Exploring Foreign Language

There is something that I have noticed about many of us who are engaged in this paradigm shift: we tend to leave what we know and explore something completely new.  Maybe this is implied in the fact that we are leaving behind the form of education that we knew and entering into this educational shift in the first place.  However, I see it happen in specific subject areas, as well.  People who have studied history their whole lives, pursue science with a new perspective.  People who have studied literature, pursue music.  I have studied science, but am fascinated with foreign language acquisition.  I wonder if this is because I now have a new way to approach something that was always a challenge?  Or if it is because it is easier to reimagine learning something with which I have no knowledge or experience rather than something that is more deeply entrenched?  Perhaps it is both.

My only experience with foreign language is a series of failures – I have learned 101 ways not to learn a foreign language.  I took French for 4 years in high school and received straight A’s, but still could not place higher than entry level French in college.  I worked for a linguist for a time and he impressed upon me the importance of introducing my children to foreign language from a very young age – many studies support this (Boyson)(Kocaman).  My grandfather had told me about how his German-speaking family had been forced to give up their language during the War, so I was determined to expose them to German.  We have done Muzzy, Little Pim, Rosetta Stone, etc.  Pumpkin and Angel even had a bilingual tutor to work with weekly for a couple of years (she used a traditional, skill-building approach).  Angel did not continue German beyond elementary school.  Pumpkin took German in high school and said that he thought he progressed more easily than his peers, but still has a typical American level understanding of his high school language.

Enter Miss Mason.  “French should be acquired as English is, not as a grammar, but as a living speech.  To train the ear to distinguish and the lips to produce the French vocables is a valuable part of the education of the senses, and one which can hardly be undertaken too soon.”  Mason advocated French because of her place and time, but we can generalize.  She goes on to say that the child should not see the language written until he can speak it freely.  Otherwise, we attempt to pronounce using English phonetics and that just makes it all very awkward and difficult.  She says that the child should build his vocabulary steadily and in context, maintaining their use daily.  Mason praises the work of François Gouin because he attempted to replicate first language learning in his method regarding second language learning.  He focused on having the student hear the language before they ever see it and on teaching the language in sentences instead of words.  The Gouin series provided a progression of verbs within the context of sentences that were designed to connect thoughts and actions in the new language (Mason, Volume 1 Part 5 Section 20).  In upper elementary, Mason had her students describing pictures in their second language and then narrating a passage read to them.  They progressed until they were reading and writing freely in French, as well as studying French grammar alongside that of English and Latin (Mason, Volume 6 Chapter 10 Part 2e).

This is what my linguist employer was describing to me (even though he used a traditional curriculum in his classroom!).  It is what Stephen Krashen describes as the Comprehension hypothesis.  He says that language competence is primarily acquired subconsciously when we take in the language and understand it (Krashen).  And he is not only referring to conversational language.  Grammar and vocabulary are solidly built through comprehension, as well.  In fact, one study that focused on use of the Spanish subjunctive (apparently a very difficult case) demonstrated that reading in the second language was the only significant predictor of success (Strauss).

So, I set about to begin with Bee in the same way that we explored her first language.  She was 3 or 4 at the time.  Since I am still a beginner in the German language myself, I knew I would not be able to talk to her freely as I had in English.  We did practice counting and naming colors and a few objects that I knew, but not much more than that.  Our German tutor had given her a song book and CD when she was born, which was a blessing because authentic audio recordings of native-speaking Germans are hard to find in the U.S.!  We listened to that CD regularly and learned new words as we sang along.  I struggled for a long time to find books, as well.  I acquired a couple of books, but there was no audio, so that didn’t work.  Then I acquired some Eric Carle books in German thinking that it might help if we knew the story.  Nope.  We still really needed that audio!  We found a local native speaking group, but we just couldn’t keep up.  So, we struggled for a few years – enjoying our nursery songs, but not able to move forward with German.

Last year we found Speaking Spanish with Miss Mason and François by Cherrydale Press.  Bee was 8 at that point, so I had finally come to the conclusion that appreciating some nursery songs might be all the further I could take her with German for now.  Why not give Spanish a try?  We have been using it for 2 terms now and we are both very happy with the progress that she is making.  We also have a song book and CD and a book of nursery rhymes (also with CD).  I really do think that listening to those songs makes a huge difference.  She was hesitant to speak and really just wanted to listen until we started listening to the songs in the car regularly.  Krashen says that “silent period” is to be expected, but the songs helped her through that.  After she became comfortable singing along, she took off.

Just as exciting… we found a friend of a friend who is a native German speaker!  Now I have audio recordings for 3 of my German story books!  We used Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt during our fall term this year.  She is picking up some new vocabulary, but not full sentences yet.  We also found a new song book and CD that has a lot of new songs.  Even though we are not seeing the same language acquisition as I am seeing with Spanish, I am happy with the progress and with the fact that Bear and Squirt are enjoying the German, as well – Speaking Spanish is too much for them to participate.  Cherrydale has recently published a German volume and I am thrilled, but I will probably keep Bee, Bear, and Squirt together with story and song for a while before moving into Speaking German with Miss Mason.  I really did not intend to pursue 2 languages, but here we are.

I am so encouraged to continue both languages, but I do think that Krashen is correct when he advises that libraries must be filled with good resources in other languages in order to take full advantage of this method (Krashen).  While resources are available for Spanish, resources for most other languages are unavailable in the U.S.

 

Boyson, Beverly A., Martha Semmer, Lynn E. Thompson, Marcia H. Rosenbusch. “Does Beginning Foreign Language in Kindergarten Make a Difference? Results of One District’s Study.” Foreign Language Annals. 46.2(June 2013). 246-263.

Kocaman, Orhan and Nurgül Kocaman. “Age Factor in Foreign Language Education At Preschool Level.” Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. 55(2012). 168-177.

Mason, Charlotte M. Volume 1: Home Education. Ambleside Online. Web. 15 April 2016. http://amblesideonline.org/CM/toc.html#1

Mason, Charlotte M. Volume 6: Towards a Philosophy of Education. Ambleside Online. Web. 15 April 2016. http://amblesideonline.org/CM/toc.html#6

Krashen, Stephen. “Language Education: Past, Present, and Future.” Language Education. 39.2(August 2008). 178-187.

Strauss, Valerie. “The wrong and right way to learn a foreign language.” The Washington Post. 16 June 2012.