Hilal Hastaoglu » first language

There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today and English is one of them. I was talking to some friends the other day. We were trying to figure out whether English was a easy language or a difficult one to learn. I couldn’t decide.

What do you think?

When I was 5, we had Chinese neighbours. I would sneak out of our house and visit them daily! Whenever I was missing, my mom knew exactly where I was. However, just a few months ago I was teaching English to 2 boys and they had a private Chinese teacher. She didn’t know a word of English and I didn’t know a word of Chinese. I was starting to think that we will have a huge communication problem. Yet, as she spoke, I understood what she was saying! Ahhhh &^%$ was my first reaction!

I felt like Doctor Dolittle, a physician who rediscovers a very special gift he has suppressed ever since he was a young boy - the ability to understand and talk to animals (Dr. Dolittle - Directed by Betty Thomas).

Conclusion: The human mind is like a memory bank which stores almost everything! I guess my experience proves some theories of language learning/teaching wrong. Language is not always about loads of practice; instead it is about forming the right base to give opportunity for improvement.

P.S. I understand Chinese!

Making errors are part of learning!

Let’s face it; hardly anybody likes others finding their errors/mistakes! However, there are several ways to treat errors/mistakes without having anyone hate you for it!Error: Lack of knowledge – Don’t know the correct version yet - Fossilised

Mistake: Slip of the tongue (ooops!)

A - English as a first language: We know how to correct our mistakes/errors and we can recognize our mistakes for what they are.

B - English as a second language: Not only do they not always recognize their mistakes, but when their attention is drawn to them they often cannot correct them; they may even commit another error in trying to do so. (Reference: S P Corder: Introducing Applied Linguistics pp.256/7)

TREATMENT:

* Concept Questions * Face expressions * Gestures * Re-formulation * Peer correction * Using the white board * Repeat sentence with a blank (beep) for them to fill in with correction etc.

The other day, during our error correction class, our tutor read intonation as in-te-nation. She was asking us whether any of us say it in another way. I told her that I say in-tow-nation! Canadians say it different!

Conclusion: It may not always be an error/mistake; it may be a pronunciation difference.