I’ve been teaching ESL to adults here in Bosnia for about two years. I’ve taught classes from the intermediate level to the advanced levels and there are some common problems that I’ve seen in each class.

The language spoken here is Serbo-Croatian and the Latin alphabet is used mainly in the Muslim and Croatian areas, while Cyrillic is used in the Serbian areas. There are also 3 dialects within the language. Everyone understands these dialects, but each dialect is striving to be distinct. For instance, the Muslim dialect has many Turkish words incorporated into it. The Ottoman Empire was influential in this area only until the late 1800”s. The Croat dialect is developing new words to differentiate itself from the other two and the Serbian dialect is remaining static. So, a classroom of Bosnians, even though they have different dialects, would be considered a monolingual class.

A typical problem encountered with students is the fact that the word order is different. I think this is a common problem with Europeans learning English. There are many ways that are used to help form the correct word order, such as drilling, reading, and writing exercises. I’ve found particularly helpful is the use of journals. Journals allow the time for the student to think in English and place the words on paper. It is extremely helpful for me as the teacher to then review these and make corrections that the students can see and use for future reference.

Because the alphabet in the Serbo-Croat language is set up to have a single sound for each letter, it is very easy as a foreigner to pronounce words in Serbo-Croat. However, that transition to learning English presents many problems in pronunciation for the language learner. One particular problem students have in pronunciation is producing the “th” sound. There is nothing close in their language and the pronunciation of it is very uncomfortable. It takes the side view of the head to show the students the placement of the tongue.

The Serbo-Croat language doesn’t use articles, so extra work is required to have the students use articles.

Since English is needed here for better jobs, people use any method they can to learn English. By listening to music and watching films and TV programs, as you can imagine they may not have the best grammar or suitable vocabulary. It is a problem to have the students un-learn these bad habits.

Due to the culture, everyone wants to impress the teacher with how much they know so this is a serious problem, even with adult students. This excitement also transfers to great serious discussions on all matters of issues. It seems this is the greatest cause of disruption in the classroom. The amazing part of this is that no one takes offense at being talked over. They just wait for the louder person to finish.

In the two years I’ve been here I’ve really enjoyed learning about this culture and how to effectively teach English. They are a very intelligent people and it is a joy to see them learn new things.

Bill Eberle