USING L1 / ENGLISH IN THE CLASSROOM

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/mother-tongue-other-tongue
https://www.usingenglish.com/articles/well-balanced-use-l1-in-class.html
http://eflmagazine.com/using-first-language-in-the-classroom/

Some ideas that might help:

- Use lots of listening material to surround them in the sound of
English.
- Put English-language posters on the walls.
- Have short, clearly demarcated sections of the lesson when English
is the first language; at other times, other languages are possible.
- Negotiate the ground rules with the students or –better- let them
set the rules completely by themselves.
- Discuss (as opposed to “Tell”) the point of the activity, lesson,
course. Agree how it will be done, why using English is important.
- Respond positively to every effort at using English.
- Don’t tell learners off for not using English, but keep operating in
English yourself.
- Only “hear” English.
- Spend a lot of time on fluency work without correction.
- Establish that you are delighted for them to speak anything at all;
communication is your priority, rather than accuracy.
- Create lots of pair and small-group activities that require them to do
something with English without the loss of face of getting it wrong
in a bigger group.
- When it becomes a big problem, stop the activity and negotiate
again: “I notice that many of you are using (Portuguese). Is this OK?
- Be prepared for English use to grow gradually, rather than be
established for a whole lesson at the start of the course.
Scrivener, Jim (2005). Learning Teaching. Oxford: Macmillan, pp. 101-2.