WEEK 19TH: HOW DO YOU LEARN TO SPEAK A LANGUAGE?
WEEK 19TH:
HOW DO YOU LEARN TO SPEAK A LANGUAGE?
PROPÓSITO DE LA
SESIÓN:
· Promover, en los estudiantes objetivo, la
reflexión, interiorización y aceptación de la importancia de entrenar nuestras
mentes para promover el aprendizaje de otras lenguas y poder asimilar nuevas
formas culturales.
· Emplear una lengua extranjera para expresarse
acerca de diversos temas propios de la vida diaria y para fines de estudios o
de trabajo en un futuro cercano. Responderán el reto de expresarse acerca
del tema propuesto empleando expresiones del Present Simple and Simple Past y
nuevas expresiones de tiempo y vocabulario referido al tema propuesto.
ACTIVITY CLASS
1. Listen and practice
the script presented. (Ver el
video las veces que sea necesario)
2. Develop a basic
vocabulary from the new terms in (Desarrolle un vocabulario de los términos que
no conoce)
3.
Activities you must do: (Debe trabajar esto
ahora)
a.
Do you think learning other languages are important to
your personal develop? Why?
b.
If you have the chance to do so, What other language
do you choose? Why?
c.
What do you recommend to learn better and faster?
4. Material to follow and practice: (Material para comprensión, seguimiento del video
y vocabulario). Se recomienda escuchar muchas veces y tratar de comprender y
responder las pregunta planteadas.)
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkjSBC-_bDA
Many
scientists believe that knowledge of another language can boost your brainpower
– so what are we waiting for – we should all be learning another language. But
that's easier said than done as acquiring this new skill can be hard. 6 Minute
English looks at the reasons for learning a new language and hears from an
expert who has a tip for making it easier.
This week's question:
(Responder)
Approximately
how many languages there are in the world altogether? Are there…
a)
70
b)
700
c)
7,000
Listen to the
programme to find out the answer.
Vocabulary (Desarrollar)
master
learn
thoroughly or learn well
fluent
speak well
and without difficulty.
frequency
how often something occurs
inflections
changes to
the basic form of words to show changes to the way they are used in a sentence
lemma
the simplest
form or base form of a word
Transcript (diálogo
completo)
Rob
Hello and
welcome to 6 Minute English– the show that brings you an interesting topic,
authentic listening practice and vocabulary to help you improve your language
skills. I'm Rob…
Neil
Watashi no
namae wa Neil desu. And that means 'my name's Neil'.
Rob
So Neil,
here's a question for you – can you speak any languages other than English of
course? I think you can!
Neil
Un poco de español
that means a little bit of Spanish. Some Japanese, which I tried at the
beginning and also a bit of Czech language - Dobrý den, jak se máš?
Rob
Very
impressive. So, what tips can you give for learning to speak another language?
Neil
Well, practice,
practice, practice – and don't be afraid of making mistakes as I no doubt have.
Rob
Of course.
Well,my aim this year is to master the Spanish language.
Master means to learn thoroughly.
Neil
Muy bien!
Well, you're not alone. A survey by the British Council found learning a
language is a new year's resolution for about one in five Britons in 2018. So,
learning Spanish is a good start Rob but do you know approximately how many
languages there are in the world altogether? Are there…
a)
70
b) 700
c) 7,000
Rob
Well I know
there are many but surely not 7,000 so I'm going to say b) 700 – but don't
expect me to learn all of them.
Neil
I won't Rob.
But I will give you the answer later. So, we all know learning another language
is a good thing – it brings us many benefits.
Rob
Yes, we can
communicate with people from other countries and when we're travelling we can
understand what signs and notices say. So, we don't get lost.
Neil
That's right
– but many scientists also believe that knowledge of another language can boost
your brainpower. A study of monolingual and bilingual speakers suggests
speaking two languages can help slow down the brain's decline with age.
Rob
All good
reasons. But Neil, learning another language is hard. It would take me years
and years to become fluent in say, Mandarin – by fluent I mean
speak very well, without difficulty.
Neil
Well this
depends on your mother tongue. In general, the closer the second language is to
the learner's native tongue and culture in terms of vocabulary, sounds or sentence
structure - the easier it will be to learn.
Rob
But whatever
the language, there is so much vocabulary to learn – you know, thousands and
thousands of words.
Neil
Maybe not
Rob. Professor Stuart Webb, a linguist from the University of Western Ontario,
may be able to help you. He spoke to BBC Radio 4's More or Less programme and
explained that you don't need to do that…
Professor Stuart Webb, linguist, University of
Western Ontario
For language
learners in a foreign language setting – so for example if you were learning
French in Britain or English in Japan, students may often really struggle to
learn more than 2,000, 3,000 words after many years of study. So for example,
there was study in Taiwan recently that showed that after nine years of study
about half of the students had still failed to learn the most frequent 1,000
words. Now they knew lower frequency words, but they hadn't
mastered those most important words.
Neil
So Rob, don't
waste your time trying to learn every single word. Professor Webb spoke there
about research that showed students knew lower frequency words
but weren't learning enough high frequency words.
Rob
Right, and
frequency here means the number of times something happens – so the important
words to learn are the high frequency ones – and how many are there exactly?
Neil
Here's
Professor Stuart Webb again…
Professor Stuart Webb, linguist, University of
Western Ontario
For example,
with English, I would suggest if you learn the 800 most frequent lemmas –
which is a word and its inflections – that will account for
about 75 per cent of all of the English language. So that learning those 800
words first will provide the foundation for which you may be
able to learn the lower frequency words.
Rob
Fascinating
stuff. And good to know I just need to learn about 800 words – or what he calls
lemmas.
Neil
Yes, a lemma
is the simplest form or base form of a word. And the inflection here
refers to how the base word is changed according to its use in a sentence.
Knowing these things give you a foundation – the basics from which your
language learning will develop. Simple
Rob
Thank
goodness I am learning just one new language!
Neil
But how many
languages could you potentially be learning Rob? Earlier I asked you,
approximately how many languages there are in the world altogether? Are there…
a)
70
b) 700
c) 7,000
Rob
And I said
700. Was I right?
Neil
No Rob, you
were wrong. There are around 7,000 recognized languages in the world, but
UNESCO has identified 2,500 languages which it claims are at risk of
extinction.
Rob
A sobering
thought Neil. Now shall we remind ourselves of some of the English vocabulary
we've heard today. Starting with master.
Neil
To master a
new skill, in this context, means to learn thoroughly or learn well. "Rob
hopes to master Spanish before he starts a new job in Madrid."
Rob
That's news
to me Neil! But it would be good to be fluent in Spanish – or
any language – or to speak it fluently – that's speaking it well and without
difficulty.
Neil
Now our next
word was frequency. Here we are referring to high and low
frequency words – so it means how often they occur. Examples of a high
frequency word are 'it', 'the' and 'and'.
Rob
And our next word is inflections. These are the changes to the
basic form of words according to their function in a sentence. Such as adding
an 's' to the end of a word to make it plural.
Neil
And don't
forget lemma which is the simplest form or base form of a word
before an inflection is added.
Rob
And
finally foundation which means the basics your learning grows
from.
Neil
That just leaves me to remind you that you can learn English with us at
bbclearningenglish.com. That's it for today's 6 Minute English. We hope you
enjoyed it. Bye for now. Na shledanou. Hasta luego. Ja-ne.
Rob
And in
English, goodbye.
Neil
Goodbye.
* BBC Learning Web
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