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MT method - does it work with kids? | ||
Tags: Children | Michel Thomas | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| TheBiscuit Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 5929 days ago 532 posts - 619 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Italian Studies: German, Croatian | Message 1 of 7 19 November 2008 at 3:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Just wondering how well the MT method works with kids, and at what age it works best. Do they like it? Do they get bored? Any experiences?
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| BGreco Senior Member Joined 6399 days ago 211 posts - 222 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Spanish | Message 2 of 7 19 November 2008 at 5:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think a lot of the abstractness of some grammar explanations would be out of reach of a young kid's mind. I think middle school and above could do it fine. Below that, you'd have to get creative.
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| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6017 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 3 of 7 20 November 2008 at 4:13am | IP Logged | ||
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Studies with bilingual kids show problems with translation until somewhere about 6-8 years old (IIRC!) so I think it might have problems there.
Thomas did a lot of work with high school kids (as that was when language learning starts for many in the US), so it certainly should work with them. Theoretically, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work on anyone with the English vocabulary he uses. Are your kids going to understand "What is your opinion of the political and economic situation in Spain?" Once they can grasp that, there shouldn't be any material in the course that presents a problem. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Leopejo Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6115 days ago 675 posts - 724 votes Speaks: Italian*, Finnish*, English Studies: French, Russian | Message 4 of 7 20 November 2008 at 4:38am | IP Logged | ||
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On the other hand, not all kids are very keen on such a classroom type teaching - with the added minus of them not being in a real classroom with a real teacher and real classmates.
Expose them to MT if you wish, but know the risk: alienating them from language learning for years to come. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6445 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 5 of 7 20 November 2008 at 6:34am | IP Logged | ||
Hm. I started reading newspapers in English at about 7 or 8, and I don't think I would have had any trouble with "What is your opinion of the political and economic situation in Spain", but I'm almost positive I wouldn't have enjoyed MT at all at that age. I think people probably vary significantly in what age they'd be ready to effectively use MT at, but I'd guess early middle school plus or minus a couple of years if pressed. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| unzum Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom soyouwanttolearnalan Joined 6920 days ago 371 posts - 478 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin | Message 6 of 7 20 November 2008 at 9:23am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, I once tried to get my brother to listen to Michel Thomas French in preparation for a holiday in Tunisia... He was about 9. He didn't take to it very well at all. He complained that he couldn't understand the accent. He was very fidgety and I gave up after about an hour.
I think the only thing he remembered when I tested him on holiday was 'comme ci, comme ça', although I'm not sure he knew what it meant. Anyway, I'm not sure if kids have a long enough attention span at that age. It would probably be too much like school work for them to enjoy it. I think other methods like talking to them in another language, taking them to a multilingual after-school club, etc, would work better. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| brian00321 Senior Member United States Joined 6604 days ago 143 posts - 148 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 7 of 7 23 November 2008 at 10:05am | IP Logged | ||
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Kids? Anything with the word 'learning' will probably scare them away like a
mouth-covered doctor with a needle in his hand. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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