Lots of English for Toddlers November 10, 2009
Posted by cantueso in ESL, english, failure, inglés, language.trackback
In Spain politicians of all trends have been fairly successful pushing for children to do English. That’s why, without ever learning very much, kids here spend some 10, 12 or more years doing English before they reach the age where they can quit.
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As soon as they get to the university and out of their parents’ grip, they drop English, and most university schools do nothing about it.
As a result, once they are in the job market, they are again beginners.
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As a policy this is unintelligible unless you remember the need for publishers to rely on misinformed parents and docile teachers to buy books or recommend them.***
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***In medicine and engineering, both considered the toughest studies, English is a course requirement, but not in economics (!!!), nor in journalism (!!!). Ironically, while toddlers have to learn English, most courses for an English teaching degree are imparted in Spanish, likely because neither students nor teachers feel competent otherwise.
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I see you give a minimum age, but what in your opinion is the ideal age for kids to take up English?
The problem is that you can’t make them converse or speak spontaneously. That’s impossible. So what do you do instead? Spend five or six or more years rehearsing “how old are you” and “what’s your favourite subject” and “what did you do yesterday?”
Nuts!
Agreed, but you haven’t stated what the ideal age would be.
To summer98
It is probably between 13 and 26. There is no final answer. There are too many variables, and the main problem anyway is maintenance. Most people don’t do anything for their English unless they are told to do this or that.
I think it is generally agreed that children learn a language much more easily than adults. Have you seen any reports or statistics that do not support this view?
I have not seen any statistics, and I shouldn’t readily trust them if I did see some, due to the fact that in educational matters experimental data are difficult to translate into numbers and percentages because no two children are alike.
Sé inglés a nivel de traducción, pero me cuesta escribir. Es que he tenido que dar lengua extranjera durante diez años o más, y bueno, uno lo pasa bastante mal, pero luego sirve de algo, a diferencia de muchas asignaturas de las que ya no ni me acuerdo.