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ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > BEING SO COMFORTABLE WITH THE LANGUAGE, THAT...
BEING SO COMFORTABLE WITH THE LANGUAGE, THAT...
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Cristiane Prates
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BEING SO COMFORTABLE WITH THE LANGUAGE, THAT...
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Dear colleagues. This happens to me pretty often and is making me jumping into some (maybe ridiculous) conclusions. Have you ever caught yourself watching a movie or listening to a song and felt so comfortable that you didn �t even notice it was in English, rather than in your mother tongue? Well it does do me quite often.
I �m asking this because some students (not many, maybe 3 or 4) have complained about my classes because according to them I "only" speak Portuguese. The thing is: I never do it in class! This other situation was a liitle funny. WE had a deal that if someone spoke Portuguese in class, he or she would pay $0,05. So, when I said something like "Hey, Lika, you look wonderful today!", another student shouted: "Teacher! You have to pay!, You spoke Portuguese". I said,: "But, �you look wonderful today is Englsih, not Portuguese."
The student got a little confused. He couldn �t understand why he thought that sentence wasn �t in English...
So, my question is baout this...Have yu ever read or studied this? Is it possible that is students understand you so well they might (uncounsciously) believe it �s in their mother tongue? Can you tell me some websites I could look this up? Thanks in advance...
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28 Jul 2009
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Celestito
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Dear Cristiane;
What you can do is some research on Second Language Acquisition, which tries to explain
certain issues on students � stages in learning, problems, difficulties. My suggestion is: type SLA research into Google and find articles related to your topic or either read Ellis �s Second Language Acquisition; really helpful for all teachers!
I hope you find answers to your question!!! |
28 Jul 2009
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miss_marina...
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Dear Cristiane,
It was really funny, but I was going to recommend the same author! Rod Ellis, Second Language Acquisition. Oxford 1997.
Teresa Pica has also interesting articles about this topic. A long time ago, I found them on the net.
Also, look for Linguistic aspects of Interlanguage. In fact, I think your students are in this stage.
I hope you find the answer you are looking for.
Regards from Chile.
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28 Jul 2009
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Zora
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Ahh, Cristina - have you never thought that perhaps you did say that and not realise that you did??? And that �s why your student said something??
I say this because I acquired Spanish as a Second Language simply because I live here and had started living here at the age of 14 and know exactly what you are talking about as I have experienced it.
What you describe is a very normal process... the brain is assimilating things and it has stopped translating from one language to another. You actually get to the point that you think somebody (or yourself) said something in one language and they didn �t... and it is basically because you have stopped "learning" and started "acquiring" the language naturally.
What I can say is this... it is very improbable that a student, in a normal classroom situation, is very unlikely to experience this phenomenon since it tends to happen to immersed students or extremely young learners who don �t distinguish between languages...
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28 Jul 2009
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Cristiane Prates
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Thanks everybody for the replies, but, I �m sorry, Zora. Did you mean that I in fact am speaking POrtuguese and "thinking" it �s English or are students not being able to assimilate onr language from another? Thanks in avance.
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29 Jul 2009
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Cristiane Prates
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About Rod Ellis � book. I looked up online and found it on Google books. Awesome. If anyone �s interested there it goes
http://books.google.com.br/books?id=Wwdb7P0CG5AC&dq=Rod+Ellis,+Second+Language+Acquisition+download&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=pt-BR&ei=_qRvSoi5EIbCMJ2VlOYI&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5
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29 Jul 2009
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Zora
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Yes, that �s exactly what I mean... it happens quite often. The brain just naturally gravitates to whatever is more "natural" in each situation so a lot of times if we aren �t paying attention, our second or first language might pop out in certain situations.
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29 Jul 2009
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