[accessibleimage] more Re: Molyneaux's question rephrased

Hi Peter,

You wrote:

"babies do not get grammar lessons first (although parents will speak
simplified sentences to support learning by example). With adults it can be
somewhat the other way around, taking grammar lessons plus memorizing
vocabulary lists in mastering a new language before getting fully immersed
in the foreign language."

Nowadays, language teachers have found that the best way to start teaching
functional language is through emergence, teaching through social
interaction and interaction with pictures and objects. When I teach
immigrants and refugees who are blind or have low vision, I emphasize the
objects and social interaction because I obviously have to leave out the
pictures. When I teach fully sighted immigrants and refugees (which I did a
lot of in the past), I do the same, and it actually works better than using
pictures because pictures can sometimes be ambiguous or misunderstood by
students due to different ways of understanding pictures in different
cultures, etc.  And, people can remember vocabulary much better when they
associate it with bodily movements, objects and even small dramas. For
example, people remember "hello" in the beginning as associated with my
shaking their hand, and the words for "a cup of tea" with the actual cup of
tea they are given, and the word "stomachache" with my holding my stomach
and groaning, even and especially when it makes them laugh. By the way, I
just recently read that new research has shown that laughter can increase
learning, even when the laughter is not directly related to the new things
being learned, only occurring directly before it. I already knew that
laughter or just smiles can relax people and make it easier for them to
learn... We learn something new every day. (smile)

When adults have some basic English language to build on, they can begin to
understand grammar and it can be of much greater use to them. Before that it
can be very confusing. And, it takes a lot longer to remember rules than to
react on the basis of habits built up from social interaction and haptic,
sound, taste, etc. memories.

Best,

Sylvie

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