brookee  +  106408 Tue, 07 Jun 05 08:13 PM What are your opinions about a strict "English-only" language policy in the classroom? I teach ESL classes to Spanish speakers and find that they constantly talk in their first language to one and other. What are some ways to enforce such a policy? Thanks. brookee Joined on Tue, May 10 2005 New Member 04

	David  +  106850 Thu, 09 Jun 05 08:16 AM Say little . Give them subects to talk about. Have them write on the board. Be firm. Speak nothing but English. Let them do most of the work. David Joined on Sat, Mar 8 2003 Regular Member 664

	Petpefriend6  +  129792 Tue, 23 Aug 05 04:15 AM well, I speak English as my first language, but took spanish for my credit. How our teacher managed us was strict- yes, but also fun. She spoke nothing but spanish too us, and forced us to listen to her by not writing the instructions on our papers that we had to do. She would give us the chance to pass notes- as long as they were in Spanish. And simple things like that. Just make the language a little more fun, and soon they will all want to speak it because it is more... entertaining than their first one. Petpefriend6 Joined on Tue, Aug 23 2005 New Member 04 Speak English

	Pyewacket  +  130072 Tue, 23 Aug 05 09:26 PM I enforce English only in the classroom, even at low levels. I think it's important to hear the target language and to at least try to speak it whenever possible. Sometimes, I use post-it notes to "ticket" people who speak in their native tongue. My students get a kick out of it. Usually it takes no more than 2 notes on a person for the native language to stop. pyewacket Pyewacket Joined on Wed, Jul 13 2005 Northern California, USA Junior Member 67 "The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware." -- Henry Miller