Friday, April 13, 2012

Twelfth Week Reflection

“So what's the point of using words nobody else knows or can say comfortably? I just don't understand that.”
― Stephen Chbosky

This week we learned about assessing grammar and vocabulary. Grammar and vocabulary are the basic building blocks of any language. We have to learn these before we can properly communicate with other people. Most foreign language courses start out teaching the alphabet, pronunciation, common vocabulary, and basic grammar patterns. As students advance, they learn more vocabulary and more advanced grammar patterns. I think that learning grammar is a lot harder than learning vocabulary. A lot of languages have totally different grammar patterns. Depending on the language, the parts of speech follow a particular order. Some languages have masculine and feminine words along with masculine and feminine particles. Some languages use different counters depending on what is being counted. And some languages have several different verb endings.

This can be very confusing to students especially if they are learning a language that is completely different than their native language. English is actually a very difficult language to learn for a lot of people. It is very complex and native English speakers do not seem to realize this. Growing up speaking English, I just learned the common grammar patterns as I progressed through school. I understand the grammar patterns but when it comes to teaching them it is often hard to explain to my students why there are so many irregularities in English.

I chose the above quote because it reminds me of the fact that no matter how old or educated you are, you will never know many of the vocabulary words used in your native language. I am a native English speaker and I think that I am pretty educated, but I still did not know the majority of the words in the English section of the GRE. There is also the fact that words can become obsolete and new words are being added to the English language everyday. We also need to take into consideration the use of slang and instant messaging acronyms.

2 comments:

  1. I agree- I never realized how challenging the English until I had to try and explain it to English language learners. I realized that I didn't know why a "gh" at or near the end of the word can have numerous pronunciations (rough, through, thought). Why we add what look like prepositions to verbs create verbs with very different meanings: pick up, pick off, pick at, pick out. Most English speakers do not even use correct grammar- so the models our ESL student have in daily life may not be the best models. Vocabulary is no better, in addition to the crazy English terms that appear on standardized tests, native speakers take for granted that everyone knows the meaning certain words that are quite uncommonly used. A winter weather forecast in Indiana may indicate the possibility of "flurries", students may be caught "skipping", and we ask children if they need to use the "potty" rather than the toilet. We must help students navigate through the madness.

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  2. I agree, I grew up in a home where Chamoru was mostly used and I still do not know how to speak in complete sentences using Chamoru vocabulary. I actually asked my grandmother who experienced WWII, "how did you feel having to speak and learn Japanese and English?" She told me that it was hard and every time they spoke Chamoru at school, they will be slapped and if they spoke English at home, she would be slapped as well and told to speak in her native tongue. I had to add this in because I believe learning English and speaking English in the past was difficult for people like my grandmother. Till this very day, my grandmother still struggles to speak in complete sentences without integrating English terms.

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