815. Auntie, at her age, start to learn French!?




Infants and small children can acquire English or any other foreign or second language, ok. In the case of adults: Can they acquire a language, or they can only ‘learn’ the language, which sounds like not so thorough as ‘acquiring’ a language? Stevick (1989:4) puts it:


Until a few years ago, people assumed that this natural ability to ‘acquire’ a language died out about the age of puberty. After that, it was thought, people could gain control of new languages only by ‘learning’ them. In this special technical sense, ‘learning’ is what we do in classrooms, with a textbook, focusing on one thing at a time under the guidance of a teacher. More recently, we have begun to change that view. It is still true that small chidren cannot learn from textbooks, of course. But we are discovering that, to a greater or smaller extent, every adult can not only ‘learn’, but also ‘acquire’ language.


In this sense, ‘acquiring’ a language means taking in sounds and experiences, and then organizing them unconsciously.


I composed a paper about learning English, for a journal, and included those words by Stevick’s must read (1989) Success with Foreign Languages: Seven Who Achieved It and What Worked for Them. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall International. / Photo from: johannesburg oxl co za. classes of French for professionals

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

157. Speeches, debates, promises, promises, promises

Image
NB.- I just realized the attached picture might someway mean something pejorative about those gentlemen. Nothing this sort I meant. Furthermore, i do not know them. Just i liked the photograph, an interesting one if you have a peek at it. Let's carry over it: The teaching coach told old Shean, "I was thinking of telling you, of giving you some brief clues so as you may have a view of higher-level, heavy tasks for your students. First, you all will have to carry out a search of terminology. Second, they implement the task, you know. From a more simple contest between two students giving speeches as each has been proposed as the principal of the school, and she, or he presents the new schedule, rules, recess-periods, new technology, whether uniform or not (in Spain some students don't like wearing uniforms of the school at all; as soon as they arrive home, they change), and so on. Or a candidate for the primaries. Or proposals to end up out the world economic crisis. Pros a...
Read more

1930. The necessity of compromise

Image
We have freedom, tentatively, and by principle. First premise.  However if I skip any compromise, I can't use my freedom.  If I compromise with someone about something I must fulfill it, right?  Albeit some people think that getting married for example doesn't entail to live with your spouse for the rest of your life, I'd say that compromise is for all the lifetime of one of the spouses however. I do know many marriages that have lived together until death of one of the spouses. / Photo from: compromise-settling-our-differences-in-agreement-thumb. howtodateinlv wordpress com
Read more

3712. Is My Work as a Teacher Any Useful?

  One month ago I wrote down a note that said something like “The teacher’s function is to get knowledge into his or her students’ minds.” In fact it was taken from a book I was then reading, by J. B. Chautard, which book was published about a century ago, and it has been published into numerous editions ever since. Actually the note was in Spanish and it sounded kind of “La misión del docente es que los conocimientos penetren en las mentes de sus alumnos.”  And I guess it’s just great, and nowadays we should say the same about our function as teachers. Well, you know, you teacher may feel some burn-out or you may be hectic, or even alienated, yet just let me tell you something which might perhaps help you out somehow.  I consider the teacher as also – or primarily – source of knowledge. For that aim he or she ought to continuously keep learning and reading about the subject they teach. Just a few minutes per day, or half an hour if attainable.  And then we have that...
Read more

3501. Discipline and Class Management for their Happiness

In 10 days we will be starting an English summer camp for boys. Near Costa del Sol in southern Spain. A wonderful place and hopefully a wonderful camp.  Now I’m thinking of the first announcements and advice I’ll tell the thirty students that are to attend it. Who will be responsible of conduct and behavior? The kids themselves. I’ll be saying some things that could penetrate in their heads though they may be not very conscious the first day.  We teachers and monitors are sowing and planting seeds that will penetrate in them over time, maybe over years.  They have to have a pen plus a notebook or A4 sheets – also a dictionary is sensible to have. They must be punctual, which amounts to be respectful to other people, other human persons.  They will practice the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. They’ll have a wonderful chance to practice their English with a pair of native teachers: last year and other past years we had a...
Read more

1715. The value of assessing our students

Image
Assessing our students’ work and competences is not just something of mathematics.  It is a human and humane action.  Whenever you grade a student for the period of a term or two months, you don’t only grade that work and those communicative competences, but you have an image of the student, and you finally assess that period (evaluation) taking into account his grades at exams and his daily work, and recalling the effort and the conducting of that specific student.  So you dedicate some time, this is, a period of time, to assessing him or her.  The point, thus, is to evaluate the whole person: achievements, good and bad days, his growing up, the going upward in effort for example, or going down, his fluctuations, etc. It is a quick but true task of evaluating them. / Photo from: rowing team. cart1 physicsworld com
Read more