7/28/2019 Parents Booklet How Children Learn

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How young children learnEnglish as another language

learning

togetherisfun!

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HowyoungchildrenlearnEnglishasanotherlanguageYoungchildrenarenaturallanguageacquirers;theyaresel-motivatedtopickuplanguagewithoutconsciouslearning,unlikeadolescentsandadults.Theyhavetheabilitytoimitatepronunciationandworkouttherulesorthemselves.AnyideathatlearningtotalkinEnglishisdifcultdoesnotoccurtothemunlessitssuggestedbyadults,whothemselvesprobablylearnedEnglish

academicallyatalateragethroughgrammar-basedtextbooks.

TheadvantagesofbeginningearlyYoungchildrenarestillusingtheirindividual,innate,language-learningstrategiestoacquiretheirhomelanguageandsoonfndtheycanalsousethesestrategiestopickupEnglish.Youngchildrenhavetimetolearnthroughplay-likeactivities.Theypickuplanguagebytakingpartinanactivitysharedwithanadult.Theyfrstlymakesense

otheactivityandthengetmeaningromtheadultssharedlanguage.

YoungchildrenhavemoretimetoftEnglishintotheirdailyprogramme.Schoolprogrammestendtobemoreinormalandchildrensmindsarenotyetclutteredwithactstobestoredandtested.Theymayhavelittleornohomeworkandarelessstressedbyhavingtoachievesetstandards.

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Childrenwhohavetheoppor

tunitytopickupasecond

languagewhiletheyarestill young appearto

usethe

sameinnate language-learning strategies th

roughout

lie whenlearningotherlanguages. Pickingu

p third,

ourth,orevenmorelanguagesiseasiertha

n

pickingupthesecond.

Youngchildrenwhoacquire

languageratherthan

consciouslylearnit, asolderchildrenand ad

ultshave

to,are more likelyto havebetterpronunciat

ionandeel

or thelanguageandculture.Whenmonolin

gual children

reachpuberty andbecomemoresel-

conscious,

theirabilitytopickuplanguagediminishesand they

eel theyhaveto consciouslystudy English

through

grammar-basedprogrammes.Theage at w

hichthis

changeoccursdependsgreatlyon theindivi

dualchilds

developmentallevels aswellasthe expectat

ions

otheir society.

Stagesinpickingup English

Spokenlanguagecomesnaturallybeforereadingand writin

g.

Silentperiod

Whenbabieslearntheirhomelanguage,thereisasilentperiod,

when theylookand listenandmaycommunicate through

facial

expression orgesturesbeforethey begin tospeak.When

young

childrenlearnEnglish,theremaybeasimilarsilentperiod w

hen

communication andunderstandingmaytakeplace beforet

hey

actuallyspeakanyEnglishwords

Duringthis timeparentsshould notforcechildrentotakep

art

inspokendialoguebymakingthemrepeat words. Spoken

dialoguesshould be one-sided, the adults talkproviding us

eful

opportunitiesforthechildtopickuplanguage.Wherethe

adultusesparentese(anadjustedformofspeech)to facilit

ate

learning,the childcanusemanyofthe samestrategies the

y

usedinlearningtheirhomelanguage.

Beginningtotalk

Aftersome time,depending on thefrequencyof English se

ssions,

each child(girls oftenmorequicklythanboys)beginsto sa

ysingle

words(cat, house)orready-madeshort phrases (Whats

that?,

Itsmybook, I cant, Thats acar, Timetogohome) india

logues

orasunexpectedstatements.The childhas memorisedthe

m,

imitating the pronunciationexactlywithoutrealising that so

memay

consistofmore thanone word. Thisstagecontinues forso

metime

asthe childpicks upmorelanguage, usingit asashortcut

todialoguebeforethey are readytocreatetheir ownphras

es.

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MistakesChildrenshouldnotbetoldtheyhavemadeamistakebecauseanycorrectionimmediatelydemotivates.MistakesmaybepartoftheprocessofworkingoutthegrammarrulesofEnglishortheymaybeafaultinpronunciation. Igoedsoonbecomeswentifthechildhearstheadultrepeatbackyes,youwent;oriftheadulthearszeebusandrepeatsbackthebus.Asinlearningtheirhomelanguage,ifchildrenhaveanopportunity

toheartheadultrepeatthesamepieceoflanguagecorrectly,theywillself-correctintheirowntime.

GenderdifferencesBoysbrainsdevelopdifferentlyfromgirlsandthisaffectshowboyspickuplanguageanduseit.Sometimesmixedclassesmakelittleprovisionforboys,whomaybeovershadowedbygirlsnaturalabilitytouselanguage.Ifyoungboysaretoreachtheirpotential,theyneedsomedifferentlanguageexperienceswithgirlsandtheirachievementsshouldnotbecomparedwiththoseofgirls.

BuildingupEnglishlanguage

Graduallychildrenbuildupphrasesconsistingofasinglememorisedwordtowhichtheyaddwordsfromtheirvocabulary(adog,abrowndog,abrownandblackdog)orasinglememorisedlanguagetowhichtheyaddtheirowninput(Thatsmychair.Time toplay).DependingonthefrequencyofexposuretoEnglishandthequalityoftheexperience,childrengraduallybegintocreatewholesentences.

UnderstandingUnderstandingisalwaysgreaterthanspeakingandyoungchildrensabilitytocomprehendshouldnotbeunderestimated,astheyareusedtounderstandingtheirhomelanguagefromavarietyofcontextclues.Thoughtheymaynotunderstandeverythingtheyhearintheirhomelanguage, childrengraspthegistthatistheyunderstandafewimportantwordsanddeciphertherestusingdifferentcluestointerpretthemeaning.WithencouragementtheysoontransfertheirgistunderstandingskillstointerpretmeaninginEnglish.

FrustrationAftertheinitialnoveltyofEnglishsessions,someyoungchildren, especiallyboys,becomefrustratedbytheirinabilitytoexpresstheirthoughtsinEnglish.OtherswanttospeakquicklyinEnglishastheycanintheirhomelanguage.FrustrationcanoftenbeovercomebyprovidingchildrenwithperformancepieceslikeIcancountto12inEnglishorverysimplerhymes, whichconsistofready-madephrases.

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Language-learning

environments

Youngchildrenfnditismoredifculttopic

k

up Englishitheyarenot providedwiththe

right typeoexperiences, accompanied by

adultsupport usingparentese techniques.

Youngchildrenneedto ee

l secure and

knowthatthereissomeobviousreason

orusingEnglish.

Activitiesneedtobelinked

to someinteresting

everydayactivityaboutwhichtheyalready

know, e.g. sharing anEnglishpicturebook,

sayingarhymeinEnglish,having an

Englishsnack.

Activities areaccompanied

byadult language

givingarunningcommentaryaboutwhat

isgoingon anddialoguesusingadjusted

parenteselanguage.

Eng

lishsessions areunandinteresting,

concentratingon conceptschildrenhave

alreadyunderstood intheirhome language.

Inthiswaychildrenarenotlearningtwo

things, anewconceptaswellasnewlangua

ge,

butmerelylearning theEnglish totalkabout

somethingtheyalreadyknow.

Activitiesare backedupby

specifc objects,

wherepossible, asthishelpsunderstanding

andincreases generalinterest.

Reading

Children whocan alreadyreadintheirhome

languagegenerallywanttofndouthow toread

in English.Theyalreadyknowhowtodecode

wordsintheirhomelanguage to get meaning

romtextand, i not helpedto decodeinEnglish

,

may transertheirhomelanguage-decoding

techniquesandendupreadingEnglishwith the

homelanguage accent.

BeoretheycandecodeEnglish,young children

needtoknow the 26alphabet letternamesand

sounds. AsEnglishhas 26letters but onaverage

44sounds(in standardEnglish), introducingthe

remainingsoundsis betterletuntil childrenhav

e

moreexperienceinusinglanguage andreading

.

Beginningreadingin English goeseasilyiyoung

childrenalreadyknow the language theyaretryin

g

toread. Manychildrenworkoutby themselves

howtoreadinEnglishitheyhavesharedpicture

bookswithadultsorlearnedrhymes, asthey are

likely to havememorisedthelanguage.Reading

whattheyknowbyheartis animportantstepin

learningtoreadasitgiveschildrenopportunities

towork out howto decodesimple wordsby

themselves, Once children have built upab

ank

owords theycan read,theyeelconfdentand

arethenreadyoramorestructured approach.

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ParentalsupportChildrenneedtoeelthattheyaremakingprogress.Theyneed

continualencouragementaswellaspraiseorgoodperormance,

asanysuccessmotivates.Parentsareinanidealpositionto

motivateandsohelptheirchildrenlearn,evenitheyhaveonly

basicEnglishthemselvesandarelearningalongsidetheir

youngchildren.

Bysharing,parentscannotonlybringtheirchildsEnglish

languageandactivitiesintoamilylie,butcanalsoinfuencetheir

youngchildrensattitudestolanguagelearningandothercultures.

Itisnowgenerallyacceptedthatmostlielongattitudesare

ormedbytheageoeightornine.Tondoutmore,visitwww.britishcouncil.org/parents

7/28/2019 Parents Booklet How Children Learn

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The United Kingdoms international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.

A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland).

One of a series of booklets commissioned by the British Council to support parents.

Written by Opal Dunn, Author and Educational Consultant from the UK