The use of English by foreign language teacher is a matter of much controversy. Whereas language switching by English-speaking foreign language teachers has been the focus of previous research, relatively little is known about the amount of teachers' language used in the classroom when comparing native speakers of the foreign language with nonnative speakers. This qualitative study examined the amount of purpose of English used by five teaching assistants (TAs) (three native speakers of English, one native speaker of German, and one whose first language was neither English nor German) in beginning German language classroom. Results of the study indicate eight common functions for the use of English and also show that previous language teaching experience as well as background in relevant teacher training coursework reduced the amount of English used. (Contains 2 tables, 2 figures and 13 notes.)