continued)

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