3533. How Do We Learn a Language?

Learning English or any other language can be great. You can communicate with many other people. 

You can learn that language and also you can acquire it. This is, you can learn it formally and by means of instruction at a school, and also you can acquire it by being not aware you are acquiring it, by means of reading and listening to it, at a level you can understand. 

Infants acquire their mother tongue in an unaware way. Well, adults can also achieve it, according to Stephen Krashen and Henry Douglas Brown. 

Okay then, this latter way of interiorizing the language seems better than formal learning, isn’t it? 

Both, learning and acquiring, can be absolutely compatible. Furthermore, both ways can be complementary. 

Actually, formal learning at a school can trigger and boost acquiring that tongue. They are not antagonist. They are not so at all. Also, because it’s my experience concerning learning English. 

Something else I wanted to tell you today is that when teaching a language, face-to-face or remotely like now because of being confined at home for the covid-19, is convenient to give examples of sentences. 

I would advise you to set examples of language, examples of sentences with some specific grammar point we are teaching, by offering those examples being meaningful to the learner, from the universe of his or her life. 

Always if those examples are in accordance to human dignity, and in accordance to the way their parents want to educate their kids, for we are educating our students whilst teaching. As well because there may be culture differences. Have a nice week, my dear readers.

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