1 / 12

Children as language learners

Children as language learners. Fátima Durán. In this section we will consider some of the abilities and characteristics children possess which help them to learn a foreign language. How do you think children learn a foreign language ? How far do you agree with the views below ?.

vin
Download Presentation

Children as language learners

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Children as languagelearners Fátima Durán

  2. In thissectionwewillconsidersome of theabilities and characteristicschildrenpossesswhichhelpthemtolearn a foreignlanguage. • How do youthinkchildrenlearn a foreignlanguage? • Howfar do youagreewiththeviewsbelow?

  3. Example 1 usinglanguagecreatively • TWhat´stheproblem? • P They (Year 2 children) do notknowhowtowrite (thechildmeansdraw) leaves. They are writingontheground. • TWheredidyouaskthemtodrawtheleaves? • P In theflower´sstick. (Thechildmeansthestem of theflower.) • T Oh yes, that´sright. (smiles)

  4. task • Do you thing the pupil has been taught the prase `the flower´s stick`? If not, where has it come from? • What does this example tell us about how children learn English?

  5. Commentary • Thisexample shows a childusinglanguagecreatively. Sheisusing a phraseshe has notheardorbeentaughtbefore. • Thisisalso a aniceexample of how a classroom can provideopportunitiesto use English in more variedways (a pupilexplaining and commenting) and create a real needforchildrento use thelanguage. • Oneimplication of thisexampleisthatchildrenneedopportunitiesto try out and experimentwithlanguage, buttheyalsoneedfeedbacktoconfirmormodifytheirhypotheses.

  6. Example 2Goingformeaning • P Themanis sleeping. • T And then? • P The mango isfelldown. • TThen? • PTwomenistakinghisdrum. • TTwo… • P Twomenistakinghisdrum. • TYousaytwomen… (stressesthewords `twomen`) • PTwo meen men… (tries changignthepronunciation) • T No. (Theteacherdoesnotprovidetheanswertheteacherwants.) • P … istakinghisdrum. • TAgain, do yousayis? • PTwomen are takinghisdrum. ( Thepupilfinally realices thattheteacherisconcernedaboutsubject/verbagreement.

  7. task • There is a breakdown in communication between the pupil and teacher form line 6 onwards. What is the reason for it? • What does the example tell your about how pupils learn a foreign language?

  8. Commentary • Thisexample shows thatchildrenhave a goodinstinctforinterpretingthesenseormeaning of a situation. They do thisthroughusingtheirknowledge of everydaylife and thecluesprovidedbythesituation, orthepicture, as in thisexample. • Theyworkoutthemeaningfirst and tendnottopayattentiontothewordsthat are usedtoexpressthemeaning. • Accuracyis, of course, important, butit can bedealtwithlater once children are familiar withthemeaning.

  9. Example 5Joining in theaction • P1 Putyourfingeronyourhand. (Thelastwordwasnotclear and somechildren are notclearwheretoputtheirfinger.) • TWell, once againyouhavetobe precise . Where do put… Where do youwantthemtoput? • P1Putyourfingeronyourhand. (sressestheword `hand`andpupilsputtheirfingersontheirhands) • T (askspupils) Whereisyourhand? • P1Putyourfingeronyourneck. (pupilsobey). Putyourfingeronyourknee. • T OK thatwasverygood. Next? (anotherchildvolunteers) • P2Putyourfingeronoyournose. Putyourfingersonyour head.

  10. task • Howisthelanguagelinkedtothephysicalactivity? • Whyisthistype of activity (actiongame) likelytobeveryhelpfulforlanguagelearning?

  11. Commentary • Physical activities provide excellent contexts for language learning. • The language is closely related to what is happening in the situation, and so children can get clues about the meaning from the activity which accompanies the language. • They learn through doing.

  12. ImportantabilitieswhIchourpupils are abletomake use of in learning a foreignlanguage

More Related