Hello, and welcome to another edition of Bilingual Family. I would like to welcome the new members of our T2T classes. T2T classes are Teacher-to-Teacher classes. In these classes, we encourage teachers to use the English they have already learned. We offer support for developing an age-appropriate curriculum and materialsas well as activities to help them add English to their classrooms. We also help them achieve their goals in increasing their English proficiency.
Her e is a web site that has lots of resources for ESL (English as a Second Language): http://bogglesworldesl.com. If you are a teacher or a parent, this has a lot of free resources you can use in teaching your students or children.
このウェブ（インターネット）サイト中には、 ESL (English as a Second Language)についてのたくさんの資料があります。 http://bogglesworldesl.com. 先生やお父さんとお母さんのみなさんには、生徒や子供たちに教えるための たくさんのフリー（無料）の素材資料があります。
★音声付ファイルは、こちらです！（↓）
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★ Elementary school songs : 「小学生のための歌」
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Elementary school songs
ABC song: This is a version of the ABC song that I learned as a child. It is not the same as the usual version sung here in Japan. When I teach this song, I use posters that show the letters in the following order not in a straight line. Many children will learn the name of the letter by the position in this format, but cannot learn it when the letters are in just one or two lines. I have them cut out individual cards of each letter and line them up in alphabetical order. When we sing this song, I have them point to each of their letters as they sing it. Looking, pointing and singing help them learn the letters much more quickly.
A B C D
E F G
H I J K
L M N O P
Q R S
T U V
W X Y Z
Now we know our ABCs Next time won't you sing with me.
Two more points: I use the alternate capitalized 'I' with a top and bottom line so that students can tell the difference between it and a small 'l' as in lemon. Secondly,I tell them that 'Z' in pronounced two ways in English: the American 'z' and the British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand 'zed'. Either pronunciation is fine in my classes.
Try making a calendar corner where you can sing this song and point to the days of the week as you sing. For more advanced students, you can add day and date, for example: Today is Thursday,October thirty-first.
Are you ready to try a slightly harder sentence dictation? This uses the same vocabulary that was used in the last issue of our magazine. Scroll down to see the answers.
Hello again. It is time for a new school year and work year. First, I would like to welcome the teachers from my son`s elementary school. I am glad you could join our bilingual family. I hope you can get some good ideas for adding English to your classroom.:-)
I have been teaching English at my son`s elementary school for five months. I would like to include here the song we use at the beginning of each class. It is very simple and repetitive. I used bilingual signs to teach them so that they would understand what they were singing. They were quickly able to begin greeting me in English after they learned this song.
※ ◎-1 バイリンガル・ファミリー 2007年4月 : Bilingual Family April 2007 小学校 : ELEMENTARY SCHOOL の 音声付ファイルは、こちらです！（↓）
My older son has just finished his first year of middle school. His English teacher used this textbook: Sunshine English Course 1. During winter vacation, his teacher gave them the following list of 100 words to memorize. My son knew all of them, but had a lot of difficulty spelling them. Instead of using flash cards, I made sentences from the words so that he would have practice in spelling, capitalization, punctuation and sentence construction. Here is a challenge to all of you who have completed the first year of middle school or higher. Can you listen to the following sentences and write them down with correct spelling, capitalization and punctuation?
If you are having difficulty with spelling, here is a tip I learned from my Dutch friend. She speaks three or four European languages and Japanese. When she is learning a new word or phrase, she writes it on an erasable white board in her room where she can see it at any time. She is a very advanced learner so she usually writes long idiomatic phrases which are quite difficult. In our house, we do not have much room on the walls, so we hung a small erasable white board in the toilet. We write notes back and forth to each other in both Japanese and English. We try to use whatever words we are learning in either language. Today, my younger son tried to write, “I love you, Mom.” He spelled part of it correctly, and I wrote it correctly above what he had written. Last month, my husband and my children were trying to teach me how to write the kanji for horse. In America, we usually use the refrigerator for these kinds of activities, but our Japanese refrigerator is too narrow!:-)
In the next issue, I will add an elementary school song for days of the week. I will also make some longer sentences for the middle school spelling challenge. I will also begin profiling some interesting bilingual families I have met in the last year.
2. The early bird (pause) gets the worm! (pause) Time to get up! (pause)
3. The early bird gets the worm! Time to get up!
※ 音声付ファイルは、こちらです！（↓）
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♪ AMERICAN MAMA ALARM CLOCK #5
In each emagazine issue, I will record a typical wake up call that I use to get my family up. I will record it three times:
1. Spoken at natural speed. 2. Spoken more slowly with pauses between phrases. 3. Spoken at natural speed.
You are welcome to download these and use them for your own alarm clock. If you feel like trying to repeat the phrases, by all means give it a try!
♪ American Mama Alarm Clock #5
1. The early bird gets the worm! Time to get up!
2. The early bird (pause) gets the worm! (pause)Time to get up! (pause)
3. The early bird gets the worm! TIme to get up!
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★ トピック #3-1 「 子供たちの言葉の学習・マザリーズ 」
Language Learning in Children / Motherese
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Topic #3-1
Language Learning in Children
Motherese
Motherese is a term that scientists use to describe several characteristic techniques that adults use when talking to babies. These techniques help the baby to learn the language.
They include:
1. Tone of Voice 2. Eye Contact 3. Facial expression 4. Choice of topic 5. Length of speech 6. Repetition 7. Rephrasing
This time, we will look at the first three characteristics.
Previously, we looked at how very young babies are able to hear any sound in any human language.
They can also produce any sound in any language at this time. Gradually, as they get older, they lose this ability.
Another feature of very young babies is that certain actions or activities catch their attention more easily than others.
When listening, babies react sooner to higher pitched voices.
Mothers and fathers seem to learn to speak in a higher than normal voice rather quickly because when they do, the baby will look at them and will learn to smile at the sound of familiar voice and the sight of a familiar face.
Pet owners often use this same high-pitched voice with their pets.
Unfortunately, as humans get older, often they lose some of their hearing ability in the higher ranges so that listening to high-pitched voices may actually stop them from clearly hearing the differences in sounds when learning a new language.
Adults and older children will automatically try to make eye contact with a young baby by holding them close or getting close to them and looking in their faces.
This helps the baby to focus and pay attention to the facial expressions and sounds.
Interestingly, if eye contact is made without speaking, baby boys are usually the first to look away and take interest in something else.
Baby girls will hold their gaze on the other person’s face for a longer time.
Native speakers learn specific ways of moving their faces and bodies when speaking and listening.
They learn these techniques by watching other speakers of that language.
When adults and older children speak with a baby, the high-pitched voice, eye contact and facial expressions are all giving the baby lots of information about how to communicate in that language.
In English, they usually speak in a high voice with direct eye contact and a smile.
What does all this mean for learning a language at home?
If you are helping younger children learn a second language, try using a higher-pitched voice and using children’s videos and audio recordings that are high -pitched.
Try to have eye contact when speaking in that language.
In order to pick up the facial expressions and body language of the native speakers, try watching television shows in that language with the sound off and try to guess what is going on.
Then go back with the sound on and check.
If you are an older learner, children’s language materials may not be as effective especially for discriminating different sounds.
If you find that you are having difficulty hearing the language clearly and producing the sounds when you speak, try to find learning materials where the voices are not as high-pitched.
★ we will look at the rest of the motherese characteristics, Numbers 4 through 7.
★ マザリーズ残りのNO.4～7の特徴を見て行きましょう。
4. Choice of topic:
Adults and older children usually limit their topics of conversation to things the baby can see, actions they are doing or routine greetings.
The speaker will make eye contact, smile and speak in a high voice about something they are doing together such as changing a diaper, feeding or changing clothes.
If they are going for a walk, the speaker will make eye contact with the baby and then try to direct the baby’s attention to something nearby such as a dog.
At first, babies can’t follow a pointing finger, but eventually they learn to direct their gaze where the speaker is pointing.
It is a turning point in the baby’s thinking ability and later language comprehension.
Routine greetings are abstract concepts that babies don’t understand, but they are repeated over and over again in similar circumstances so babies develop an idea of their purpose.
A mother or father’s smiling face and cheerful voice saying good morning gives the baby a lot of information.
In general, people taking care of babies or playing with them, know to keep their words and sentences short.
Babies quickly learn that there is an alternation of listening and speaking in conversation.
As I have said before, you can observe babies watching a conversation between adults where it looks like they are watching a tennis match as the adults take turns speaking and listening.
When speaking to a baby, often the speaker will leave a silence where the baby would speak or will speak in a different tone of voice to represent what the baby would say if it could.
Keeping the words and sentences short gives the baby bits of information to help puzzle out the meaning of the sounds.
Repeating words and phrases over and over in similar situations gives babies a chance to learn the sound and the meaning.
As they grow older, they begin to actively look for repeated words and phrases which they then try to imitate.
However, it is important to remember that simply listening or repeating over and over again without some understanding of meaning will not improve language ability.
The American children’s program, Sesame Street, has done a very good job of repeating language in a variety of ways that also include the meaning.
It is aimed at two to four year olds, but many non-native speakers of English have learned basic English by watching the programs.
As babies grow older and become toddlers, their language ability develops.
Their first attempts at repeating the words they hear can be very funny.
One of the important language techniques that older speakers provide to new speakers is rephrasing.
This means that when a child attempts to say something and mispronounces it, the older speaker repeats it correctly to give the child the correct model to imitate.
As the child matures, mispronunciations drop away and grammar points are rephrased.
When nine-year old Joy says “I camed home at 2 o’clock today.
“ I rephrase it as “You came home at 2 o’clock today.”
One of the ongoing errors our children make is saying “more better” which I rephrase as “better”.
In this way, language learning is ongoing.
Unfortunately for adult learners of a second language, many native speakers are reluctant to rephrase the learners mistakes so they have fewer opportunities to correct their mistakes.
Someone who is willing to rephrase your errors into the correct pronunciation and grammar without losing the theme of the conversation is a very valuable friend!
Child → use words about things that can seen, smelled, heard, or touched. routine greetings. Adult → beginners benefit by focusing on common things and actions and routine greetings.
5. Length of speech
Child → Keep it short! Adult → Beginners benefit by hearing and practicing short bits of language
6. Repetition
Child → keep repeating words and phrases in similar situations Adult → repetition in listening and speaking with meaning provides a language learning opportunity
7. Rephrasing
Child → correct the mistakes by repeating the sentence with the correct pronunciation Adult → find someone who can gently repeat your sentences with the correct pronunciation and / or language while continuing the conversation
