Hello bookworms!
Once having analysed what parents, educators
and old students of my context think about early foreign languages learning, I
will describe and analyse their answers:
1. Young children
learn languages as a game and they are more motivated than older learners in
Primary.
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| English language learning as a game |
Educators, parents as well as old students think
that kids are more motivated than older learners in Primary, because games are
an essential part of the class during their first years at school. Specifically, one of the parents I asked
stated that young children learn languages because “they have fun and don’t see
foreign language learning as a duty, but as a game”. What’s more, some parents
also made reference to the fact that “older children have different motivations”,
which is what Carmen Muñoz (2000) says in Bilingualism
and Trilingualism in school students in Catalonia: “young people are also
attracted to English because of its value as a lingua franca for use in
travelling abroad and communicating with foreign people”. Older students agree
with parents and their opinions are similar.
Regarding educators, they consider that games
are a good strategy and resource to motivate younger children to learn a foreign
language. However, we have to take into account “what type of games teachers carry out in class”, one of the educators expressed.
2. The earlier you
start learning a foreign language, the better results in written language.
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| English language learning |
This statements is a little bit controversial
due to the different opinions I was given by educators and parents.
Specifically, some parents think that “children have more abilities to develop
writing skills since early ages”; they consider that the more inputs they
receive, the more outputs there will be in the future. Nevertheless, other
parents and also educators don’t agree this statement saying that younger
children “don’t have enough resources to practice or develop their writing
skills. For example, three year-old kids don’t know to write yet”.
Older students are more open-minded and
consider that “since early ages pupils are exposed to foreign languages
materials such as readings, songs, games, etc. that can develop indirectly
their writing skills. If they are used to reading these kind of materials, they
will assimilate some writing issues”. As far as I am concerned, it was
interesting listening to such opinions, so most people are convinced that
receiving inputs without producing immediate outputs doesn’t mean that children
cannot do it in the future.
3. Children are like
sponges because they have more resources to learn a new language.
All three educators, parents and old students
agree this statement. Actually, their opinions express the same ideas: “the
earlier kids are exposed to a new language, the more links they set in their
brains. Therefore, they build a clearer structure than an adult”.
I consider that this statement may have been
considered true by the majority of people because bilingualism in Catalonia is
a fact, I mean all children are exposed to Catalan and Spanish since they born
and they learn both languages without problems. That’s why some parents
consider that a new language such as English will not be difficult for children
who are used to using both Spanish and Catalan.
4. Children cannot speak a foreign language
while learning it but they can understand it.
This statement was also considered true by
educators, parents and old students. However their opinions were different. For
instance, some parents think that children “can understand general information
given that they have developed basic listening skills in such foreign language”.
Others say that children can understand a language without speaking it because “they
have not enough confidence to speak a foreign language”.
Educators consider that children cannot speak a
foreign language, but understand it because “their listening skills are more
developed than speaking ones”. On the other hand, old learners believe that
children “cannot difference language structures, but understand them. Yet, when
they get older, they will be able to set links and apply all what they have
learnt”.
5. Is the early
introduction English going to affect the development of the other 2 languages?
Educators, parents and old students answered “no”
to such question. They believe that “children cannot confuse all 3 languages
when learning them, so they can learn more than one language at the same time”.
Specifically, one of old learners state that “it (English) can actually make
easier the learning of new foreign languages”.
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| Bilingualism in Catalonia |
In any case, English doesn’t affect negatively
to Spanish or Catalan development. Indeed, bilingualism in Catalonia is
positive for introduction of other foreign languages at early ages. That’s why
young children develop some metacognitive abilities that imply language
transfer strategies and interlanguage dependence. Nevertheless, we may take
into account that these cognitive benefits only take place if young pupils are
exposed to massive inputs in formal or natural contexts (Cenoz, n.d.).
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
Personally, I would like to tell my experience
related to early foreign language learning, since I consider important my
parents decision when I was just a child. My parents didn’t want to join me in an academy
when I was 6 years old, my Primary teachers even insist on being enrolled in a
language schools. However, my parents didn’t consider that it was necessary for
me receiving extra classes of English until I was on Secondary schools.
Despite my parents didn’t want to join me in an
academy, I insisted on going to one because I loved all what I did in my
Primary English classes. Then, when I started secondary school, my parents gave
me the opportunity to improve my English, but I refused it. It wasn’t until I
was 16 years old that I ask my parents for enrolling an academy. My main
motivation was my educational and professional future, not having fun as I
expected when I was just a child.
It was frustrating observing how some of my
classmates had more English skills than me. Here it was when I blame my parent
for not having enjoined me in an academy when I was 6 years old. I thought that
the sooner, the better. However, I could observe how in just 6 years I improved
my English until getting an advanced level. It was thanks to lots of strategies
I set to learn vocabulary, expressions, grammar and so on (some of them are the
same ones I use for Catalan and Spanish); lot of practice during the week in
the academy through role playing and communicative situations.
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| French language learning |
I would also like to highlight that in 3rd
of secondary I chose French as 2nd foreign language. It was fun
observing that I mixed French and English because some words were similar in
both languages. Later, I learnt to difference them by using some strategies.
However, I didn’t consider it a negative fact; actually, mixing languages means
that learners are building a strategies network and are transferring knowledge
from one language to another. In such transfer, there may be mistakes related
to foreign languages learning process.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, I strongly believe that most
parents and educators are concerned about English early learning because they
are influenced by society. I mean the more languages you master, the more professional
prospects you will have. That’s why parents want their sons to learn it since
they born.
What’s more, another issue for parents and
educators is the insignificant number of hours schools teach studentsEnglish. Consequently, most parents think of enrolling their children to
academies or language schools. However, schools are increasing English hours in
class by applying CLIL approach. Thereby, pupils develop English language
skills at the same time they learn Science, Maths or Geography contents, for
instance.
In the case of academies, I must highlight that
a vast majority of them apply a communicative approach, which is meaningful for
English learning. Nevertheless, pupils only go 2 days per week, which is few
for developing proficiency skills.
To sum up, Catalonia situation is absolutely advantageous for learning foreign languages, so bilingualism allow pupils to transfer their knowledge (from L1 and L2) to L3 acquisition; this transfer implies language interdependence and learning strategies. This process would be like learning to divide: if we know to add, substract or multiply, we will be able to do a division.
