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Do you talk to classes about language learning?

Do you ever share with your classes what you know about how languages are learned? Do you think it would help if you did so?

I would occasionally talk with my classes about language acquisition, in particular what it has in common with child language acquisition (a great deal, I believe, and supported by research).

You might like to try it. My little homily went something like this:

“Just think how amazing it was that you learned to speak English, or your other native language, by the age of about five. You might not have had all the words and complicated grammar, but you could understand your parents and friends, and you could speak fluently, without ever having to learn rules, read much or write anything down, do vocab tests or do practice exercises. Amazing! How did that happen?

It happened because you were listening to people all the time and talking back to them. Your mum or dad probably simplified their language a bit for you, read you stories with pictures, sang songs and watched cartoons with you. You asked what things mean and they told you.

So... if you had that ability to learn a language then, do you still have it now? Yes! I know we only have X lessons a week, but if you listen carefully and join in when you can, and if you spend time on your homework, nature will take its course and you will become a better (French) speaker. I have older students who began exactly like you about six years ago and can now speak (French) quite fluently. It’s a fantastic thing to be able to do!

So... just listen to me and your friends really carefully, join in when you are confident, and you’ll do well.”

And it may nearly be that simple.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Comments

  1. Unknown23 March 2019 at 04:54

    I do, yes. Regularly. Especially about the importance of using the language. I also stress the importance of vocabulary building (top 2,000 by frequency) and ways of learning it: flashcards, spaced repetition, mini-text floods, e.g. reading a load of amazon comments about s book or film or album that they have loved or hated. Every wer bit helps!

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