What is a Language Assistant?

What is the language assistant's job? Here is the related chapter in the British Council FLA booklet:

Your Work as an Assistant

Depending on your teacher(s) and the age of the pupils, you may be asked to:

• work with the teacher in the classroom (team teaching)
• work on your own with small (conversation) groups of pupils
• practise students’ reading, comprehension, pronunciation, oral composition
• plan activities and games, using authentic materials
• introduce and contribute to group discussions and role plays in your own language
• work on specific topics with small groups of older students
• help prepare pupils for oral examinations
• make recordings in your own language which the school can use as an example of native-speaker speech
• contribute to other areas of the curriculum where you may have a special interest or expertise (music, drama, geography, history, sport)
• help set up links with schools in your home country
• contribute to an international project.

Language teachers may wish to talk to you in your own language for practice. Try not to use English in the classroom.

You should meet your teachers on a regular basis in order to plan your work. Their feedback will be helpful to you and they will appreciate your feedback on your pupils. Also, experienced teachers can sometimes forget that you need time to prepare a lesson and cannot do a good job if asked to cover a specific topic only a few minutes before going into the classroom. Keep in touch with your language colleagues so that you develop a good working rapport.

Language assistants are not teachers or Teaching Assistants. You should not:

• take sole responsibility for whole classes
• supervise or discipline pupils regularly
• take responsibility for marking pupils’ work or exam papers
• give classes in a language other than your own.

In class a good first impression will help and you should try to establish yourself from the start as a well-organised, professional and motivated person.

Make it clear that you expect your classes to be taken seriously. Always try to ensure that what you have prepared is not too easy or too difficult and is interesting for the pupils. Actively encourage each member of the group to participate as much as they can. If you have problems, talk to your mentor.