Reflect on what it means to be the speaker of the language or languages you speak.

"Reflect on what it means to be the speaker of the language or languages you speak. What does speaking that language mean to you?" How does it shape you an as an English teacher? (Razfar & Rumenapp, 2014, p. 286)

Being a 'speaker of the language' for English means privilege to me. I believe that I am incredibly lucky to have been raised in a country where English is the native language. English is an incredibly nuanced language with multiple varieties that will only increase in the coming years. As Brown states there are certain 'internationalized' varieties of English. (2015) For example, countries like Singapore or the Philippines will be developing their own nuances as English is an official language in both of these countries. There is not 'one true English' and I've found, in my experience, that students at times get caught up in the idea of speaking 'native speaker English.' However, what will occur when native speaker English is no longer the most popular spoken form of English? 
This idea has shaped me as an English teacher as it makes me more culturally aware and aware of the diversity in languages. Most students that I have taught have been learning English since elementary school and they may have a completely different idea of what 'native speaker English' is compared to myself and other Canadians. I think this awareness is this first step in being able to develop a classroom that considers cultural differences that may affect learning ability especially in areas like pronunciation, idioms and sentence structure. 
Brown, D. (2014). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (4th ed.). White Plains, NJ: Pearson Education.

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