Hello!
I'd like to teach my (Colombian) girlfriend English, and was wondering if any of you (perhaps TEFL-types) could recommend a book or two. She's not a total beginner though (she can get by, just not have a conversation). We'll both be living in Colombia.
Thanks v much!
S
Pimsleur English for Spanish Speakers is a good start, but it is expensive. You can probably find it as a free download on the Internet.
Good luck! The only time she will be expected to actually use English is with you, and I would bet that your Spanish is a LOT better than her English, so more than likely you will be speaking Spanish with her a lot of the time.
Been there, done that and own the t-shirt! My Spanish after nearly 8 years is still better than my wife's English. We speak Spanish at home and when we go out. You're fighting a losing battle unless she is one of the lucky folks that learning languages comes very easy to them.
You're fighting a losing battle
Whew, that's a bit of a generalization, isn't it? Maybe OP's girlfriend wants to learn English? Even people who have no particular talent for learning languages can get quite far if they set their mind to it.
(I feel I need to counter-balance the gloom: My parents grew up in different languages. They both speak the other's language.)
The only time she will be expected to actually use English is with you
You would imagine the OP were proposing to teach his girlfriend Chechen, Finnish, or Lao...or some other language with limited practical application. I suspect, however, that fluency in English would be considered an enhancement to a c.v. in Colombia, just as it would it in practically every other corner of the world.
OP, textbooks are ultimately a poor substitute for conversational practice, and the best way to teach your gf English is simply to speak English with her as much as possible. A textbook should be, at most, a supplement. Since textbook availability is highly localized, it's difficult to make specific recommendations, but I will say look for something published in an English-speaking country by a respected educational publisher: Pearson, Cambridge UP, etc. Locally published textbooks are almost always rubbish. For starters, you might look for Betty Azar's Grammar series (google it: TT isn't letting me embed the link for whatever senseless reason) since that's one that's available in great many countries all over the world.
Edited by: zashibis
As someone who started to learn Spanish without any basics and from a friend, I agree that nothing beats conversational practice, with a grammar book and dictionary to clear up points that native speakers don't usually need to think about, but might pose problems for the learner. Reading simple books is also useful to build up vocabulary and sentence structure.
The only thing I would really insist on is deciding, at least at first, to speak only one language at a time. We did it by doing one hour my teaching her English, then switched to one hour her teaching me Spanish. The biggest factor is motivation.
OP, textbooks are ultimately a poor substitute for conversational practice, and the best way to teach your gf English is simply to speak English with her as much as possible. A textbook should be, at most, a supplement.
I completely agree, based on my own experience with my partner (Brazilian). Something that helped enormously was his desire to learn and willingness to be corrected. This (both giving and receiving correction) can be difficult for some people at first but it has become second nature to us. He even gets annoyed with me when he's aware that he made a mistake but I didn't correct him. At first, his spoken English was really limited, but now he speaks way better than all his friends who have been in London as long as or longer than him.
The only thing I would really insist on is deciding, at least at first, to speak only one language at a time.
I can see the sense in this but we've always chopped and changed - or had mixed conversations (with either of us speaking either language). Often I'll say something in English and then ask how he would say it in Portuguese (and vice versa), if it involves new vocabulary/a new construction etc.
"More coffee, lady?"
When I tutored English, one of my students was a busboy who told me that his coworkers (busboys, all foreign-born) told him that it was wrong to use "lady" as he did in that question, but they couldn't explain why. I told him that we usually use "lady" in direct address only to indicate some degree of exasperation: "Lady, would you please move your car? It's blocking my driveway!"
I think that one of the most important functions a native speaker can perform is to explain (to the extent possible) the nuances of the language.
In the case of this busboy, I think that "More coffee, ma'am?" would have been perfect, while his own form of the question might have sounded as if it bordered on rude.
#8 - you make some interesting points. I was thinking about this yesterday, in the context of second-language English speakers in London. I have the impression that people are very forgiving of grammar mistakes - and Londoners spend much of their time communicating with people who aren't native speakers of English - but failure to use appropriately polite language can cause irritation.
