Michael Ockenden, France
My experience is unusual in that I spent 30 years with multi-national classes in England before starting to teach in France. In the UK, translation was impossible and I had to convey everything in English. I can't say that my procedure has changed much now that I'm faced with students who know that I speak their language. I certainly resist demands to perform as a 'talking dictionary' - something which many of them seemed to expect.

However, from time to time I notice that some activity or other is not going according to plan because the students have not properly understood what they were supposed to do. OK, this is probably my fault because I
didn't explain it clearly enough in the first place, but how nice it is to get things running smoothly with a brief explanation in their own language. It's also hard to deal with words such as 'ash tree' and 'cod' without
resorting to translation.

Not strictly speaking to do with translation, but I do use French when we are confronted with words which have the same or a similar spelling to English words, but which are pronounced or stressed differently. If
the word 'licence' appears in a reading passage, I say, "OK, so what do you want, 'licence' (giving the word its French pronunciation) or 'licence' (pronouncing the word in English)? When we have established the correct
form, I say, "Now say the word in English - and now in French - and now in English."

Hearing (and feeling) their own voices saying the two forms immediately one after the other seems to make a strong impression.

The same technique could be used with other languages.

Regina, Brazil
My name is Regina and I have taught English as a second language in Brazil for almost 15 years. I would like to say that I understand that sometimes you feel tempted to use some Portuguese in your English class, but try
as much as possible to use body language and I am sure that your students will understand it .Use lots of visual aids as well. That also helps.

Stewart Tunnicliff, Germany
In response to the usage of the native language when teaching English, I have for two years been teaching TEFL in Germany. I have not as yet had to use that much German within lessons. If translation is needed, the best way to approach this is to try and get the students to come up with a good translation. This removes the easy option of giving them the word but also gets them to actively learn themselves and often debate. For example certain meanings are conceptually different in languages; My German students thought ambivalent meant to have no feeling abouT something, as the word is used like this in German. However, ambivalent actually means strong contrasting feelings that pull a person apart.

So I would suggest the best is to try to get them to understand the language within the language. You generate more interest and also avoid misunderstandings through presumption.

ichael Ockenden, France
My first experience of dictation was in the 1950s when I was at grammar school in the UK. The teacher had to give them because it was part of the GCE O level syllabus. We heard a lot of new vocabulary, and the activity
occupied 20 minutes of a 45-minute lesson. The teacher would collect our scripts and mark them. We'd get them back, write our corrections (nothing wrong with that) but I don't believe many of the new words stuck. The teacher had spent ages, but when we got the scripts back, we never looked at them again. It was a waste of everyone's time.

However, I do believe dictation is a useful tool when it's done on a 'little-and-often' basis, and as a way of reinforcing vocabulary that has already been learnt. At the end of a lesson, I say: "Next time I'll dictate two or three sentences from page 10." If we've done a dialogue, I warn them that I'll dictate some of the things which the shopkeeper said. Of course, I don't say which things. Because students know there'll be a dictation, there's a good chance they'll revise the whole text or dialogue.

So I start each class with the dictation of two or three sentences from the previous lesson. Apart from anything else, it's a good way to get a class settled down. The students mark their own work, looking back at the course book. The whole process - dictation and self-correction - takes no more than 5 minutes.

Then I say, "How did you get on?" - quite a difficult structure, and one which will probably need to be taught. After this, I write 3 graded responses on the board such as:-

1) Quite well.
2) Not very well, I'm afraid.
3) It was an absolute disaster.

Now the students ask each other, using the above question and responses. The last one never fails to raise a laugh.

Later I may ask:-

Tell me one word which you got wrong.
Can you spell it for me now, please?

Now students ask each other the same thing in pairs.

There's no need to write words on the board. Why not spell them out aloud? Then you don't have to keep going back to the board. Spelling words aloud gives practice in recognising the letters - an important skill for the French students I'm teaching at the moment.

So don't sneer at old-fashioned dictation - it can be fun and extremely helpful.

Abdul Ghaffar, Pakistan
This is about teaching of English in secondary classes in Pakistan. Students in Pakistan, once they get acquainted with using their mother tongue in class, have difficulty in learning English easily. It is therefore suggested that students from all countries should think in English, speak English and so learn English.

Vicki Jameson, Spain
Just a few thoughts on translation in the classroom. I've heard every reason under the sun for people using this as a tool in the English class. I have been teaching for almost nine years and have never HAD to use mother
tongue. That is not to say I have never done it, I've just never found it necessary. First, as someone mentioned, the reason we learn language is to communicate. It is our desire to do so that drives us to learn. Introduce L1 and you remove a great deal of what motivates us to learn in the first place. Think about it: if you are teaching in an English speaking country you can't translate for everyone. Do those students learn any slower? No, on the contrary. They learn quicker because they get more exposure to the language.

Secondly, "it saves time" is an excuse. It can make life easier on all to do a quick translation but we are not simply trying to get through material in the time WE have decided it should take...don't cop out by relying on your knowledge of the mother tongue. Instead consider whether what you have selected is simply a bit beyond your students at that point. Thirdly, translation is a different skill altogether, and a much harder one at that! I know of many bilingual people who find it, at the least, tiring and, at the most, impossible! What are you teaching them? To move between two languages or to function in one?

Lastly, though I could go on forever on this subject, in answer to how to teach words like 'though'...Ask yourself this: How did any or us learn it? Certainly not in our first three days of life! We learnt it when we were ready. In short, the skill required is in selecting the language you think the students can learn at any given time. Please think before you dive in with the easy option of simply translating. The multitude of thanks I have had from students for not doing so is proof enough for me. Good Luck!!

Sofie, Belgium
I also teach English to adults, but as their are so many nationalities in our classes it's just impossible to translate. So, we only teach in English. And it works perfectly, also with beginners. I just use mimics, drawings, pictures, etc. Use your imagination!

Parag Kapoor, India
I am a student of BA Honours In English and I am also teaching junior and high school students at a private tuition centre in my city. I read Luke Prodromou from Greece's article. What I strongly believe is that if you interact with students only in English and not the other mother tongue ,they tend to learn English more eagerly, as they wish to comprehend you .Of course, one can use the easiest possible vocabulary .I have observed that this way they develop a liking for the English language.

Martin Topalov, Bulgaria
Sometimes translation is a very good technique when you teach to rookies at elementary level. It happens that students know all the words in a sentence but somehow can't understand the overall sense in it. This is where translation into L1 can help. But on the other hand students need to be situated in a target language milieu, so if you use translation too much they won't be able to "switch" to thinking in the target language. For advanced learners it is not necessary. They get used to the English constructions and don't need translation as additional method.

Nina Barahmand, Iran
I think you can never be called a successful teacher if you don't use any L1 in classes for beginners or even false beginners. Even in the most advanced classes I sometimes resort to explanations in Persian when I HAVE TO explain some complicated structure, vocabulary or idioms. This saves a lot of time and misapprehension. But I generally test my students' knowledge of vocabulary and idioms in every session by giving each a Persian sentence to translate orally. They enjoy it and find it very challenging.

Santhosh, India
Yes, I feel you should do translation in the class if your students are not very comfortable with English. But translation should be done in such a way that within a short period you should be able to make them improve in their command over English. They should be made to use Portuguese-English dictionary. I suppose it would be a good practice by which they can improve. All the best.

Sean Kinnard, Japan
I've struggled with this problem too. Some teachers say we should only speak English in class, but at the beginning levels this is almost impossible. I've found that when teaching elementary school kids it is best to give
directions in their native language so that they can concentrate on the material you are trying to teach.

Lourdes Hurtado, Peru
I'm a Peruvian teacher of English as a second language. With regard to your question about using students' mother tongue, I would say that it is OK only if it is really necessary; that is to say if you are introducing a new grammar structure which you know is particularly difficult for students, or if you want to emphasize the difference between this structure and its translation in students' L1. On the other hand, if they want to learn English or any other language they have to get used to listening to it and speaking it in class, this will improve their listening and speaking skills.

Pedro, Argentina
On the issue of translation, I would agree with the other teachers. Sometimes you'll have to use translation in class. I find this especially useful when teaching the present perfect, which is hardly used in Buenos Aires.

hou
Hi! I have taught students aged from 4 to 20 years old for at least 8 years. When I begin to teach a new class, I'll try to be familiar with the students English level as soon as possible, then try to use the English words that they can understand. When teaching grammar, I'll ask them to do translations and explain the difficult points in native language.

Bruce Neill, USA
Speak the native language in class? Almost never for an advanced student, sometimes for an intermediate, and often for basic students. For a Portuguese speaker, the basics of English are mind boggling. What on earth is an
auxiliary verb? They don't use them. What are long and short vowel sounds? They have no idea. My experience shows that you can give a SOLID grounding in the early stages by using their native language and gradually weaning them off it. It saves time (A LOT) and gives them much more confidence in their knowledge base.

Pablo, Uruguay
In my opinion, the ones who have the answers to whether you should translate or not are the students, who always will tell you, (by their reaction), if you are doing well if you translate. The important things here are time and effectiveness. You try to explain it at least twice in English, if they don't get it, you'll be forced, (because of the evidence), to make yourself understood in their own language. And that's it. Good, good luck.

Heli, Finland
It is a complicated thing. At elementary levels it is quite necessary to use your native language when explaining and teaching new grammar.
But as soon as that is done, I always try to use as much English as possible. Many adult students still require translations of all possible texts, even dialogues. In class we discuss it and I explain them that the most important thing is to speak and understand the text as a whole, not every single word. When my students go through a text, they study it in pairs and can translate it together if they want. I go round the class and help
them if necessary.

Joao Moraesda Silveira, Brazil
I think you should do the translation. It's very difficult to attend a class if you don't understand the matter. The BBC, for example, on radio programmes does translations As time goes by you could gradually abandon translations. Do this and your classes be more interesting and profitable.

Marcus Murilo, Brazil
I think that translation should be integrated into ELT as an extra tool. Many people fear it, but I think that students can benefit A LOT from using their first language in the classroom. However, teachers ought to
be careful not to misuse it. To cite one example of how it could be misused, in Portuguese (my first language) we have only one verb "fazer" which corresponds to both "do" and "make". Thus, saying that "make" is "fazer" and that "do" is also "fazer" wouldn't help students at all. So rather than teaching students how to say "fazer" in English, it's better to teach them whole chunks to avoid confusion. For example, teachers should teach them that "one can DO their HOMEWORK", but you "MAKE a CAKE", etc. This process of memorizing whole chunks rather than individual words should help students sound more native-like and also avoid first language interference.

Lana
I don't see the problem with translating difficult to explain English words/terms/ideas into Portuguese, as long as you speak to the students in English most of the time. There are some things that just can't be explained easily. For example how would you explain words such as 'although' or 'despite'.

Lucia, Brazil
It depends on the aim of your course. If your students need English for oral communication, you try to speak English most of the time, but Portuguese should not be forbidden. On the other hand, if your students need, for example, to develop the ability of reading and you have only one or two semesters, then Portuguese is mostly used. This is what we do when teaching "Inglês Instrumental", a Brazilian branch, if we can say so, of ESP teaching.

Joke Emmelkamp, The Netherlands
For over 20 years I've been teaching English (conversation) to adults and usually only talk in English. But indeed every now and then a problem arises (especially in grammar) that needs explaining and then it's more
useful to explain things in Dutch. If it's a question of people not understanding a word, saying or whatever I try by means of paraphrasing, describing and this also accounts for my students who have to tackle problems in
English as well.

Jamie, Dominican Republic
Although I occasionally I use a word for word translation, normally I define the meaning of the English word in question in Spanish, my students' native or second language so that they can work out the correct translation,
which is then agreed by all. This usually helps them to recall the word later.

Noel Simon, Saudi Arabia
Two (philosophical) reasons for using the learners' language:

1. The essence of language is communication, so use any means available to communicate, including L2.
2. Use the L2 like a scalpel, not a butcher's knife, ie, with discretion.

The L2 is invaluable for, eg, explaining lexical (rather than conceptual) items to monolingual groups, after which you should can use synonyms.

Glenda King, France
I teach two adult classes in my local town, near Angers in France. The first is for beginners (or those who learned English a very long time ago!) and the second is for those with a reasonable level of English who require conversation practice. With the beginners I find that I achieve much more if I give explanations in French, and then we do exercises etc in English. The level of English is just too basic in this class for me to give explanations, which inevitably use much more advanced language, in English. However, with the conversational class I use English throughout, only reverting to French if the incomprehension is total! Hope that this helps.

Dan, Denmark
There are times when explaining something in the students' native language can save everybody's day... Students will occasionally have problems understanding a certain word or phrase. I suggest that you speak primarily in English only, and when you sense that your students really haven't got the foggiest, swiftly explain it to them in Portuguese, and then -whoosh- back to English.

Mike Bradley, Japan
it is not the case that translation should not be used in class. If I can give one example - Once a week I teach student nurses for 90 minutes. The whole course lasts for 15 weeks which means that we have 22.5 hours to complete everything. If I stuck to only using English to help them with problems they have in understanding something or how to do an activity (many of which are new to them), we would waste a great deal of time (and maybe would be unable to complete the course). Time (or lack of it) is a key factor here. If I can cut down the time spent on how to do a new activity or explaining a point they do not understand, the students can actually spend more time doing the activities (in English).

Anna, Germany
I would recommend to you to explain only the most important things in Portuguese. I'm a 15 year old student in Germany and had an English teacher for three years, who talked most of the time in German. When we got a new teacher, we hardly understood a word of what he was saying, because we just weren't used to it.