Should the teacher have Russian as his mother tongue?
Becoming a teacher of Russian or one of the other living languages taught in college / high school does not require being a native speaker.
You can be Spanish, have taken Russian classes in high school, and then take a degree in Russian after high school.
After your degree in Russian (philology, translation, linguistic studies, etc.), in order to teach, you will have to take the master’s degree in teaching, which we will focus on later.
As we were saying …
Of course, a native teacher will have a perfect pronunciation of your language, as well as an important knowledge of your culture and the history of your country. However, you will not necessarily have the adapted pedagogy to teach Spanish students .
The cultural differences make it difficult to understand. Furthermore, the linguistic differences can be so abysmal that it is difficult for a native to understand why the student gets stuck with something that may seem simple to the native.
A Spanish-speaking Russian teacher must have learned Russian. You will be able to better understand the obstacles and difficulties that a student may encounter in the specifics of the Russian language.
Modern language teachers often feel strong pressure. They fear that they will not be able to answer students’ questions about a certain Russian vocabulary term or Russian grammar rule.
But why should I know everything?
- A Spanish teacher does not have to have studied all the books on Spanish literature;
- A geography and history teacher does not have to have visited all the continents and certainly does not know the capitals of all the countries;
- a physical education teacher is not a champion in every sport that exists …
Why then is it necessary for a Russian teacher to know all the words in the Russian language? Not even a native has to know everything .
A Spaniard who has completed higher education knows between 20,000 and 50,000 words of the 60,000 that are normally recorded in the dictionary. However, the numbers are quite optimistic.
However, if I talk to you about apostille, orography, or terms like “everlasting,” could you give me a definition?
So why is a native Russian teacher more competent than a Spanish-speaking Russian teacher?
The important thing is to be a teacher who teaches the passion to learn over and over again . Charles Chaplin once said, “We are all amateurs. Life is so short that there is no more ».
We learn throughout our entire lives . Why does it have to be any different in the case of Russian teachers?
Don’t be ashamed of not knowing everything or not having a perfect native accent. Keep improving and admit that you don’t know everything. You will feel so much better too!
Why not try some online Russian classes ?