A guide to the language labyrinth

WHAT IS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACTUALLY GOOD FOR?

In the Czech Republic, we live in a relatively monocultural and monolingual society. The generation of “Husák’s Children” had it a little easier – we were met with the Slovak language regularly and so as children we realized that other languages exist other than the one that we use at home and which they hear in different situations – not only on the radio and TV but also on the street. Even though we are relatively familiar with English these days, children often take these English words with a Czech twist as Czech words – eg email, internet, SMS etc. These are Czech words for the children ( just ask your children if the word email is Czech or English).
Why should children start learning another language when they just start feeling that they have a good command of their native language? The answer is relatively simple – we need to motivate them to study foreign languages and help them find the need to conquer foreign languages while setting the expectations of parents and teachers correctly.

First of all, it is necessary to consider what might be the main motivation of a child to study a foreign language. The information “English will be very useful for you in the future” is abstract, intangible, and solves problems of the future for first graders or even preschoolers. So, if you, as parents, decide to set your child on the path of learning a foreign language, it’s important to create a current need that will motivate your child to learn and also be satisfied in a relatively short time.

What can be the current short-term need? I recommend starting the search with your child’s hobbies and interests. Does your child enjoy playing video games? If so, just sit down with him and watch him while he plays a game with English instructions. As the child plays, continuously ask them what an inscription means and what happens when they click on it. (Note: If you put yourself in the role of the “apprentice” and your child in the role of the “smarter one,” I don’t know of a single child that would throw away the opportunity to “teach their parents.”) After your child has mastered the simplest level of the game, he or she will get to English words or phrases that he or she doesn’t know. First, try to find the answers together (search the dictionary, use an online dictionary) and then use this situation as a concrete reason to learn English. “Would you like to play this game at the highest level? What do you need for that? To know more vocabulary? …”

In this way, you will gently show your child that there is something they can learn that they will be able to use in the near future for their immediate needs. The need and consequently the strong motivation for your child isn’t an “abstract future,” but the present and the closest use of learned vocabulary and verbal feedback in practice, ideally within a hobby or interest (sport – eg information about foreign soccer or hockey players, songs, the internet, contact with foreigners, a favorite cartoon series in English, comics, etc.). However, these needs are short-lived and need to be “updated” gradually – setting new short-term goals. To meet the language needs of a child, it is not possible to only rely on teaching at school, it is necessary to help the children at home connect what they have learned at school with the out-of-school world.

 

Expectations greatly influence our perception of the result and it is therefore very important to carefully set up the outcome. From preschool and early schooling of foreign languages it is important to, before all else, expect a positive relationship between the children and foreign languages and to encourage the creation of the need for language learning – ie not create for the children the impression that English is boring because all they do is fill something in somewhere and talk about things that don’t interest them etc. The form of games, songs, rhymes, and lessons associated with movement is a guaranteed recipe for children to engage and be enticed to further study.

What should you expect from a first grader (even if they have already been introduced to English in preschool)? For the answer to that question, we need to go back 6 – 7 years to a time when your child entered this world and began to be exposed to his native language. In what order did he start to acquire individual language skills? At first, he began to realize that the sounds that come from the mouth of their parents are closely related to the movements of their mouth – ie began to listen. Then he began to assign meaning to the sounds – that is, he began to understand. Subsequently, he began to detach from mere passive knowledge of the language and began to gain active knowledge – he began to “learn” – ie to exercise his speakers, if you will, and investigate what sounds come from his mouth in different situations. It did not take long and he began to communicate with you – not through words just yet, but through gestures and other nonverbal components. Then individual words followed – if we set aside the interjections, the first meaning bearing words are nouns, adjectives, and verbs. The children, after some time, began to put these words into simple sentences and then into more complex sentences. This process, from babies to their first words, lasted about 1 or 1,5 years. What does all of this mean for the teaching of a foreign language?

I am not, in any way, saying that we can expect to have to wait a whole year of learning English for the children to say their first English words. The most important lesson for both teachers and parents is to have realistic expectations of what students will be able to learn at a certain age after being exposed to a foreign language. Children absorb a great deal of information during their first exposure to a foreign language – they acquire passive language skills – they are beginning to understand. With the passing of time and the gaining of self-confidence in the ability to pronounce even the “funny” sounds come the first words and sentences. In other words, a child will not converse in full sentences after two months of teaching but will understand and try to make the most of the words they have learned.

 As mentioned at the beginning, we are all unique and there are countless situations that affect our process of conquering a foreign language. Some children may not even want to talk to their parents at home, although their English is very good at school. Why? They don’t have a need to speak any other language with their parents than the one that they have always used in their home environment. There are a numerous amount of such situations. That is why I recommend communicating with teachers and trying to understand how children learn foreign languages.

Lucie Eiseltová-Urbančíková, M.Ed.
Author and manager of  the Language project
info@lingualudus.com