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Learning Languages |
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Learning a Foreign Language: Why Should you Learn Words You Never Use in Your Mother Tongue?
Imagine a child sitting in front of a desk, his head in his hands, and mumbling various lists of words over and over. Does this child remind you of your own experience? If yes, I bet that "list of words" does not sound appealing to you. You are almost ready to swear that they do not work. Before you mortgage your part of paradise, it may be wise to make sure you are right. You can open a dictionary and begin to learn it by heart (a dictionary is no more than a list of words). There are many illustrated dictionaries that offer you the same resources as plenty of websites do by displaying colorful pictures with captions. You know that these tools exist because you have already tried to enrich your vocabulary that way. The scope of the task curbed your enthusiam. Though, it is not a bad way to learn vocabulary, it is even the best way for one person: the author of the list. Why? You are unique. Your memory is unique, not only because your memories are yours, and only yours, but also because the way you store them is yours and only yours. For a large part, memory is about association of ideas and the associations you make depend on your experience. Let's study an example to make it clear. Ask anyone to give you a word in relation with the common word "horse". You will get mare, race, chivalry or Trojan, etc, depending on the person who answers. He who answered "mare" might go on with stable, foal and even cow and other farm animals; he who said "race" would probably go on with racecourse and tote. Obviously, their experiences of life are quite different. "Chivalry" would lead to King Arthur, coat of mail and tournament while "Trojan" would meet Homer, odyssey, god and goddess. If you are a linguist, it is very likely that you associate horse to horseback, horsehair, horseman and horseplay and think that your list is easy to remember. On the contrary, if you are not interested in the Middle-Age History, the "chivalry" list will slip your mind. The more personal the links between the words, the easier the way to learn them. That is why a list works at its best for its author. The connections between the words pre-exist in the author's head. So, pave your way, prepare your own list! Gabrielle Guichard
MORE RESOURCES: English language learners (ELLs) are students who are learning English and mastering academic content at the same time. There are 150,000 ELLs in the city’s public schools, and they are a diverse group. Among them, they speak some 140 languages. The only open-enrollment Japanese language program in the city’s high schools will no longer exist, a casualty of budget cuts and teacher layoffs in Chicago Public Schools. Three sets of materials are contenders to become Columbia Public Schools’ next elementary language arts curriculum, but some Board of Education members don’t believe they are the best alternatives. CALDWELL, Idaho (AP) — A proposed new charter school in Caldwell plans to teach students in English, Spanish and Latin. School founder Holle McRae says the school plans to use a dual-language immersion model. McRae tells the Idaho Press-Tribune that the school will also use a core knowledge sequence that's described as classical in nature. McRae says about half the Caldwell School District ... NORMAN — Diagnosed as a dead language, dying off with the Roman’s years ago, Latin has been resurrected at Norman High School. And the school’s Latin teacher, Erin Davis, is leading the renaissance. The Cripple Creek-Victor RE-1 school board set most of the language for a ballot question on the Nov. 2 general election ballot. The board had two basic choices — go for a set dollar amount each year or set a maximum mill levy override. Having your children learn a second language can give them a leg up later in life. Cody Scott Worrell, 18, of 64 Main Street in Auburn, had reportedly been using profane language in front of his young nephew when the child began repeating some of the more vulgar words. Q: Is there ever going to be a Spanish language section in the Kilgore Library? The McKinney Public Library System now offers the Mango Languages online language-learning system.
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