Please watch the video on the hyperlink below and answer the following question: What have I learned from this content and how it should influence my teaching practice?
Looking forward to reading yout comments,
Uncle Cid. http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html
Well, I had seen this video already and what impressed me the most was that curve from the "Age acquisition of a new language". That was a relevant data for me! I know that the older we get the harder is to learn a new language, but I had no idea how hard it could be for a young adult to learn a foreign language. I guess we got to increase the period of time students are exposed to a the target language by avoiding the use of mother language in classroom and out of it!!! We have to stimulate these students to create the habbit of using English out of the class as well.
ResponderExcluirHello folks! I've got some problems to see the video from these hyperlink, but i luckly found it on youtube.com.
ResponderExcluirIf someone else get problems to watch it from the hyperlink, here it is the youtube.com version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2XBIkHW954
I'll be back as soon to write down here my coment about it, answering those questions.
Well, i watched the video twice because i got really surprised by those informations Patricia says and those data she explains.
ResponderExcluirNow i see that i need to practice my english always as possible, i need to read more, LISTEN more, write and of course, speak more english.
I need to be always a student of the language looking forward to be updated and getting better what i learned 'til now.
Talking about be student, i see that teaching kids, we should enjoy the ability they have to make progresses. Play with the words, put them to speak and to listen songs, histories, movies, etc. About the adults, we should work more with them, cause motivation, raise them to see the english classes as an obligation, of course, but, more than this, as a good way to learn about everything, to have their own opinions using the english as language.
We should first of all, to teach both kind of student, kids and adults, be motivated. When we're keen on, we can easily motivate them.
And, all of them should know the importance of studying english. The process is more dificult with adults as Patricia says, so, we could surround them by the language keeping contact with them out of the class speaking english, of course by e-mail, facebook or networks anyway, or when we meet them somewhere.. A good point is always ask them their opinios about everything to cause them to thought in english and to try to forward their language knowledge, and not only to speak the functions we learn at the class.It reminded me "The Shift" at point of not teach the language only, but to think and really educate them using the foreign language.
Please, read "(...)To try forward their language (...)"
ResponderExcluirThat lecture is really nice! Learning about Neurolinguistics is so important for us, as English teachers, since we can understand how our brain works and how to teach and learn better.
ResponderExcluirAs a young learners teacher, I can tell this is going to influence my practice a lot. Everytime we are dealing with kids in class, we tend to think that they may not understand the most complex structures and forms of the foreign language and end up speaking (more than we should) in Portuguese.
From the lecture I learned that this is completely wrong, 'cause a lot of exposure to the foreing language makes them understand and learn it faster. So, I'm going to try to speak more in English with the kids.
Another point that called my attention was when they realized that this learning is controlled by the social brain, and happens when interaction with other human beings is provided, what ratifies the CLT as the best method to teach young learners. Thus, it's also important that we give them lots of oportunities to interact in the target language in class.
Very interesting video! I knew a little about the topics already, because I'm learning French this semester, so I can compare my learning nowdays to when I was younger. It was a lot easier to learn when I was a kid! But it doesn't means that I will never learn French. It's going to be harder and it will take longer, but I will get there! :)
ResponderExcluirThe most interesting part of the video for me was when they conduced the experience with machines instead of 'moms'. I really thought it would have the same results. I was surprised to see that it isn't like this, we have the social brain to help us learn. And that's one thing that we should try to achieve in all our classes to help the students learn better.
Since I am 30 already, my chances are somewhat petty to learn a new language. I will keep trying and hope to succeed, not as quickly as a baby, but someday I will.
ResponderExcluirI reckon the brain is still the greatest mystery of the human being. How it works, how scientists unfold something absurdly genius sometimes and thereafter the theory is proved wrong. Well, I guess I agree with my colleagues when they say that the most interesting part is when they talk about the social brain, and how it influences in our learning process.
To be quite honest, Had I known about all that when I was a baby, I would definitely have dedicated more of my time to learning other languages and other things that I struggle lots today to stick in my brain.
For our students, I reckon CLT is still the path forward and I do try to tap dance (if necessary) in class in order to make them understand the second language with no help from the mother tongue.
cheers
I was very happy to see this video. This was a subject that always made me very curious, but unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to study it better at college.
ResponderExcluirWe have always heard that the best time to learn a new language is when we are young kids, but we didn't exactly know why, and the video showed to us what happens in our brains when we are learning a new language. As teachers, we wrongly tend to believe that our young learners won't understand if we speak in the target language all the time, so we try harder to speak in the native language. But, like the video showed, is the very opposite that improves the language learning. When we're dealing with kids in classroom, we have to speak english with them, whenever its possible, and we should do this in the most natural and spontaneous possible way, avoiding the use of "classroom english". Like Patricia said in another video I was watching online, we think that if we stress the sentences to the kids, if we slow down the pace of what we're saying, kids will understand better, but this is not always true.
Another thing that called my attention was the importance of the importance of the "human factor" to the learning process. Kid's brain is not just a machine that needs information and all sorts of data. People need people to learn, so the role of a teacher, working the language in a natural way, is what makes the learning process grow. Like Patricia said, the brain works with social interation, since it is not a computer. So, we have to be focused on that idea, trying our best to have a emocional, social bound with our students, either they are kids or not, so we can improve their learning. And we also have to expose our students to the use of the target language in class and out of it, avoiding speaking Portuguese.
P.S: There's another video I think it's very interesting and I'd like to share:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuaFatcGVbA
Márcia disse:
ResponderExcluirThe researches that have been developed about how we learn a second language are really interesting and they help us to develop our practices as language teachers and language learners. It's really interesting to reflect on how we learned English. Besides, for those who are taking French or Spanish courses, it's very interesting to compare the experiences. One thing that I learned in the video is the fact that the TV or the audio didn't make any difference in those babies development. It was necessary a human being to make a difference. Learning a language is related to social interaction. We know that, and it must guide our actions in class.
Well, I don't feel like I have much to add, once I strongly agree with my mates, specially Carol. I face the same problems she does when coping with young learners. It's been some time since I last worked with Yteen groups, but I still remember that whenever they couldn't grasp the explanation,I would easily draft to Portuguese. It probably made them realize that no effort was necessary: if they couldn't understand, I would sure translate. From now on, I will try to expose my young learners to the English language as much as possible due to the fact that they can already understand complex structures.
ResponderExcluirI was really impressed with everything I larned!! I have two kids, a three-year-old boy and a 10-month-old baby boy and I´ve always played a lot of songs for them. I really thought it was of some use for their learning of English...
ResponderExcluirTwo bad, it´s not!!! I was surprised (though very happy!!)to know that it takes a human being to interact with the child to make him/her acquire the new knowledge. And that´s fantastic! And it reassures the methodology adopted at Yazigi. The importance of interaction between students and with the teacher. And also shows how important it is to speak as much English as possible with them. And like the others pointed out, provide them with opportunities to speak English outside the classroom. In order to increase their exposure to the new language and its sounds!
Finally, it´s a wonderfull tool to show parents when they say that a 3 year-old child is too young to learn a new language.
I just loved it!!
Thank you!!!
It is great when we can have the help of science to understand things we see happening around but cannot explain exactly why they happen. Interaction is a key word for our practice as English teachers in a communicative approach, and seeing the "social brain" working could surely helps us all understand better the great importance that a high exposure to the target language by our students can play in their learning process. And I agree with Inaê when she says it's a "wonderful tool to show parents" who doubt the importance of learning a foreign language soon.
ResponderExcluirI was impressed and surprised at the same time, because i never thought that the interaction with children is the only way to fasten their ability to learn, and i started to think about the use of dvd´s and songs without our interference. at the same time I am happy with our methodology because we have to socialize with everything in class with the children!!!
ResponderExcluirI wish I could have more time to reflect about the video. I have just seen it. I tried to see at work but it wasn't possible. Anyway, I can't mention that it's an excellent video and brings a lot of information about how our brain works. Scientifically, she explains what can be seen everyday. My students are not kids, but I always see the amazed faces of my workmates when their students show what they learn during the classes. The "social brain" is something new to me. I've never heard about this term, but it shows what Yázigi's teachers already know, the importance of social interaction in the process of learning.
ResponderExcluirLorena Santos
Hi folks, once I saw the blog for this week, I thought this was a different video, however, I saw it when it was first posted. What I found more interesting was the curve of knowledge and acquisition. I knew that when you´re younger, you´re easier learner, but I also knew that adults would have more ability to perceive new things because of the number of synapsis he/she have built up to grown age. What I mean to say is that children learn easier and faster, and maybe, adults learn better. This fact reinforces the need of social interaction to learning and the importance of language authentic and daily use.
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