>Unfortunately, todays student doesn't have the tools he needs to cope with a
>foreign language if he hasn't been taught basic sentence structure(subject,
>verb, predicate nominative, predicate adjective, etc.) , spelling, and
>grammar.
What the hell is THIS based on? Certainly not reality. Any sentence
structure and grammar I learned in English class was actually COUNTER
PRODUCTIVE to me when trying to learn French that uses a totally
different sentence structure. I was constantly confused when attempting
to form a sentence in French, as I tried to speak it in English structure.
I would have to conclude, that LACK of basic sentence structure knowledge
in English will actually HELP a student learn other languages (including
English in the long run, as their brain becomes programmed to a more open
thought process towards language).
I base this on my own difficulties in learning a foreign language... and
on the absolute EASE with which my brother's 3 kids have learned Spanish
and English by growing up in a bilingual house hold... as well as my
cousin who was speaking fluent Italian and English by 3 (well, as fluent
as a 3 yr old speaks any language), since he too grew up in a bilingual
household.
Add to it that the most common foreign language errors made by people
that have basic fluency in multiple languages, is incorrect sentence
structure... because they easily mix up what order things should be in
for a given language.
Nope... in reality, I think the LESS you know of a given language when
attempting to learn additional ones, the better chance you have of
learning the 2nd (or more) language. And for that reason, I feel foreign
languages should be started at the grade school level, and NOT wait until
high school (yes, I think learning multiple languages is very
important... and should be required schooling, at least in the USA. With
a stronger concentration on English since it is the "accepted" language
of the USA... in other countries, YMMV, and the "base" language would
obviously be the accepted language of the area)
-chris
<
http://www.mythtech.net>
Received on Fri Jan 04 2002 - 17:23:38 GMT