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Thoughts on learning English

Discussion in 'Schoolgoers & Teens' started by teacher, Sep 9, 2011.

  1. teacher

    teacher Platinum IL'ite

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    Adumom mentioned her five year old who isn't a fluent English Language speaker...
    .
    A common occurrence...here I'd like to give my experience...my dad used to work in really remote parts of the country so I had no exposure to English until I started school. We are like most Indian families...belong to one state but grew up in another and worked in 3 or 4 other states...we spoke a mixture of languages at home. These languages were derived from different root languages. So there was no common ground and a lot of different accents.

    We moved to Africa when I started formal schooling. I'll never forget my very first interaction in school-my dad had taught me to say, "I don't know English. I can't speak in English." That's the first thing I said to my teacher. She put her hands to her cheeks, her eyes were as wide as saucers, and said, "Ooooh...you don't speak English!!!" There was pin drop silence as most of the kids were from families in the foreign service. And then there was a loud buzz...I had no clue then but I realize now that it was incomprehensible to them that some people didn't speak English:) Thinking about this still brings a smile to my face.

    Since then, a lot is known about learning and teaching English...

    But before we get into a discussion about strategies I'd like to talk about a few facts about learning a language.

    Here is an important fact that affects how we learn English-Most of us in India learn English as a second language, even if the medium of instruction is English. With years and years of education, interactions, and other interventions it may become our dominant language but we start by learning English as second language.

    Why?

    Language and cognition are tightly interwoven. So the first time your child understands what an object is, its label (name of the object), the purpose behind it and other attributes the child is developing his/her language and cognitive ability.

    Take a baby who plays with a ball-explores it by putting it into his mouth, touching and rolling-not purposefully but accidentally. Then as he reaches his milestones he starts to understand that he can interact with you using this object. If it is a squishy ball, he squeezes it-maybe he ikes the sensory feedback-he squeezes again...all in all he is starting to see that he can do something with this object...again as he continues up the milestone ladder he starts looking for the object when you say 'here is the BALL." He starts associating the sounds with that object...aong the way he picks up information on it's shape, and that it can roll...the process goes on.

    At every step the child makes connects the new information to what he already knows (prior knowledge). Then there are newer concepts like big ball, small ball, red ball, blue ball. But everything is built upon his prior knowledge.

    In children who are native English speakers, this prior knowledge is already in English. But those who have learned their fundamental concepts in their native tongue have to make new connections. They have to link the word Ball in English to the word in their native tongue. Then comes the shape, the function, the color, the size...

    This process is easier when the children are young. Developing brains adapt and make those connections faster and stronger.

    There is another aspect...young children can learn to make new sounds...but by 6 yrs their muscles are set..if they have not learned to make certain sounds by that time, they will have more difficulty learning sounds which are not native to their language...hence our caricatures of people who can't say their /r/, or the /s/...we have our own isschools and aayils...once we stop making the sounds we stop hearing them too. Is this only a conversational difficulty? No...it affects children's reading ability. While this may not be a major concern in a place like India (we are so used to the various versions of the same word) if you live in a native English speaking country, your child will most probably get referred to a speech therapist-for articulation and reading errors.

    I spent all of the last class frowning at a young woman who was desperate to make me roll my rrrrrrrrs and I knew it ain't happening...so I enjoyed pushing her buttons:)

    Bilingual children find it easier to learn a third language and approximate the sounds better.

    If you notice, young children in native English speaking countries don't learn English-they learn reading and/or language. It is only when they go into advanced classes they have Englsh lit, etc...

    So medium of instruction is just that-for instruction. But conversational fluency, reading and writing involve thinking in that language...

    We'll start with making those connections:)
    r
     
    Last edited: Sep 9, 2011
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  2. SLV

    SLV Gold IL'ite

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    Very informative and a well written post!!
     
  3. teacher

    teacher Platinum IL'ite

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    oh good, you saw this...I wanted to ask you to join in and add to this or rephrase if I am incorrect:)
    R
     
  4. teacher

    teacher Platinum IL'ite

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    repeated...deleted
     
  5. Adumom

    Adumom New IL'ite

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    Hi

    Thank you so much for putting your thoughts. Waiting for more to come :)
     
  6. prana

    prana IL Hall of Fame

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    very informative,liked it a lot..

    Yes, it is real challenge for the southies to speak fluently in english as we get a chance of speaking in english is very little..Most of the time our conversation is in our mother toungue only...

    Am all ears ....
     
  7. teacher

    teacher Platinum IL'ite

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    mmm...I think living in urban settings with diverse populations gives us more opportunities to practice our language skills-in any part of our country:)


    It is obvious we can’t teach every concept simultaneously. Nor can we provide opportunities for the child to practice for all the concepts. Then what can we do?

    Break it up into chunks.

    • In some families one parent speaks to the child in one language and the other in the second language.
    • Sometimes it helps to select the activities where only English is spoken. Mealtime is a good choice because it provides the opportunity to ask, respond and comment. Plus, a lot of the words are already in our vocabulary. This is also a good time to include pragmatics (social language).

    Speaker’s abilities:

    · Whichever parent elects to talk to the child in English should have a good command of the language. This is important because you don’t want the child to learn the same mistakes you make. So be aware of your skill level. It is never too late for you to increase your abilities.
    · A lot of people are concerned about accents and pronunciation. All around the world, English speakers develop their own accents based on their native tongue. All languages come with limitations in consonants and vowel sounds. There is no shame in having an accent. Having said that, if you are in a position where you live in another country and your ability to communicate effectively is impeded by your accent, then you can take accent reduction courses. For example a fellow student in my master’s course couldn’t give certain educational tests because her accent would have affected how her students responded thereby compromising the test results. So be aware of how your accent affects your ability to communicate and assess how that helps/hinder your child. If you live in a society where the accent of the majority is different from yours, help your child learn that dialect.
    · Another aspect to keep in mind is our tone, inflection…where we pause and start again. Towards the end of one of my teaching assignments, I found out that a couple of my students had a had a hard time understanding me at the beginning of the academic year-not just my accent but also my how I spoke…luckily for me the administration decided that here was a perfect opportunity for the children to expand their listening skills (they were deaf children using cochlear implants). Otherwise everyone that they were exposed to had the same speech pattern. So keep the variations to the minimum. As their skills improve you can expand on it.
    · Be aware of syntax. The order of words in a sentence varies from language to language. In most Indian languages the verb is placed at the end of a sentence. Plus the preposition use varies…I just found out that we use post-positions…these words come after the noun! I’ve never thought (or learned) much about this, but think about this one- ‘before last year’ is actually ‘year before last.’ If you’ve ever had to watch Indian movies with subtitles, especially the songs, you’ll know exactly what I meanJ

    more later...
    r
     
  8. teacher

    teacher Platinum IL'ite

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    More thoughts...

    When you start teaching a second language it takes a couple of years to achieve the neccessary fluency for everyday activities. The level of fluency required for academic proficiency takes much longer.

    Children do not develop speech and language problems because of learning a second language. If they do have a problem it is present even while acquiring the first language.

    Always make sure that the child has a the ability to communicate...this is partcularly important for children who are suddenly thrust in a school environmet where only English is spoken. These children have no means of communication when they enter school besides pointing or a few words which they pick up here and there. For this reason prepare your child for some basic interactions-making requests, answering yes/no questions, making simple comments-think about the most common sentences your child uses in his day to day communication and start practicing those with your child.

    In relation to this, please focus on your child's pragmatic language-teaching social rules (I'd like some ... please., Thank you for helping me, I want to say something, when can I do this? I feel..., etc). Pragmatic language is the social language we use. These are the sentences your child will use over and over again to get his needs met. In this context, I can not over emphasize the importance of waiting for your turn in group situations.

    It is hysterical to watch 6 people talk at the same time in a movie but in the classroom it is torture...your child will not be heard or will be overruled because he isn't waiting for his turn. So teach your child to say, "Excuse me...may I have a turn please? Is it my turn next?" and any other sentence/question which will help him negotiate the tricky months while he learns the language.

    Activities/strategies:

    • As I mentioned before select a particular activity to speak only in English. Or each parent can choose to speak in one language only. (Personally I find parents have a hard time with sticking to one language)
    • When you address your child in your everyday interactions, use a strategy called sandwiching--Say the sentence in English, then in your native tongue, and finally, repeat the sentence in English. Do you see how the connection can be made to prior knowledge?
    • Read books in both languages. If you have the time, make photocopies of picture books and write the words in your native tongue. Read both versions at diferent times of the day. After a few read alouds, ask your child to tell you the story in his/her own words-one language at a time. I've done this for my nephews and nieces and they used to love it. I think Chandamama has different language editions...sometimes the stories are not the same. So check those out. When children are being read to they get to ear how the language flows...they understand more than they can read...they also hear how the tone and inflection in our voice help to make meaning.
    • Special ed teachers will know this...a lot of us translate kids' songs into regional languages because our kids have to communicae in one language...it doesn't make sense to sing in English when the child has no exposure to it anywhere else...so translate songs and make your own recordings. Gather the neighbourhood kids and ask them to put down ideas for a performance show-they can sing the translated songs or perform dances (or skits as their skill level increases)
    • Do you involve your child in cooking activities? One of my nieces loved making dosas and such as a kid...so that was a good time to teach her certain language skills-because it involved teaching sequences-first you must do this, second get ... ready, third...." These kind of sentences are important academically, for study skills and for everyday interactions.
    • play descriptive language games-one of my favorites is "Guess the animal." I'd say something like, "I'm thinking of an animal which is very very big, has a long trunk but a small tail. What is it?" My sentence is long, descriptive, has a sequence and comparitive elements. The child as to process this and then guess the answer. Plus it has the advantage of being a game.
    • Do the opposite-select a topic(maybe sports) and write the names of different sports on pieces of paper. Play a family game where you have to draw paper, read the name and then describe it using complete sentences. At the beginning one adult can help the child form complete sentences and then slowly withdraw the scaffolding.
    • Playtime, especially with peers is one of the most natural ways to encourage second language acquisition. If your child has classmates who communicate well in English, invite them over for a playdate. The narrative commentary in play will increas your child's exposure to the language in a meaningful context. (Let's put the car on this road, you start chasing me, I'll go fast..vrrrrroooom.) If you have the time to sit with them (just for 5-10 minutes), provide a commentary-"Oh, you are chasing him? Wow, that is fast." You are repeating the sentences the children use-this is also a perfect opportunity to rephrase the sentence with correct syntax, pronunciation and intonation. All early language teachers use narrative commentary in their classrooms-for all children. It reinforces concepts and provides an insight into the process. For example, the child will respond, "That's right I did...and then it became..." This is a very important cognitive processiong skill. It will eventually lead to the child narrating as he tackles an activity. "First I should do this..then I'll try this...and if it doesn't work..."
    more later...
    r
     
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  9. Adumom

    Adumom New IL'ite

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    Hi Teacher

    Thank you so much for the time spent by you on this topic and also your valuable thoughts...i am all ears and will try to implement your valuable tips

    Regards
    adumom
     
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  10. pappuu

    pappuu Bronze IL'ite

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    valuable thoughts..thanks for sharing...
     

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