MacGyver wrote:Chupito wrote:I don't think that was the point of the initial discussion or more exactly, the point I chose to comment on, which for me, was the over-emphasis on the native speaker as the perfect teacher. This was always the point of my posts. I think that's perhaps the crux of the issue: you and I are not talking about the same issue. We might not even disagree much over each of our issues (I don't think you are claiming being a native is the be-all-end-all of teaching and I am not claiming that polyglottery is of prime importance in teaching).
To answer your questions anyway:
If the person was a Spanish-French bilingual person, then they obviously couldn't teach me English so that's moot. They would have to be trilingual Spanish-English-French or English-French bilingual (French native speaker who learned English). In the first case, I am not sure how many languages are necessary to be considered a polyglot, but having learned two foreign languages is already significant. In the second, being someone who learned the same language as me from the same starting point would be an interesting aspect. So in both cases, I wouldn't consider being or not being a polyglot a decisive factor and could go with either. I would view them as essentially equal candidates. I guess if everything was really a 100% equal and I was forced to pick, I'd go with the polyglot.
But I imagine you will consider those things red herrings.
Well yes, if you are trying to learn Spanish from a French base, I don't see why English needs to come into it. .
The hypothetical scenario was that they were teaching English to a French native speaker. That's why your Spanish-French bilingual didn't work and I had to tweak it.
MacGyver wrote:Chupito wrote:To answer your second question, like I said, I think being a polyglot would present an advantage mostly for guiding and advising self-learners. The advantage of their extended experience and passion for language does not matter as much in a more traditional classroom setting. It is my personal experience, as someone who has learned only one language, that I don't have as much insight to offer as a polyglot.
I don't agree with this to be honest. Just because someone has learnt or gone through an experience multiple times, does not mean they will be a good teacher. Just like elite sportspeople rarely become successful coaches.
Also people have different styles. One youtube polyglot, for example, promotes his speak from day 1 method.... that would just not work for me as its not my style.
Of course, there is more to teaching than that and I did emphasize from the very start that being trained, educated, or experienced, or hopefully all three, in teaching languages would matter more to me than being a polyglot. My aunt was apparently great at teaching swimming and skying at the beginner level while being absolutely terrible at it herself. As a general tendency though, given equal education and experience in teaching, I believe that having extensive experience would be a positive compared to having no experience whatsoever or having limited experience.
There are non-polyglots who also prone the speak from day 1 method so I think that's a red herring.
MacGyver wrote:Chupito wrote:I notice you asked me to pick in different scenarios and I did. You haven't yourself mentioned which you would choose to teach English and why.
Not quite sure what you mean, but to teach English to Spanish people say, then a native English speaker with a high level of Spanish (and some sort of teaching qualification) would be my preference. They have a teaching qualification so somewhat understand different people learn different ways and how to adapt to that, and if required, they can explain difficult concepts in Spanish.
I meant the same scenarios you presented to me You are presenting your ideal candidate - which doesn't differ from mine - not selecting from two options as you asked me to do. As a reminder, the scenarios we discussed were, for teaching English to Korean native speakers and having no qualification in teaching and all else being equal:
- Spanish polyglot with a great command of English and Korean vs English monolingual
- Spanish polyglot with a great command of English and Korean vs Spanish native speaker with a great command of English and no knowledge of Korean (assume same level of English)
- Spanish polyglot with a great command of English and Korean vs Spanish native speaker with a great command of English and Korean (assume same level of English and Korean)
- Spanish polyglot with a great command of English and Korean vs Korean native speaker with a great command of English (assume same level of English)
I picked the polyglot in cases 1 and 2 and said both options were essentially equal in cases 3 and 4, although I would pick the polyglot if forced to pick. Again, I would pick a good qualified and experienced English teacher, with a great command of Korean, above all to teach English in a classroom setting, as I mentioned, but that wasn't an option.