je sais cette langue!
I'm taking a Linguistics graduate class each semester while I work full-time in town. (Gotta keep that mind active.) This semester I bravely decided to take Applied Linguistics for Teachers of Foreign Languages, even though I am neither a teacher nor fluent in another language. The professor assured me my minimal knowledge of French combined with my growing knowledge of linguistic theory would see me through the course. And now it's time to turn in the first assignment, and I am afraid. I know the material. I know the terminology. I am comfortable with discussing theoretical principles of teaching languages. But my French? Ghastly.
I picked up a textbook on introductory French phonology and morphology from 1975, and I tell ya, I feel like I am understanding French for the first time. All my 12-year-old mind wanted in my first French class was confirmation that I was not going crazy. I knew something was up with the way I learned this language. My darling teachers, Mmes. Maruca and Romano could not help their Jersey accents. The overlay with French was fantastically catchy to the ears, but it left me to learn French in much the same way (I think) I learned to process English. Both languages are infamous for having many spelling alternatives that do not easily map to the sounds of the language. Developing an English reading program (my current day job) has revealed that as a child I somehow memorized all of the spellings for a sound. In this way, I can look a word and count the number of sounds in that word without saying the word out loud. Basically, I know that 'th' is one sound, 'ough' is a sound, and 't' is a sound. I think I learned by reading way too many books under my desk in elementary school. This is apparently not ideal. One should learn the sounds and then learn spelling alternatives for that sound. However, as I have proved that I can read, I have never worried about this until basically relearning my French as I read this amazing textbook by Albert Valdman.
My point: phonetics are absolutely necessary to teaching a Foreign Language. I think all students from middle school on up would benefit enormously from a quick class on phonology taught in the first 3 or 4 weeks of the school year. Use English, for sure, in teaching the principles, but be sure to point out all of the fun differences, and I assure you, the class will be brimming over with potential future linguists. This is the most consistently interesting stuff I've encountered in many years of schooling, and I think everyone gets a kick out of learning language tidbits, because we all use language and we can all relate. This is not chemistry, which seems veiled and hidden to the average person. This is everyday, everywhere, everyone.
I picked up a textbook on introductory French phonology and morphology from 1975, and I tell ya, I feel like I am understanding French for the first time. All my 12-year-old mind wanted in my first French class was confirmation that I was not going crazy. I knew something was up with the way I learned this language. My darling teachers, Mmes. Maruca and Romano could not help their Jersey accents. The overlay with French was fantastically catchy to the ears, but it left me to learn French in much the same way (I think) I learned to process English. Both languages are infamous for having many spelling alternatives that do not easily map to the sounds of the language. Developing an English reading program (my current day job) has revealed that as a child I somehow memorized all of the spellings for a sound. In this way, I can look a word and count the number of sounds in that word without saying the word out loud. Basically, I know that 'th' is one sound, 'ough' is a sound, and 't' is a sound. I think I learned by reading way too many books under my desk in elementary school. This is apparently not ideal. One should learn the sounds and then learn spelling alternatives for that sound. However, as I have proved that I can read, I have never worried about this until basically relearning my French as I read this amazing textbook by Albert Valdman.
My point: phonetics are absolutely necessary to teaching a Foreign Language. I think all students from middle school on up would benefit enormously from a quick class on phonology taught in the first 3 or 4 weeks of the school year. Use English, for sure, in teaching the principles, but be sure to point out all of the fun differences, and I assure you, the class will be brimming over with potential future linguists. This is the most consistently interesting stuff I've encountered in many years of schooling, and I think everyone gets a kick out of learning language tidbits, because we all use language and we can all relate. This is not chemistry, which seems veiled and hidden to the average person. This is everyday, everywhere, everyone.
posted by eekbeat | 2:32 PM
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