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I always put them in English. To my mind they're about explaining what it is they are going to learn and how they will know if they have and if it's done in the TL I don't think it's useful. This, of course, is just my view.
I would say English is fine. Of course, you don't always have to do it! There's a lot of teaching by numbers these days, much of it excellent.
Only do it in the target language if the pupils are going to understand you. You could write the LO in English on the board and SAY it in German whilst pointing to the LO, or you could put the LO in German and ask a confident pupil to translate for the rest of the class. Or you could put it in both languages. Do whatever works.
geegely...What do you do?...
Only ever use the target language. You didn't learn English in a foreign language, did you? So why should you learn French or German in a foreign language, ie, English? - all you'll do is slow your students down
I'm fluent in four languages. Only my native language (French) was presented to me in said native language. All other languages I learned from the age of 11, through the medium of French with some routine phrases said in Italian (German and English teachers didn't bother with target language). As a result I knew very early on how to say "don't swing on your chair" and "can I go to the toilet" in Italian. I can't say it has sped up my acquisition of the Italian language compared to the other languages, but it certainly made the lesson more exciting and more authentic. Even so, our teacher still explained the grammar etc in French.
I disagree with 100% target language with all classes. It's not realistic and pupils will resent it. I sometimes do it as a challenge for a lesson, and pupils like that, because they know they have to get to the end of the lesson without hearing a word of English and it becomes a game. They would quickly hate it if it was constant, and my teaching (and their progress) would be poorer.
I went as far once as spending time with an Arabic teacher when doing a placement in a school with a large EAL pupil population, to see if there was any grammar features in Arabic that overlapped with the MFL I was trying to teach (there are, btw). I think making links and connections with the pupils' original language helps them acquire language more quickly and efficiently.
Great post Noemie - what you say seems instinctively right.
JuHa5Only ever use the target language. You didn't learn English in a foreign language, did you? So why should you learn French or German in a foreign language, ie, English? - all you'll do is slow your students down
I do hope that this is a joke.
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