Is there a method that allows the teacher to use the mother tongue in teaching English without feeling guilty? Yes, there is. The Dodson bilingual method.

Slow learners and beginners share one disadvantage: they do not understand the exact meanings of sentences unless they are explained in the mother tongue. Most teachers probably try to speak as much English as they can but sometimes they have no other choice than resort to their mother tongue.

The only time when I have been using the Dodson bilingual method in teaching languages was in the mid-1980s when I taught Swedish to complete beginners. The method itself was developed by Professor J. Dodson, a Welshman, and even if it was not widely used and accepted I think it is worth introducing here. For slow learners this method is excellent in getting them to use the new language from the very beginning.

The Dodson method is sometimes linked with the oldfashioned translation method but that is unfair because the students do not actually do a translation but they learn the phrases by heart after repeating them after the teacher and making changes in the phrases. It is actually very close to the lexical approach.

The time phrases in Example 1 below may seem simple and even childish but if you could do these exercises in Japanese, Arabic or Persian, would you not be proud of yourself! A lot of input and repetition at the right level with the help the mother tongue helps the students tremendously.

Example 1, learning to tell the time: It’s eleven o’clock. / It ‘s two thirty / It’s fifteen past four / It’s twenty to ten (4 basic phrases visible on the screen)

Stage 1: Pre-task: BINGO numbers 1 – 30

Stage 2: The students read the 4 basic phrases above aloud after the teacher who gives the meaning in the mother tongue.

Stage 3: Then the teacher says one of the same phrases in the mother tongue BUT changes one or two underlined words in it and the class says the phrase in English in chorus. I’ll repeat: The teacher uses the mother tongue but the students don’t!

Model visible: It’s eleven o’clock. Teacher says the phrase in the mother tongue: Kello on 10. Kello on 7. Kello on 12.	Students say in English in chorus: It’s ten o’clock. It’s seven o’clock. It’s twelve o’clock.
Model: It’s two thirty. Kello on 5.30. Kello on 10.30. … etc.	It’s five thirty. It’s ten thirty.
Model: It’s fifteen past four. Kello on 13 yli 7. Kello on 25 yli 3. … etc.	It’s thirteen past seven. It’s twenty-five past three.
Model: It’s twenty to ten. Kello on 5 vaille 8. Kello on 25 vaille 11. … etc.	It’s five to eight. It’s twenty-five to eleven.
Finally all four patterns in a random order Kello on 10 vaille 7. Kello on 6. Kello on 11.30. Kello on 7 yli 9.	It’s ten to seven. It’s six o’clock. It’s eleven thirty. It’s seven past nine.

Stage 4: The students work in pairs either doing what the teacher just did or writing times on a paper and the pair responds to it.

The next stage would, of course, be going through additional time phrases such as It’s eleven o’clock. /It ‘s two thirty = It’s half past two / It’s fifteen to four = It’s a quarter to four etc.

The main points in me using Dodson’s method ran as follows:

• Decide if you need to have a pre-task to do some revision (numbers, days of the week, months, verbs, adjectives etc.)
• Choose the key phrases you want to teach in advance, decide which word(s) you wish to change and write down the other words you wish to use in the phrases.
• The Dodson method is rather hectic for the teacher who has to bang in the mother tongue phrases rather quickly.
• Short utterances and sentences serve as units of teaching.
• Grammar is not emphasized and structures are learnt as lexical items, pretty much like in the lexical approach.
• Natural situations and dialogues in them serve as a starting point and then we proceed the narrative texts on the same topic.

Example 2: A situation in a shop.

Stage 1: The whole dialogue and all options are repeated aloud after the teacher.

Stage 2: The teacher says the phrases in the mother tongue and the students say them in English, about 40 phrases. In a good class you can skip this stage.

A: Good morning /afternoon. I’m looking for a silver ring / a colour TV / a blanket / jeans / running shoes. How much is it / are they?

B: Well, it depends on the size and quality. 50 dollars / 600 euros / 45 pounds / 38 dollars the cheapest ones / 80 pounds for the best ones.

A: Ah, this one looks/ these ones look very nice / beautiful / very warm / modern / wonderful.

B: Yes, you are right. It comes from Britain / India / China / from a nearby factory / from abroad.

A: Fine. I’ll take this one / these ones / the black model.

B: Okey, how do you want to pay? 50 dollars / 600 euros / 45 pounds / 38 dollars / 80 pounds. In cash or by credit card?

A: In cash, here’s the money / By credit card. Here you are.

B: Thank you sir / madam. And welcome back again.

Stage 3: The students read the dialogue in pairs picking up any green items they want or replace them with their own words and ideas ( = the last idea is the simple automatic way to differentiate the learning situation)

Stage 4: The students work in pairs and write a similar dialogue but make a lot of changes in it and the dialogues are later on circulating in the class and read by the others.

There is not much ready-made material like this available but in some classes this technique may be worth the extra trouble it causes in planning. My memories from these classes are still pleasant and the response from students was very favourable.