McKay Ch. 1

The first thing that I will discuss in this post is Phillipson's 5 tenets about the English teaching profession.
TENET 1: "English is best taught monolingually."  No offense to Phillipson, but he clearly has never analyzed any of the studies that prove English is best learned among with other languages.  This tenet suggests that bilingual education and ESL instruction are not necessary, and obviously that is not the case.  IF a student has a native language other than English, then that language needs to be included in the learning process in order to obtain maximum results.
TENET 2:  "The ideal teacher of English is a native speaker."  Again, this is a very limiting and exclusive statement that I completely disagree with.  If we are going to say this, then they need to answer certain questions such as "What makes an ideal teacher?"  The only reason I would even think this could even remotely resemble a true statement is that a native speaker understands coloquial sayings, and even then, such sayings can be looked up in a book.  This tenet automatically assumes that anyone who is not a native speaker can never be a good teacher.
TENET 3:  "The earlier English is taught, the better the results."  This I do agree with.  So many studies show that the earlier a language is learned, English or not, the more likely it is that the learner will achieve native-like fluency.  This is why more bilingual programs need to be installed at the elementary level.
TENET 4:  "The more English is taught, the better the results."  Although this seems like a confusing statement, I interpreted it as "the more often English is spoken."  If this is the case, then I agree. I feel that continuous contact with a language is extremely beneficial for the learner.  Why else do students who go abroad come back more proficient?  It is because when the first thing you hear in the morning is that target language and it's also the last thing you hear at night, your brain adapts to it.  As teachers, we can hep our students by having different resources for them to access the language.
TENET 5:  "If other languages are used much, standards of English will drop."  I am honestly not sure what this tenet is supposed to mean, it seems very vague.  I took it as "if other languages are used, then English will not be as powerful."  I think that people feel that the English language will be threatened if other language use is promoted.  I do not fell that this is the case at all in reality.   The reason that English is such a powerful language is because people learn it for different reasons.  Some do it to help advance them in their careers, some do it to make more money, and some do it just to improve themselves or learn something new.  No matter the reason, everyone has the right to be able to freely use their native language without discrimination or prejudice.
I believe that the reason that people are scared of foreign languages is because they are uneducated. That is where language teachers come into place.  Not only do we educate our students, but we need to inform their parents and community members ab out acceptance and awareness of different languages.  Once society can come to the realization that other languages should be praised instead of shunned, then it will be more beneficial for everyone.