| Concerns about bilingual and multilingual programs have been an issue all over the world. Efforts to improve the educational achievement of students from different language backgrounds have created educational settings where teachers are now teaching in a language that is not their own. In the 20th century, many groups have expressed their rights to learn and be taught in their first language. Teachers have been learning second languages in order to be able to teach in their students' first language, which was not necessarily their own first language.;This study focused on the experience of several teachers from three different countries, the United States, France and Spain. Volunteers for the study from schools in these three countries shared one characteristic in common: they were all teaching in a language that was not their first language. These teachers were asked to tell their stories about how they felt teaching in a second language, the way they learnt this language, the difficulties that they encountered in their way and the recommendations that they gave to school administrators and other teachers all over the world who were not teaching in their mother tongue.;Although the teachers' experiences and decisions they made varied widely, all teachers from all the three countries shared common feelings and needs, thoughts and beliefs. Their willingness to be part of the new culture and language was deep in all of them. They all wanted to be good teachers, capable of teaching their subjects in the new language; that required a lot of learning and preparation form their parts, none of them complained at any moment and felt proud of themselves. Finally, the teachers' responses indicated that schools should accept all languages, and that bilingual programs, in their opinions, are positive and enriching, rather than being a handicap. Second language speakers feel the sense of pride, enjoyment and competence that several authors refer to in the literature. The data validates the literature used in this paper.;Teachers gave recommendations that schools and school administrators should take into consideration. The most important refer to having good material in the content areas that they were teaching in, having on-going meetings among teachers who were teaching in a second language and having specific teacher training programs for second language teachers. Relevant work and interesting teachers gave the suggestions that are crucial for teachers in different countries who are teaching in the same type of situation. Their voices are the key part of this dissertation. |
