A. TEACHING CHILDREN
Popular tradition would have you believe that children are effortless second language learners and far superior to adults in their eventual success. On both count, some qualifications are in order.
First, children’s widespread success in acquiring second languages belies a tremendous subconscious effort devoted to the task. Second, adults are not necessarily less successful in their efforts. Third, the popular claim fails to differentiate very young children (say, four- to six-year-olds) from pre-pubescent children (twelve to thirteen) and the whole range of ages in between.
1. Intellectual Development
An elementary school teacher once asked her students to take a piece of paper and pencil and write something. A little boy raised his hand and said, “Teacher, I ain’t got no pencil.” The teacher, somewhat perturbed by his grammar, embarked on a barrage of corrective patterns: “I don’t have a pencil. You don’t have a pencil. We don’t have pencils.” Confused and bewildered, the child responded, “Ain’t nobody got no pencils?”
Since children (up to the age of about eleven) are still in an intellectual stage of what Piaget (1972) called “concrete operations,” we need to remember their limitations. Rules, explanations, and other even slightly abstract talk about language must be approached with extreme caution. Children are centered on the here and now, on the functional purposes of language. They have little appreciation for our adult notions of “correctness,” and they certainly cannot grasp the metalanguage we use to describe and explain linguistic concepts. Some rules of thumb for the classroom:
Ø Don’t explain grammar using terms like “present progressive” or “relative clause.”
Ø Rules stated in abstract terms (“To make a statement into a question, you add a do or does”) should be avoided.
Ø Some grammatical concepts, especially at the upper levels of childhood, can be called to learners’ attention by showing them certain patterns (“Notice the ing at the end of the word”) and examples (“This is the way we say it when it’s happening right now: “I’m walking to the door’).
Ø Certain more difficult concepts or patterns require more repetition than adults need. For example, repeating certain patterns (without boring students) may be necessary to get the brain and the ear to cooperate. Unlike the scene with the little boy who had no pencil, children must understand the meaning and relevance of repetitions.
2. Attention Span
One of the salient differences between adults and children is attention span. First, it is important to understand what attention span means. Since language lessons can at times be difficult for children, your job is to make them interesting, lively, and fun. How do you that?
Ø Because children are focused on the immediate here and now, activities should be designed to capture their immediate interest.
Ø A lesson needs a variety of activities to keep interest and attention alive.
Ø A teacher needs to be animated, lively, and enthusiastic about the subject matter. Consider the classroom a stage on which you are the lead actor; your energy will be infections. While you may think that you’re overdoing it, children need this exaggeration to keep spirit buoyed and minds alert.
Ø A sense of humor will go a long way to keep children laughing and learning. Since children’s humor is quite different from adults’, remember to put yourself in their shoes.
Ø Children have a lot of natural curiosity. Make sure you tap into that curiosity whenever possible, and you will thereby help to maintain attention and focus.
3. Sensory Input
Children need to have all five senses stimulated. Your activities should strive to go well beyond the visual and auditory modes that we feel are usually sufficient for a classroom.
Ø Pepper your lessons with physical activity, such as having students act out things (role-play) play games, or do Total Physical Response activities.
Ø Projects and other bands-on activities go a long way toward helping children, are excellent ways to get them to learn words and structures and to practice meaningful language.
Ø Sensory aids here and there help children to internalize concepts. The smell of flowers, the touch of plants and fruits, the taste of foods, liberal doses of audiovisual aids like videos, pictures, tapes, music-all are important elements in children’s language teaching.
Ø Remember that your own nonverbal language is important because children will indeed attend very sensitively to your facial features, gestures, and touching.
4. Affective Factors
A common myth is that children are relatively unaffected by the inhibitions that adults find to be a block to learning. Teachers need to help them to overcome such potential barriers to learning.
Ø Help your students to laugh with each other at various mistakes that they all make.
Ø Be patient and supportive to build self-esteem, yet at the same time be firm in your expectations of students.
Ø Elicit as much oral participation as possible from students, especially the quieter ones, to give them plenty of opportunities for trying things out.
5. Authentic, Meaningful Language
Children are focused on what this new language can actually be used for here and now. Your classes can ill afford to have an overload of language that is neither authentic nor meaningful.
Ø Children are good at sensing language that is not authentic; therefore “canned” or stilted language will likely be rejected.
Ø Language needs to be firmly context embedded. Story lines, familiar situations and characters, real-life conversations, meaningful purposes in using language-these will establish a context within which language can be received and sent and thereby improve attention and retention. Context-reduced language in abstract, isolated, unconnected sentences will be much less readily tolerated by children’s minds.
Ø A whole language approach is essential. If language is broken into too many bits and pieces, students won’t see the relationship to the whole. And stress the interrelationships among the various skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), or they won’t see important connections.
A. TEACHING CHILDRENPopular tradition would have you believe that children are effortless second language learners and far superior to adults in their eventual success. On both count, some qualifications are in order.First, children’s widespread success in acquiring second languages belies a tremendous subconscious effort devoted to the task. Second, adults are not necessarily less successful in their efforts. Third, the popular claim fails to differentiate very young children (say, four- to six-year-olds) from pre-pubescent children (twelve to thirteen) and the whole range of ages in between.1. Intellectual DevelopmentAn elementary school teacher once asked her students to take a piece of paper and pencil and write something. A little boy raised his hand and said, “Teacher, I ain’t got no pencil.” The teacher, somewhat perturbed by his grammar, embarked on a barrage of corrective patterns: “I don’t have a pencil. You don’t have a pencil. We don’t have pencils.” Confused and bewildered, the child responded, “Ain’t nobody got no pencils?”Since children (up to the age of about eleven) are still in an intellectual stage of what Piaget (1972) called “concrete operations,” we need to remember their limitations. Rules, explanations, and other even slightly abstract talk about language must be approached with extreme caution. Children are centered on the here and now, on the functional purposes of language. They have little appreciation for our adult notions of “correctness,” and they certainly cannot grasp the metalanguage we use to describe and explain linguistic concepts. Some rules of thumb for the classroom:Ø Don’t explain grammar using terms like “present progressive” or “relative clause.”Ø Rules stated in abstract terms (“To make a statement into a question, you add a do or does”) should be avoided.Ø Some grammatical concepts, especially at the upper levels of childhood, can be called to learners’ attention by showing them certain patterns (“Notice the ing at the end of the word”) and examples (“This is the way we say it when it’s happening right now: “I’m walking to the door’).Ø Certain more difficult concepts or patterns require more repetition than adults need. For example, repeating certain patterns (without boring students) may be necessary to get the brain and the ear to cooperate. Unlike the scene with the little boy who had no pencil, children must understand the meaning and relevance of repetitions.2. ช่วงความสนใจหนึ่งความแตกต่างเด่นระหว่างผู้ใหญ่และเด็กมีช่วงความสนใจ ครั้งแรก มันเป็นสิ่งสำคัญเข้าใจหมายความว่า ระยะความสนใจ ตั้งแต่สอนภาษาบางครั้งจะยากสำหรับเด็ก งานของคุณคือเพื่อ ให้น่าสนใจ ชีวาสนุกสนาน วิธีทำคุณอย่างไรØเนื่องจากเด็กจะเน้นทันทีที่นี่ และเดี๋ยวนี้ ควรออกแบบกิจกรรมเพื่อจับความสนใจทันทีØ A เรียนต้องหลากหลายกิจกรรมรักษาดอกเบี้ยและความสนใจØ A ครูจำเป็นต้องเคลื่อนไหว มีชีวิตชีวา และกระตือรือร้นเกี่ยวกับสาระ พิจารณาเรียนขั้นที่คุณเป็นนักแสดงนำ พลังงานของคุณจะติดเชื้อ ในขณะที่คุณอาจคิดว่า คุณกำลัง overdoing เด็กต้องพูดเกินจริงนี้เพื่อให้ วิญญาณ buoyed และจิตแจ้งเตือนØ A ความตลกจะไปแบบให้เด็กหัวเราะ และการเรียนรู้ เนื่องจากอารมณ์ขันของเด็กแตกต่างจากของผู้ใหญ่ ลืมใส่ตัวเองในรองเท้าของพวกเขาØเด็กมีจำนวนมากอยากรู้ธรรมชาติ ตรวจสอบให้แน่ใจว่า คุณเคาะเป็นอยากรู้ว่าเมื่อใดก็ ตามที่เป็นไปได้ และคุณจึงจะช่วยให้รักษาความสนใจและความ3. ป้อนข้อมูลรับความรู้สึกเด็กจำเป็นต้องมีทุกประสาทสัมผัสทั้งห้าขาวกระตุ้น กิจกรรมของคุณควรมุ่งมั่นไปด้วยนอกเหนือจากโหมดภาพ และหูที่เรารู้สึกเป็นปกติจะเพียงพอสำหรับห้องเรียนพริกไทยØบทเรียนกับกิจกรรมที่มีอยู่จริง เช่นมีนักเรียนทำหน้าที่หาสิ่ง (role-play) เล่นเกม หรือทำกิจกรรมตอบสนองทางกายภาพทั้งหมดØ Projects and other bands-on activities go a long way toward helping children, are excellent ways to get them to learn words and structures and to practice meaningful language.Ø Sensory aids here and there help children to internalize concepts. The smell of flowers, the touch of plants and fruits, the taste of foods, liberal doses of audiovisual aids like videos, pictures, tapes, music-all are important elements in children’s language teaching.Ø Remember that your own nonverbal language is important because children will indeed attend very sensitively to your facial features, gestures, and touching.4. Affective FactorsA common myth is that children are relatively unaffected by the inhibitions that adults find to be a block to learning. Teachers need to help them to overcome such potential barriers to learning.Ø Help your students to laugh with each other at various mistakes that they all make.Ø Be patient and supportive to build self-esteem, yet at the same time be firm in your expectations of students.Ø Elicit as much oral participation as possible from students, especially the quieter ones, to give them plenty of opportunities for trying things out.5. Authentic, Meaningful LanguageChildren are focused on what this new language can actually be used for here and now. Your classes can ill afford to have an overload of language that is neither authentic nor meaningful.Ø Children are good at sensing language that is not authentic; therefore “canned” or stilted language will likely be rejected.Ø Language needs to be firmly context embedded. Story lines, familiar situations and characters, real-life conversations, meaningful purposes in using language-these will establish a context within which language can be received and sent and thereby improve attention and retention. Context-reduced language in abstract, isolated, unconnected sentences will be much less readily tolerated by children’s minds.Ø A whole language approach is essential. If language is broken into too many bits and pieces, students won’t see the relationship to the whole. And stress the interrelationships among the various skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), or they won’t see important connections.
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