Guest Post by George Schalter
Some years ago, while I was visiting friends in Ottawa, I was surprised to learn that the friend who was hosting me had kids who attended a French immersion school. My friend was Indian. They spoke a southern Indian language at home, but his kids had French as a medium of instruction, which meant they studied science, history, geography, math, and other subjects in French. Immersion schools were meant for kids who did not speak French as their primary language. When I met these kids, they were about fourteen and eleven years old and they spoke to me in fluent English. These kids were multilingual, rather effortlessly!
What’s language?
In Adam’s Tongue: How Humans Made Language, How Language Made Humans, author and linguist Derek Bickerton asks us to run a very interesting thought experiment—pretend that there is no language. Go on, try it.
How do we communicate? Be it sending an email, placing an order for just the right coffee, calling in sick, reading the labels on food, reading a love poem, and a myriad of other things—how would we do it? Language, you slowly realize, is central to what makes us human. It sets us apart from other living creatures, even as it is the unifying thread of human existence. I can write out my thoughts, and you can read and understand them, only because of the language skills we have.
The Early Years
Children have the ability to learn languages naturally and effortlessly. When they learn multiple languages at an early age, it has been observed that they develop an open attitude toward language and cultures. Historically, a love for language was inculcated via songs and rhymes, stories, riddles, and wordplay.
In the modern education system, along with all the old methods, parents, teachers, and caretakers use newer tools to develop an interest in the language arts:
Bilingual Games from Scholastic
English Games from Jumpstart
Flash cards from Time Kids
Read Aloud Games from Reading Planet
Learning Never Stops
There was a time when Latin was widely spoken, but today English is the preferred choice and Latin is a dead language. As we grow, our language needs morph. Sometimes we need to learn a new language, and other times we need to learn better a language we already know. As new types of jobs have opened up, our needs have changed, resulting in people needing to learn business English, English for university courses, English for specific purposes like science writing, etc. Non-native English speakers, too, take up English language courses, which gives them the language skills they lack.
Adding Spit and Polish
A child learns to speak by listening. That is the key to learning any language. So, to improve the language acquisition process, listen more. Perhaps you could listen to a soundtrack or a free audio book, or watch movies and plays to understand dialogue delivery. People who like poetry and music could pay particular attention to the way words are strung together.
As we learn more, we also learn better ways to learn more. Our vocabulary expands throughout our lives. When we want to expand it purposefully, playing crosswords and word games, reading quality content, and simply practicing by speaking to other people with good vocabularies is of great help.
Every language has a huge number of dialects and a variety of accents. Sometimes, people want to neutralize their accent and language delivery. People in the acting profession try to lose their own accents, even as they occasionally get some training to put on another accent for a role!
Immersing yourself in the language you want to master is a great way to improve your language skills. Plan a holiday to the place where they speak the language you wish to improve, for there is nothing better than learning a language from native speakers in their native land!
When we write in a particular language, it is important to ensure that we communicate exactly what we mean, or else our readers may not understand. To avoid such situations, we must use help depending on our requirements. Sometimes, the help of a friend, mentor, or coach is enough, and other times, we might need the help of a professional course, e-learning, or special software to improve our language skills.
Summing Up
Learning to speak a language can happen naturally, but to learn to speak, read, and write with competence in that language requires sustained effort.
George Schalter loves being a dad. He and his wife share the joys and responsibilities of bringing up their two children. As believers of good all-around education, they spend a lot of time playing with their children and spending time outdoors. As George is the writer in the family, he blogs at Educational Kids Games.
from www.grammarly.com/blog
http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2015/the-learning-arc-and-learning-a-new-language/
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