For example, when babies born to native-English-speaking parents played three times a week during that window with a native-Mandarin-speaking tutor, at 12 months, they had progressed in their ability to recognize both English and Mandarin sounds, rather than starting to retrench in the non-native language. By contrast, children exposed only to audio or video recordings of native speakers showed no change in their language trajectory. Brain-imaging of the same children backed up the results of test-based measures of language specialization.
The research may not immediately translate into a new language arts curriculum, but it has already deepened the evidence for something most educators believe instinctively: Social engagement, particularly with speakers of multiple languages, is critical to language learning.
“The key to that series of studies is exposure and live interactions with native speakers,” Ms. Lebedeva said. “The interactions need to be naturalistic: eye contact, gestures, exaggerated phonemes.”
“Human brains are wired to learn best in social interactions, whether that learning is about language or problem-solving or emotion,” Ms. Lebedeva said, “but language is such a ubiquitous human behavior that studying it gives us an example of how more general learning takes place.”
at the science-oriented Ultimate Block Party held in New York City this month, children of different backgrounds played games in which they were required to sort toys either by shape or color, based on a rule indicated by changing flashcards. A child sorting blue and yellow ducks and trucks by shape, say, might suddenly have to switch to sorting them by color. The field games exemplified research findings that bilingual children have greater cognitive flexibility than monolingual children. That is, they can adapt better than monolingual children to changes in rules—What criteria do I use to sort?—and close out mental distractions—It doesn’t matter that some blue items are ducks and some are trucks.
researchers long thought the window for learning a new language shrinks rapidly after age 7 and closes almost entirely after puberty. Yet interdisciplinary research conducted over the past five years at the University of Washington, Pennsylvania State University, and other colleges suggest that the time frame may be more flexible than first thought and that students who learn additional languages become more adaptable in other types of learning, too.
A collection of video interviews with native speakers from different countries, representing different dialects. Organized by task, and level (beginning, intermediate A & B, advanced A & B, and superior. Comes with transcripts too.
A collection of video interviews with native speakers from different countries, representing different dialects. Organized by task, and level (beginning, intermediate A & B, advanced A & B, and superior. Comes with transcripts.
French Yelp, the Spanish-version of Craigslist, or the Japanese-language weather app.
best route from Le Louvre to Notre Dame in Paris. Students can use the same technology that a native speaker would use to accomplish any given task
mobile devices connect users with foreign language newspapers, videos, podcasts, and streaming online radio. This level of remote accessibility into other cultures and languages is completely unprecedented.
Using real apps for real language learning through taks based activities and practice in the ways that native speakers function daily. Authenticity at its best. .
Folk music in many European languages http://folkdc.eu/
The Digital Children's Folksongs for Language and Cultural Learning (Folk DC) project is a European Union project designed to motivate young language learners to engage with language learning through using Folk songs, and activities around the songs.
The songs are in 10 European languages (Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Turkish). The project will be producing a complete package for schools (Autonomous Teacher Training Tool kit - ATTT) so that schools all over Europe can take part in the project.
The project culminates in a simultaneous, live concert in 5 countries, streamed over the Internet to audiences all over Europe. School choirs will sing folk songs in non-native languages that will be streamed to the other concert venues and also made available to an Internet audience.
Schools can take part in this project by:
Using the resources produced by the project
Suggesting your own language, culture and music activities, inspired by the project
Watching the live concert (at the venue or online) - see how you can join
Adding folk songs of your language - see the project Wiki
You can ask more information about how you can take part here.
The project will introduce an understanding of the number, richness and culture of other languages when children start to learn a foreign language and begin to understand the meaning of additional languages. It will engage children in fascinating and engaging activities that will resonate in to the future and answer the need for materials that can directly engage and motivate children to enjoy their learning.
Great resource for "something more like an actual conversation - speech taking place in real time that is continually new, that conveys information that we are interested in...a listing of online news radio, talk, information programs, and music programs featuring music in the native language to practice your understanding of foreign languages. "
Whether you're looking for online language lessons, translating dictionaries, native literature, translation services, software, language schools, or just a little information on a language you've heard about, iLoveLanguages probably has something to suit your needs.
MIMEA is a series of interactive multimedia modules for language learning, practice, and assessment. The modules are based on video clips that show native speakers and nonnative speakers interacting in natural, unscripted situations. Interactive exercises
I work with adult migrants and they live with their non-English speaking families. Therefore, unlike children of native English speaking families, these adults are not surrounded by rich English words that are full of meaning. We might say to a child "put your toys away" and they won't understand, so we do it for them. However, we started doing it when they were 8 months old, and after a few more months, they understand what it means.
The main exposure students had to the culture of the target language was through controlled interaction with native speakers in the classroom.
Language & culture are more naturally integrated in this approach. Culture instruction is connected to grammar instruction. Its main goal is to teach students how to use the target language when communicating in a cultural context
the following are other common approaches to teaching culture: (from Omaggio)
The Frankenstein Approach: A taco from here, a flamenco dancer from there, a gaucho from here, a bullfight from there.
The 4-F Approach: Folk dances, festivals, fairs and food.
The Tour Guide Approach: The identification of monuments, rivers and cities.
The "By-the-Way" Approach: Sporadic lectures or bits of behavior selected indiscriminately to emphasize sharp differences.
focusing a little more on similarities, instead of the differences, between cultures
Latorre believes that focusing on differences instead of on the similarities contributes to people misunderstanding other cultures, often thinking that the foreign cultures are "exotic," perhaps more exotic than they actually are. What Latorre suggests that any teacher of any foreign language should do is focus on the “true differential, the language [itself], rather than enlarging beyond proportion attitudes and activities which are either regional, outdated, or downright non-existent” (672).
one of the most important factors for success in learning a foreign language is the need for students to get involved in the learning process. The use of materials based on internet technologies offers many innovative ways of getting students involved in the process of learning a language. Students can get to know the target culture by means of interacting directly with native speakers via on-line communication, with mail exchanges or chatrooms.
From her point of view, it is crucial that the students can learn not only the language but also the diversity of the target culture. That is why, according to her, internet resources, such as newspapers and magazines, have a great importance, since they provide students with authentic and current information that can help them understand the target culture. Reading on-line newspapers makes students aware of current social phenomena.
According to Lee, recent studies have proved that internet resources can help students improve their language skills in a similar way to full immersion or study abroad, although are based basically on written communication. Besides, this use of on-line resources are more beneficial to students at the advanced level because they require a high level of language proficiency to read, comprehend, and respond to cultural readings, for example, newspapers.
The most important part of Stern's research involves his 3-level framework of foreign culture pedagogy: teaching social sciences, applying theory/research, and their practical applications in the classroom. In the 1990s, Stern's cultural/communication mix evolved from describing sociocultural contexts of second language/foreign language to contexts of competence in second culture acquisition (not just language acquisition). This is the first time that cultural pedagogy and social sciences had been paired.
In H.H. Stern's breakthrough 1983 study "Fundamental concepts of language Teaching," there are concepts of day-to-day culture and customs that should be used in the classroom. Stern uses a four component model including a 'cultural syllabus' for culture teaching.
Foreign language (FL) teachers should make culture more of a central role in the class
FL teachers should throw out teaching culture in terms of isolated facts
FL teachers should have an awareness of the past on the present within any culture without focusing too much on the past
FL teachers should be aware of cognitive and affective influences on the students
FL teachers should engage students as active participants
FL teachers should teach culture in such a way that students can be cross-cultural here and abroad
Given that the teacher’s assumptions about how language and lang learning affect how he or she teaches lang and culture, the approach should aim for communicative competence (that is, real communication)
Tang discussed the use of performance-based theory developed by Walker (2000) who suggests that culture could be better taught if done through simulated social interactions in the classroom, for example hosting a guest or accepting a gift. This serves to create a “default memory” within the student's mind that will help him perform in the target culture without drawing conclusions or using as a reference his own base culture which could lead to misunderstandings.
Tang also discourages the pure instruction of behavioral culture in the classroom and says that to perform effectively in a target culture one must not only be able to master it linguistically, be familiar with its artifacts, norms and rituals but also with the meaning system, or the hidden significance underlying these. This is why she believes that Walker's performance-based theory can only work properly if the true meaning system underlying the simulated situations and interations created in the classroom are internalized by the students.
the Three P's, into three separate categories: cultural perspectives, cultural products, and cultural practices. Cultural perspectives are the values, beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions shared within a culture. Cultural products are things such as literature, music, art, or even utensils such as chopsticks; tangible items that are linked to a certain culture. Cultural practices are the acceptable behavioral patterns, forms of discourse, and rites of passage within a specific culture.
the goals are that students "demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied," which means that we should encourage the students to understand why other cultures do what they do and what the members of that culture think about the reasons behind what they do. In addition, the students should come to an understanding of "the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied." This means that we should enlighten the students on what members of other cultures do and what these peoples' own opinions are about what they do. Moreover, culture should be starting point for all classroom education. In keeping with the 5 C's, culture is used to make comparisons and connections about communities and in doing so students can have meaningful communication within those communties.
According to Omaggio:
Culture is complex and elusive and is difficult to include in linear instructional formats.
Culture requires time that many teachers feel that do not have.
Teachers avoid culture because of their own perceived lack of knowledge.
Culture often requires both teacher and learner to move beyond their level of comfort when confronted with deeper, sometimes controversial issues.
When teaching languages that are spoken in many different countries, e.g., Spanish, where are the cultural boundaries?
Balancing Big C with Little C.
Strategies, techniques, and tools for teaching culture in the classroom
For language teachers, this accepted presumption of incapacity is a huge hurdle, because it keeps many children and adults from even dipping a toe into the language
pool!
TPR was and is a wonderful way to turn that presumption on its head and show the learner
that, not only can we learn, but under the right circumstances, it's fun!
When we are infants our exposure to language is virtually inseparable
from physical activities. People talk to us while tickling us, feeding
us, changing our diapers... We are immersed in a language we don't
speak, in an environment that we explore with every part of our body.
Our parents and caregivers literally walk and talk us through
activities - for example, we learn lots of vocabulary while someone
stands behind us at the bathroom sink, soaping our hands until they're
slippery, holding them under warm water, rubbing or scrubbing, all the
while talking about what we're doing and what it feels like. In this
way, movement and feeling are intimately tied to the process of
internalizing the language.
Classes are active - you are not in your seat all period. The focus
for the first weeks is on listening and moving in response to what the
teacher says.
There is heavy emphasis on listening comprehension,
because the larger your listening comprehension vocabulary is, the
larger your speaking vocabulary will become.
Lots of
language is learned in happy circumstances, especially while you're
having fun.
In a TPR class,
grammar and syntax are not taught directly. Rather, the teacher
designs activities that expose the student to language in context,
especially in the context of some kind of movement.
I'm asked with some regularity about appropriate foreign language instruction for students with a dyslexic learning or thinking style. I'm quick to recommend finding a school or program that includes - or even better - relies on TPR as its principal instructional strategy.
Typically, the initial TPR lessons are commands involving the whole
body - stand up, sit down, turn around, walk, stop.
Fairly soon, the teacher
quietly stops demonstrating, and the students realize that they
somehow just know what to do in response to the words.
You're
also encouraged to trust your body, because sometimes it knows what to
do before your brain does!
As class proceeds, nouns, adverbs,
prepositions are added until before you know it, students are
performing commands like, 'Stand up, walk to the door, open it, stick
your tongue out, close the door, turn around, hop to Jessica's desk,
kiss your right knee four times, and lie down on Jessica's desk."
It's just that
the instruction is designed to facilitate language acquisition, not
learning a language through analysis, memorization and application of
rules.
But
consider your native language: you did not need to learn the grammar
and syntax of your native language in order to learn to
speak it. You learned those structures, unconsciously as
you learned to speak.
The
first is that in a TPR classroom, the focus is not on analysis of
linguistic structures, but on internalizing those structures for
unconscious use.
When we use TPR
strategies to teach, our goal is truly to be able to understand,
speak, read and write the language, not "about" the language.
I think this creativity, the synthetic rather than analytic experience,
the low stress, and generally accepting environment engineered by the
teacher, are a large part of the reason so many students, including
students with learning challenges, find TPR classes so effective and
enjoyable.
Within these real experiences, students are free to
generate all kinds of expressions using the language they're studying,
and to lead instruction in unique directions.