|
 |
Using children’s material | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6314 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 25 of 46 04 September 2011 at 12:00pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
Really didn't want to rile anyone up. Different strokes for different folks and all that jazz. Enjoy your
Teletubbies! Edited by newyorkeric on 04 September 2011 at 12:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| misslanguages Diglot Senior Member France fluent-language.blog Joined 4781 days ago 190 posts - 217 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: German | Message 26 of 46 04 September 2011 at 12:20pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
I'm sorry, it's just that it seems like the author of this thread would really benefit from watching Teletubbies. I know it can be hard to watch something that was originally made for 2-year-olds when you're in your twenties or even older, but social stigma aside, it's a really good show to learn languages.
Curious George is also very cool, but waaaaaay harder to understand. Like, 10 times harder. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4844 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 27 of 46 04 September 2011 at 1:32pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I forgot about the mini-documentary segment. Unfortunately, I'm sure they will still have the English documentaries, dubbed into French, for the version of the show in French. Still, I'm looking forward to the rest of the show. I've ordered a DVD from amazon.fr. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5701 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 28 of 46 04 September 2011 at 6:00pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Funnily enough, even 'educational' series like Teletubbies do not teach children their native language; at least according to a study I read some time ago. They carefully monitored which words children (around age 2 if I remember correctly) learnt to use, and showed that during the study, children only learnt to use words they picked up from their caretakers, regardless of how many times they had seen & heard them used on TV. Their conclusion was that TV shows for toddlers and preschoolers are useful if you want the child to just shut up for a moment, but you shouldn't believe you're doing your kid a favour with making it watch them. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4844 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 29 of 46 04 September 2011 at 6:46pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
You might be right there, Bao. However, read the bit you quoted from Misslanguages more carefully. She never mentioned how good they are for native children to learn from. She was writing about older people learning from a show made for children. I have also heard that children don't learn from TV programmes, although I have to say, my children would quote from the Teletubbies at times. But even so, that doesn't mean they can't be helpful for adult learners. Misslanguages wrote that she learned a lot from watching Teletubbies in English. Having watched the Teletubbies with my own children, I can see how they could be good for adult learners of English. Now I am going to try it in French and see for myself. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." I will let you know how it goes. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| therumsgone Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6472 days ago 93 posts - 105 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 30 of 46 04 September 2011 at 7:06pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
There have indeed been many interesting studies on this; my personal favorite is Kuhl, Tsao, & Liu (2003). Foreign-language experience in infancy: Effects of short-term exposure and social interaction on phonetic learning. PNAS 100 (15), 9096-9101. In this study, they gave children equal exposure to Mandarin input either via a native speaker, audio recordings, or video recordings. Children learned the basic sounds of Mandarin when they interacted with a speaker, but not when they listened to recordings. Here's the abstractL
Does it matter if children don't learn from videos, when the real question is whether this material would be useful for adults? I think it does, as the assumption seems to be that children's material is graded and can provide a systematic approach to language learning. However, I find that this is not the case. Material for children contains complex language (e.g. the passé simple in children's books) and idiomatic expressions, as even young children are fairly competent speakers. Materials for children seem to be tailored to their interest level, which is likely not the interest level of an adult learner. Additionally, characters in children's shows can be difficult to understand, especially for non-native speakers. I don't think that children's materials are useless: clearly, Harry Potter will be easier to read than, say, À la recherche du temps perdu. But, it's important to prioritize study materials. In my opinion, an adult learner would be better served by watching a half hour of French in Action than a half hour of French Teletubbies. Why? One provides a systematic introduction to the French language for non-native speakers, the other is meant to keep two year olds occupied while their parents make dinner or clean house. Teletubbies might be fun or even useful, but don't expect miracles. You definitely won't learn French like a child by watching children's programs. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| misslanguages Diglot Senior Member France fluent-language.blog Joined 4781 days ago 190 posts - 217 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: German | Message 31 of 46 04 September 2011 at 7:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
Thank you, Jeffers. I've never said that a kid could learn English by watching TV. I was talking about *adult* learners here. If you aren't allowed to drink in the US, you're not an adult, period.
Obviously, people who are in their twenties are smart enough to be aware of the fact that they need to make some kind of effort if they want the words to stick. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5701 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin | Message 32 of 46 04 September 2011 at 7:44pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
|
Just, how are *adults* supposed to learn from material that is irrelevant to their daily life and most likely also to their interests, very low in information-density and even being that way uses a non-standard variant of the language (baby talk, to be exact) which they won't even be able to use for communication? Edited by Bao on 04 September 2011 at 7:50pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
