Tapping into Technology--Learning Languages

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#006633" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="03fd6c00ddvuru.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#0066FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>SheriZiemann.com</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#333399" FACE="Arial" >    </FONT> |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="SheriZiemann.com"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gardening with Kids: A Guide for Messing"><U>Gardening with Kids: A Guide for Messing Around in the Dirt</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Get OUT of Here"><U>Get OUT of Here</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Merely Brightor Brilliant?"><U>Merely Bright--or Brilliant?</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Net a Butterfly"><U>Net a Butterfly</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Points of View"><U>Points of View</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sneaky Strep"><U>Sneaky Strep</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Summer Gardening with the Kids"><U>Summer Gardening with the Kids</U></A>   |   <B>Tapping into Technology--Learning Languages</B>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Visionary Programs"><U>Visionary Programs</U></A></div> <div> Tapping into Technology--Learning Languages</div> <div> <B>TAPPING INTO TECHNOLOGY CAN ENERGIZE A CHILD'S DESIRE TO LEARN A LANGUAGE</B> </div> <bR> <div> <B>By Sheri L. Ziemann</B> </div> <div> Special to the <I>Chicago Tribune</I> </div> <div> <I>December 31, 2000</I></div> <bR> <div> Package a bit of education with the latest electronics and-voila!-your toddler can jabber in multiple languages. </div> <div> And you thought he was hard to understand in English. </div> <bR> <div> The advent of "edutaining" videos, music and software is making it easier to introduce a foreign language while capturing and maintaining a child's interest in learning that language, experts say. Neurosmith's The Babbler, for instance, targets infants by exposing them to the sounds of Spanish, French and Japanese. The goal, according to the company, is to provide a foundation for successful language learning in the future. </div> <bR> <div> Well-produced videos for children such as the "Bilingual Baby" series by Small Fry Productions and software such as "Madeline's European Adventures" by Creative Wonders teach French, Spanish and other languages while the unsuspecting child is being entertained. </div> <bR> <div> Karen Landahl, an associate professor in the University of Chicago's Department of Linguistics and academic director of the language labs and archives, said that observation, rather than scientific studies, makes it clear that such videos and software make children happier with their assignments. As a result, they spend more time with these newer educational materials than they did when they were simply listening to an audiotape, she said. </div> <bR> <div> The impetus for early exposure to a foreign language comes from the notion that children have an affinity for language that is lost as they age. </div> <bR> <div> "From research with other animals such as birds, there is a `critical period' for song learning," Landahl said. "In a certain period of a bird's life, if the conditions are not met for the song learning, the bird will never be able to learn its song. Or it will learn a deficient version of the song. Similar arguments have been made for human beings, in the way that we have a critical period for learning basic things and languages. This period usually ends around puberty. </div> <bR> <div> "Now we tend to speak of a `sensitive period,' rather than a critical period. This is because some are successful at learning a second language after the critical period. The part of acquisition most affected [by late learning], or at least most easily observed, is the area of pronunciation," she said. </div> <bR> <div> With the Internet making the world smaller, and terms such as "distance learning" and "global marketplace" becoming commonplace, it certainly seems wise for future generations to speak at least two languages. Beyond their entertainment value, videos and computer programs also can enhance the learning experience by showing the entire communicative act, including what's called "paralanguage." This includes things such as gestures, body stance and distance between the speakers. </div> <div> Harriet Barnett, foreign language consultant for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign languages, said that paralanguage information appeals to a child's sense of motion and play. </div> <bR> <div> "Children are delighted by the gestures and new sounds of a new language. Think about it. Kids love make-believe, making silly sounds and such. And they're not afraid of making mistakes the way many adults are. Children are simply jumping into sounds and reproducing them. </div> <bR> <div> "Anything that can be interactive is a benefit in teaching language. If a child can interact with technology, that makes it very engaging and appealing to the child," she said. </div> <bR> <div> Barnett suggested that the best way to make it easier for a child to learn a foreign language is for the parent to learn along with the child. Otherwise, she advised parents to find someone else with whom their child can practice, whether it's a school or specific class on the language, or finding a friend or caregiver who knows that language. </div> <bR> <div> There are three public schools in Chicago that focus on world languages, including Ecole Franco-Americaine de Chicago (French Culture School), which is a part of Abraham Lincoln Elementary School at 615 W. Kemper Pl.,and Murray Language Academy at 5335 S. Kenwood. Carol McCollum, who teaches French at Andrew Jackson Language Academy, a charter school in the Chicago Public School system, has been teaching foreign language for about 20 years. </div> <bR> <div> "We've always had audiocassettes," McCollum said. "Then 10 years ago curricula started to come with videos. Now most of the textbooks come with CD-ROMs and/or connections to the Internet. </div> <bR> <div> "I think these tools add something to our teaching repertoire. They are helpful especially when students come in at the 4th- or 5th-grade level. The new technology helps them catch up with kids who've been here since kindergarten. These programs are more fun, more interactive than looking at a book, which of course doesn't give pronunciation." </div> <bR> <div> Barnett also pointed out that it takes a very long time to become proficient in another language. By starting at an early age, the process can be practically painless, she said. </div> <bR> <div> Dawn and Ben Rogers of Atlanta have explored several languages with their daughter Ally, 4, primarily through their personal computer. Ally has worked with "JumpStart Spanish" by Knowledge Adventure since she was 2, and has discovered other fun language experiences like Swahili through the Internet. </div> <bR> <div> "In the beginning, I hadn't been learning Spanish along with Ally, except for a few words here and there," Dawn Rogers said. "But she kept asking me how to say a word in a particular language, and I had no idea. So we bought several of the Usborne Spanish dictionaries. Now I'm able to look up a word and with the pronunciation guide, tell you what it is. `Let's Speak Spanish!' is a good place to start. " </div> <bR> <div> Another software favorite of Ally's is "Travel the World with Timmy," which teaches Japanese, Swahili, Spanish and Russian. Rogers said that Ally, whose grandmother taught high school Spanish, finds it fascinating to recognize common words in the English and Spanish language. </div> <bR> <div> "It is probably useful to look at the experience of countries such as Sweden, where a second language [English] is taught to all children," said Landahl. "They appear to be more successful at being bilingual than Canadians, which undoubtedly brings in the question of motivation, politics and so on." </div> <bR> <div> Swedish native Eva Heilman married her husband, Steve, in the U.S. The couple met in Europe during their college years, and now reside in Lake Forest. Heilman said multiple foreign languages were a standard part of her childhood education in Sweden. </div> <div> "Now they start English even earlier; for me it was 4th grade when we started English; after three years we had to choose our third language," said Heilman. "I chose French. Then, in the first year in high school, students must choose their fourth language; I chose German. I remember singing `Hey, hey, we're the Monkees!' in English, even though we didn't understand the languages!" </div> <div> The Heilmans now have four children, 11-year-old Elise, 9-year-old Jonathan, 7-year-old Max and 6-year-old Annika. </div> <bR> <div> "Our kids speak Swedish, but they aren't completely bilingual. We started taking the children to the Swedish school in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago about six years ago. From then on, I made an effort to tell them Swedish words for things as well as English. But if it's really important that they understand me, I say it in English." </div> <bR> <div> Although Asian languages are less prominent than French or Spanish, foreign adoptions are one reason learning languages such as Chinese is on the rise. One popular way to expose children to Chinese is the video `Play and Learn Chinese with Mei Mei' by Master Communications Inc. </div> <bR> <div> The video is not as glitzy as productions by the big-name studios, but young children are likely to find that learning numbers, greetings, games, songs and family words in Chinese is great fun. And because Asian languages are "tonal" languages with sounds that are difficult for American adults to hear and reproduce, children will repeat--and remember--what they learn from the video, far more easily than their adult counterparts.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> HERE'S WHERE TO FIND HELP WITH A FOREIGN LANGUAGE</div> <bR> <div> The following are resources for foreign language education materials. Many of the audio/video and software titles can be found in local libraries or can be purchased at Zany Brainy stores (877-969-5437, or www.zanybrainy.com) or Big Kids Productions (800-477-7811, or www.BigKidsvideo.com). </div> <bR> <div> - "JumpStart Spanish" (for ages 3 to 6; $29.95), "Learn Spanish Your Way" (interactive CD-ROM for older learners; $69.95) and "Smart Start Spanish" (CD, for multiple skill levels; $34.95). Knowledge Adventure, 800-972-0661; www.KnowledgeAdventure.com. </div> <bR> <div> - "Rainbow Fish" home video, available in English or Spanish, is based upon the popular children's book by Marcus Pfister. The special edition DVD ($19.98) contains 100 minutes of eight adventures featuring the "Passive-Intuitive Method" of language learning. The PI method is designed to integrate into existing children's entertainment products, so the child never realizes that the language learning process is occurring. From Sony Wonder, 888-221-8180; www.LanguageUniverse.com. </div> <bR> <div> - The Babbler ($49.99; for infants from 1 month to 12 months) by Neurosmith features whimsical voices that "babble" language sounds in Spanish, French and Japanese while twinkling lights respond in different patterns; www.neurosmith.com. </div> <bR> <div> - Little Linguist ($69.95; ages 1 year and up), also by Neurosmith, gives the names of common items (like car and boat) and animals (such as cow and monkey) in English, French, Spanish and Japanese; www.neurosmith.com. </div> <bR> <div> - "Bilingual Baby" video series ($16.95 each) in 12 languages, ranging from Spanish, French and German to Hebrew and Japanese. Small Fry Productions, 800-521-5311; www.small-fry.com. </div> <bR> <div> - "Play and Learn Chinese with Mei Mei" video ($19.95). Mei Mei introduces basic topics such as numbers, parts of the body, actions, games, greetings, family, names and ages in lively, interactive environment. Master Communications, 800-765-5885; www.asiaforkids.com/. </div> <bR> <div> - Babyscapes' "Miracle of Mozart--Numbers & Shapes in Spanish!" ($14.95; 8 months to 5 years) And "Miracle of Mozart--ABC's in Spanish!" ($14.95; 18 months to 5 years) The videos teach children via state-of-the-art graphics while selections of Mozart play in the background. Babyscapes Inc., 888-441-5437; www.babyscapes.com. </div> <bR> <div> - "Beth Manners' Fun French for Kids," "Beth Manners' Magic French for Kids," "Beth Manners' Fun Spanish for Kids"and "Beth Manners' Magic Spanish for Kids" (all geared for ages 2 to 6; $12.98 for CD and $9.98 for cassette) feature stories, games and songs. Available through Round-Up at 800-443-4727; www.bethmanners.com. </div> <bR> <div> - Foreign language lesson plans and resources for teachers can be found at ww.csun.edu/(tilde)hcedu013/eslsp.html. </div> <bR> <div> http://chicagotribune.com/leisure/features/article/0,2669,SAV-0012310348,FF.html</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>© 2000-2003 Sheri L. Ziemann</B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>