Learning Arabic

One language, many reasons

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20090524_One_language__many_reasons.html

Pennsylvania teens plan to use their Arabic lessons in different ways.


By Dana Massing
Associated Press

ERIE - Erin Dakas wants to travel.

Niven Sabherwal wants to be a doctor.

Asha Thomas wants to communicate with friends.

Andrea Carneval doesn't want to be an ignorant American.

Different reasons for studying the same language.

The four are part of a group of high school students meeting one day a week after classes at the Al-Makarim Islamic Foundation in Erie. Its director, Sheikh Mazin Al-Sahlani, is teaching them Arabic.

"Language is so important," said Sahlani, who speaks Polish in addition to English and Arabic. "You feel rich when you have another language."

He began a session with his students' reciting the 28 Arabic letters.
Sahlani taught the teens words such as notebook, fire, light, home, and date - the kind you eat, not one you go on.

He showed them good night written in Arabic and then wrote taba masauka to show how the words might appear in English.

Yes is na-aam, Sahlani said. No is la.

"You have a question?" he asked Thomas.

"No. La," she replied.

Numbers, colors (see video below), body parts, and dialogue that would be helpful at an airport would follow in future classes.

Most of the students have studied Spanish or Mandarin and think Arabic is the hardest of the three. But Dakas said it was easier than German.
A senior, Dakas, 18, would love to travel to other countries. When she does, she wants to be able to meet people in their own languages.

Sabherwal, 17, a junior, knows that as a doctor, she could be treating patients from all over the world. She wants to understand them.

Thomas, 17, another senior, shared a room at a conference with a girl from Palestine. Thomas' friend calls her in English. She'd like to answer in Arabic.
Carneval, 18, a senior who has studied Spanish since elementary school, knows that students around the world are learning English. She thinks it's important for Americans to learn other languages, too.

"I don't want to be an oblivious American," she said.

Dakas, Thomas, and two of Sahlani's other pupils sparked the afternoon classes.
Senior Katie Morton, 17, said the girls had attended a women's conference in Boston with participants from around the world.

"We met a lot of people who spoke Arabic," Morton said.

When the students returned to Erie, a teacher heard them talking about wanting to learn Arabic. He gave them Sahlani's contact information.
The class usually numbers nine sophomores through seniors and includes boys.
Sophomore Brandon Lipchik, 15, and junior Mark Zahar, 16, said that learning was important, and that Arabic could help them be well-rounded.

Learning the language isn't the classes' only challenge. "It's kind of like stepping out of your comfort zone," Morton said.

Most of the students are Christian; one is Sikh. All remove their shoes when they enter the Islamic Foundation. Sahlani, who calls his students "brother" and "sister," doesn't preach about Islam but does mention its holy book, the Quran, written in Arabic.

He told the students that when their lessons with him were over, he wanted to introduce them to girls from his community so they could talk in Arabic.

"That would be so fun," said senior Julie Hawthorne, 17.






Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Teaching Speaking

written by Dr Kalyani Samantray
k25samantray@yahoo.co.in
Reader in English, S B W College, Cuttack Orissa, India

Yemen Times http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1260&p=education&a=1

Among people in general, there is a stupendous amount of interest to be able to speak in English, and to speak well. It is chiefly this interest which leads parents to send their children to ‘English medium’ schools for education. Parents are most satisfied if their children could communicate in English orally. Proficiency in other language skills, such as reading and writing, does not seem to be so much their concern. Among the student population, there is a clear line of social distinction distinguishing the group which cannot speak effective English as lower in status and the group which can. Though the first group is very large, the students of this group lack self-respect, and though quite intelligent, they despise themselves and look up to the English speaking student community as their role model.

In a climate so clement for being able to speak well in English, where the motivation for learning this skill is the learner’s and parents’, why has not the curriculum delivered the goods? After years of learning English in school and college our learners are miserable failures when it comes to express a few simple facts in English orally.

One most obvious reason behind this is that speaking skill has never been included to be taught in the curriculum of state schools and colleges. The framers of the syllabus are always under a notion that if learners could read and write in English, somehow they would manage to speak in the language. There are also many other facts behind failure in oral communication.

A comparison of skills-development in mother tongue (MT) and the skills-development framework in the English curriculum in our schools and colleges would demonstrate to some extent the major reasons behind our learners’ ineffectual oral skills.

From the time a baby is born, she remains in an MT ‘immersion situation’. MT surrounds her all her waking hours. Two important factors accompany this situation:

a) There is no demand on the child to produce the language, and

b) There is no ‘grading’ of the language produced by people in the presence of the child.

The child gets to hear the MT in its natural, unalloyed form. The elder siblings and adults use the normal conversational variety of the MT that they usually use without simplification, and without grading (from the so called simple to difficult as happens in the English as a foreign language teaching curriculum). The child incubates in this kind of natural language situation for about nine to ten months before she is ready for her first meaningful utterances. One can well imagine the quantity and the quality of listening that has happened to the child before she starts to speak. After about three years of speaking, the child is initiated into reading the orthography in MT, and a little later into writing.

A clear picture of the natural order in skills-development emerges from the above description: a child to be able to learn a language well listens to the language first for a considerable period of time; then speaks in the language only when she is ready. After that come reading and writing in that order. This is the Natural Order of language learning because this happens naturally to every child learning her MT which may be any language of the world.

What happens in a second language, i.e. English, learning situation? Most children learn English at school. Before that, whatever English they might have learnt is only at the level of some words, and only those words which have been accepted into the MT, e.g., table, pen, torch and so on. The first skill that they start learning at school is writing; writing the letters of the alphabet. Then comes reading. All through, the focus in our school and college curriculum remains fixed on these two skills. Listening and speaking skills constitute just the incidental and peripheral aspects in learning English.

In learning the language, the Natural Order of skills-development gets exactly reversed. The learner starts with the most complex skill of writing. Reading happens after that. If any ‘speaking’ happens at this stage, then that is in the form of repeating words after the teacher. Learners then learn to give set answers to set questions and read a text aloud. Even though many would like to believe that these are learning to speak English, these are by no means ‘speaking’ in a language. Speaking is natural unedited conversation. There is never any provision in our curriculum for such speaking skills as would help our learners to confront real life situations such as a job interview or an interpersonal communication.

Let us examine how the little that is done in developing the speaking skill is handled in the curriculum. The aspects that mark an effective speaker are her fluency and accuracy. In the Natural Order of skills-development in a language, fluency in speaking is primary and accuracy comes much later. No parent would rebuke a child for incorrect production in the MT. That she is at all uttering a few words or fragmented utterances in whatever manner is a matter of delight for everyone. For example, an Oriya child says:



paata kaai



Paraphrased into proper syntax and phonology of Oriya, the utterance would take the following shape:

bhaata khaaibi (I want to have rice.)



But nobody minds the errors in production let alone ever think of correction. After several stages of interlanguage and self-correction, the child arrives at the proper grammar of the language. In this effort, she is entirely supported by the language situation and parental encouragement. The natural course is thus through fluency to accuracy.

On the other hand, teaching the speaking skill in English is fraught with correction and discouragement right from the early stages of learning English. A child is forced to ‘speak’, read aloud and answer questions, before any listening in proper measure in English has happened. Moreover, the child is forced by the teacher to speak correctly. There is an absolute intolerance of the so-called learner errors in speech. The curriculum does not permit for a learner’s stages in interlanguage. A teacher never cares for a child who speaks at all in English. A teacher’s concern seems to be to see that if a child says something in English, his primary job is to find and correct mistakes, and see to it that the child always speaks in complete sentences. Such untimely and unwarranted attention on accuracy at the early stage has boomerang effects on fluency. It is like putting the cart before the horse. The child achieves neither accuracy nor fluency in the long run.

Does this situation pertain to real life? Slips, errors backtracking and editing are prominent even in adult natural conversation as much as fragmented utterances. Listeners make ample allowances for all these and much more even when listening to speakers speaking in their MT. Teachers of English, on the contrary, are intolerant and impatient of even minor digressions by the learners from the formal speech patterns. As a consequence, learners choose not to speak in English.

No skill ever develops without adequate practice; and mistakes form an integral part of skill-development. No one, for example, has learnt cycling by reading a book on how to ride a bicycle. One has to ride a bicycle (that is practice) and fall down (that is making mistakes) several times in order to get the skill of cycling. This is true for getting any skill: practice and errors leading to skills-acquisition.

The scope of this article is too limited to permit a detailed description of the subtler aspects of what should comprise in a syllabus in its ‘speaking’ component and how teaching and testing should be handled in an English classroom in an incremental manner. This article only attempts to put forth the major problems that beset teaching speaking. How to overcome these problems and many others in a curriculum is a larger issue for further discussion.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

3 Facts You Need to Know About Learning a New Language

It’s a pretty challenging task when you think of it, but with time and effort, nothing is impossible. Learning a new language can be a rewarding experience, especially when you earn those appreciative glances and admiring compliments on your newly-acquired skill. We don’t think much of learning to talk when we’re young – it’s a natural ability, and this is why kids pick up any number of languages with an élan that’s hard to come by for adults. But there are reasons to learn a new language, no matter how old you are. Sure, the older you get, the harder it becomes, but that’s no reason to turn down a challenge.

So if you’re ready, here are a few facts you need to know about learning a new tongue:

• You either use it or lose it: If you want to become fluent in a new language, you need to keep using it. You need to listen to people talk it and you need to converse in it yourself, on a continued basis. If you don’t, you’re likely to end up forgetting it. Learning a new language is just like any other skill – it requires continuous honing through regular use. I took a course in Japanese a couple of years ago, but it pains me to admit today that I only remember how to ask the question “What’s your name?” and respond to it. Once the course was over I had no incentive to keep speaking the tongue; of course, the fact that there was nobody to talk to didn’t help much either. So if you learn a new language and want to remember it, continue to find avenues where you can use it.

• A language is a way to keep mental disorders away: It’s been proven and is now official – learning a new language stimulates your brain and makes your mental processes more active. You’re boosting the blood flow to your brain and this helps keep your neurons and blood vessels in great shape. When you push your brain and attempt to learn a new language, you postpone and even prevent the onset of debilitating mental disorders like Alzheimer’s disease that can impair your memory and make you lose your power of cognitive reasoning.

• It’s easy when you can’t be choosy: Try moving to a country where no one speaks any language other than the local vernacular. You’d be surprised at the speed with which you pick it up. Sure, it’s going to be difficult at first and you may have to resort to sign language and face a ton of misunderstandings and funny situations, but in the end, it’s all going to be worth it because you’re going to be speaking like a native in a matter of weeks. When there’s no other language to choose to converse it, you’re forced to learn the local lingo, and this makes you pick it up faster.


This post was contributed by Katie Wilson, who writes about the online universities. She welcomes your feedback at KatieWilson06@gmail.com. After graduating from college she took time off to pursue a writing career. Katie writes for online education sites offering tips, advice, and general information regarding education, learning, and studying.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

The Importance of Learning Another Language

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Anatomy Activities Websites in English

Human Anatomy Online for English Language Learners


If you have English as a foreign language learners who have the need to study anatomy, feel free to direct them to any number of these useful websites. In my health faculty class groups, I schedule two computer room sessions to allow my Nursing and Physical Therapy English language learners time to visit up to four or five of these websites to explore and “play around” in. Most of the anatomy-based websites are inter-active, allowing the language learners to manipulate organs, acquire new vocabulary in context and expand their working knowledge of the human anatomy. Even I learn something new each time one of these class sessions is held. On occasion, I schedule a quiz the following class session to help the students internalize new material.

List of Websites on Human Anatomy Web Quest:

Human Anatomy Online
http://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html
The site activities are separated into ten body systems, skeletal, digestive, muscular, lymphatic, endocrine, nervous, cardio-vascular, urinary, male and female reproductive. body parts are identified using the cursor to locate and click for a description to appear to the left of the figure.


Artificial Anatomy using Jerome
http://americanhistory.si.edu/anatomy/bodyparts/nma03_bodyparts.html
Jerome is the name of the male anatomy figure which can be turned 180 degrees for different views of body parts. Learners match the body part close-up with the full figure image.


Anatomy Body Parts Gap Fill British Council
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/words/activities/body01.html
Learners drag and drop boxes with names of body parts onto a body figure, then check their answers

Anatomy Arcade
http://www.anatomyarcade.com/
This site is six different anatomy arcade games featuring muscles, bones, the eye, the brain, the heart and the digestive tract. Learners drag and drop body part images onto the correct location in the body. There is a computer voice and sound to accompany each game and give feedback to learners.

Anatomy of the Human Body – Henry Gray
http://www.bartleby.com/107/
This detailed illustrated text on the human anatomy is by Henry Gray from his classic anatomy text for serious students of anatomy.

The Interactive Body
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/index_interactivebody.shtml
This site requires an updated version of Flash, available for free download. Body parts are dragged and dropped to form a correct sequence.

The Virtual Body
http://www.medtropolis.com/VBody.asp
First, choose between English or Spanish to work with parts of the brain, heart, skeleton or digestive tract. Learners can view and identify parts, see animations and listen to narrations.


Visible Human
http://www.madsci.org/~lynn/VH/
At the stunning, animated visual “Visible Human” site, the human body is explored via a series of 1800 cross-section views for a full-featured guided tour. There are transverse, coronal and sagittal cross section views to elaborate on virtually any body organ, part or system for the more serious student of the human anatomy.

Basic Anatomy – Tissues and Organs
http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~acarpi/NSC/14-anatomy.htm
The Basic Anatomy site has the sound of a heart beating in the background. Learners can read about basic organs and systems of the human body with simple illustrations posted to the left of the text.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.