Using the Mother Tongue

Students bring different skills and knowledge to the language classroom, but one of the most important resources they possess - their own first language - is often underused or even ignored. The use of the mother tongue in the foreign language classroom has often been officially discouraged. In the past it was felt that students were not learning the target language if they were speaking their own. But the process of observing the target language and learning how it works can be dramatically enhanced if students mother tongue is used in the right way. Using the Mother Tongue makes the case for the appropriate use of students own language to improve their efficiency, speed and enjoyment of their learning. The book provides ideas and guidelines on when and how to use the mother tongue encourages teachers to appreciate the real benefits of this approach raises awareness of areas of similarity and difference between languages provides a wealth of ready-to-use activities and advice for teachers The 115 activities in the book provide material for use by native speaker and non-native speaker teachers.The activities are organised in the following sections: Classroom Management Advocating and Avoiding the Mother Tongue Starting New Groups Getting On-going Feedback Living Language Grammar Vocabulary Skills - input Using Translation