My host mother and I share a very challenging 6th grade class. There are two distinct levels – a group of eight students are studying the second Macmillan book and a much louder group of about fifteen students are studying the third Macmillan book. Until a couple of weeks ago, I worked primarily with the bigger group and my co-teacher (and host mother) worked with the smaller one.
A nicely written blog which illustrates a dilemma that I'm sure many of us have had. Personally, I strive for fluency, leave the Georgian teachers to teach for accuracy since you as a foreigner are a limited resource, and how often do you meet a foreigner who speaks perfect English 100% of the time! Even native speakers don't always speak accurately, so why make learning a new language harder than it needs to be. If I was expected to be 100% accurate every time I tried to practice my Georgian, I'd immediately clam up and see it as a waste of time, I'd know I'd fail. But teaching people to be confident, to give it a go, no matter what, that makes more sense. After all, how many mistakes does a baby make when its learning to speak? It goes by sounds and repetition and grammar falls into place over time. Great topic though!
