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Teaching Languages at School: Strategies? | ||
Tags: School Education | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4410 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 41 of 45 20 February 2014 at 4:36pm | IP Logged | ||
Mind you, I've seen footage of huge classes in Africa (50+ kids) being taught English oral skills by looking at pictures and chanting in unison. Things like "I see the sky. I can see a cloud" Ok, you need a certain cultural mindset for this teaching method to be practicle but there must be something in it. As Benny the Irish polyglot succinctly puts it, you don't actually learn to speak a language until you start speaking in the language. I do think schools should try and instil some oral proficiency rather than regard languages as purely academic subjects. Of coure I realise it's much easier said than done. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| mausi15 Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4685 days ago 24 posts - 43 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish, French | Message 42 of 45 05 March 2014 at 7:30pm | IP Logged | ||
Hmmm. I do Advanced Higher German (and French), did Higher last year, and shall be studying German at university starting this September. There is a large element of truth in your statement, I have to admit. Without meaning to sound totally up myself, when I did Higher the 3 other pupils in the class had difficulty expressing themselves using basic language (only one doing AH :p). It is a shame... Also, I agree with you about there being too much emphasis on reading texts/answering questions in English. The AH reading papers are basically an exercise in translating the entire passage into English. I don't actually particularly mind that personally, but when it comes to the translation section of the paper, what annoys me is that the marking scheme is so erratic - it's difficult to know how much 'poetic licence' you can take, so to speak. I'm lucky to have the chance to converse with a native language assistant every week, though, which is great. I find that it helps especially when you're unsure of which phrase to use, ie which one would sound best to native ears. Also, just a general comment, but it's saddening to observe the sorry state of language learning in Scottish schools. I found out that there are only about 4-5 of us in the whole of Aberdeen doing AH German. :( Edited by mausi15 on 05 March 2014 at 7:35pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6385 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 43 of 45 05 March 2014 at 7:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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Answering in English might be something specific to the UK, actually. at least I've never had a language class where it was okay to reply questions in Russian. You could often get away with picking an existing sentence from the text, and with multiple choice you also don't produce anything, but at least you read L2 aloud.
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| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4495 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 44 of 45 05 March 2014 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | ||
Somehow Dutch kids seem to have to reply in Dutch now. Certainly didn't help the language levels go up. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| montmorency Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4616 days ago 2371 posts - 3676 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Danish, Welsh | Message 45 of 45 06 March 2014 at 12:08am | IP Logged | ||
I was talking to someone earlier this evening about the situation in Wales, where, as you probably know, only a minority of the Welsh population are able to speak Welsh (although I think that number has been rising steadily), and even fewer speak it as a first language (and that number continues to shrink, I believe). I have no idea about numbers, but some schools are "Welsh medium", in which all subjects are taught in Welsh, except English, which is taught as a subject. In other schools, Welsh must be taught up to the age of sixteen, and in addition one subject must also be taught in Welsh (e.g. Chemistry, Physics, Maths, etc). The latter requirement has been in place for many years it seems, although the former one is more recent. The state of Welsh in Wales leaves no room for complacency for supporters of the language, but on the other hand, the previous decline of the language appears to have been reversed, although the shrinking number of first-language speakers is still a cause for concern. But in relation to this debate, and following from the points you have made above, it does show that "ordinary" subjects (Maths, Chemistry, etc), can be taught in a language other than the first language of the pupils. Maybe this model could be adopted in other countries, outside of the rather special situation existing in a country with a threatened language (like Welsh, Irish S.Gaelic, Breton...). e.g. In England, pupils deemed to be studying German, as well as having periods of German, could study, say Maths in German. In Germany, pupils studying Russian, could study, say, Chemistry in Russian, etc. (I can see that time-tabling could be difficult, but it always is in any case...). Motivation has been talked about, and most pupils seem unable to be motivated about any language other than English at the moment. Well, by forcing them to study a "proper" subject in a second-language, you've just given them a new motivation to learn that language properly (and quickly). Needs a lot of careful handling, obviously, but who ever said that teaching school pupils was easy? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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