I came across an article in the Irish Times about an increasing number of students receiving exemptions for learning the Irish language at school. One particular word that is used in this context is the 'd' - word: difficult.
This very same word is often used in relation to learning German, and yes, there are certain aspects - in every language - that may prove harder to grasp than others. Of course, there are genuine reasons for exemptions and these have to be taken into account. From my experience with language learning and teaching, we'll always have someone saying that they find a language difficult to learn, or to comprehend maths or any other subject for that matter.
One big issue here though appears to be the attitude towards the subject: '...the ESRI working paper cites research which shows Irish is among the least popular subjects at second level and is frequently cited as the most difficult.' (Irish Times).
This very same word is often used in relation to learning German, and yes, there are certain aspects - in every language - that may prove harder to grasp than others. Of course, there are genuine reasons for exemptions and these have to be taken into account. From my experience with language learning and teaching, we'll always have someone saying that they find a language difficult to learn, or to comprehend maths or any other subject for that matter.
One big issue here though appears to be the attitude towards the subject: '...the ESRI working paper cites research which shows Irish is among the least popular subjects at second level and is frequently cited as the most difficult.' (Irish Times).
Some of my students are currently learning about using past tenses in German. This topic is quite a complex one and requires a certain level of German but can, nevertheless, be mastered even by younger learners. If you compare the tenses in English and German, you'll find that the concepts are very similar:
Present Tense: Ich esse - I am eating
Simple Past: Ich aß - I ate
Perfect Tense: Ich habe gegessen - I have eaten
If students roll their eyes because they are confronted with all those variations of the same word (essen - to eat) I show them how I, and any other learner of the English language (the children's native language) is or has been in exactly the same situation. It shows them what's involved in learning their native language as a foreign language and puts the difficulties in perspective.
In addition, nothing beats practise so after having seen some examples, they have to give it go themselves and use the language appropriately: for speaking English about the past we mainly use the simple past (I ate) whereas for speaking German the Perfect Tense is used (as opposed to the Simple Past for written language).
An easy method to practise this is narration: students use a written report or story and make themselves the protagonist telling their friends what happened. It also works the other way around, as done with interviews: Change from a talk in the Perfect Tense to a written article/chapter in the Simple Past.
The students need plenty of listening opportunities of how these concepts are used and should only concentrate on this one aspect of using the language. It's very much like being able to use a mathematical formula: Once you understand the principle you can change the variables, e.g. vocabulary in the language context.
I believe the reason why many children find languages difficult is the emphasis on studying grammar and getting it right 100 per cent for the best result in a test. I personally prefer not to wait for a change of the teaching approach in our children's schools, but I can have an impact on the attitude my children have towards learning languages, or any other subject. Lets' acknowledge difficulties as our children come across them and then offer support to overcome them!
Present Tense: Ich esse - I am eating
Simple Past: Ich aß - I ate
Perfect Tense: Ich habe gegessen - I have eaten
If students roll their eyes because they are confronted with all those variations of the same word (essen - to eat) I show them how I, and any other learner of the English language (the children's native language) is or has been in exactly the same situation. It shows them what's involved in learning their native language as a foreign language and puts the difficulties in perspective.
In addition, nothing beats practise so after having seen some examples, they have to give it go themselves and use the language appropriately: for speaking English about the past we mainly use the simple past (I ate) whereas for speaking German the Perfect Tense is used (as opposed to the Simple Past for written language).
An easy method to practise this is narration: students use a written report or story and make themselves the protagonist telling their friends what happened. It also works the other way around, as done with interviews: Change from a talk in the Perfect Tense to a written article/chapter in the Simple Past.
The students need plenty of listening opportunities of how these concepts are used and should only concentrate on this one aspect of using the language. It's very much like being able to use a mathematical formula: Once you understand the principle you can change the variables, e.g. vocabulary in the language context.
I believe the reason why many children find languages difficult is the emphasis on studying grammar and getting it right 100 per cent for the best result in a test. I personally prefer not to wait for a change of the teaching approach in our children's schools, but I can have an impact on the attitude my children have towards learning languages, or any other subject. Lets' acknowledge difficulties as our children come across them and then offer support to overcome them!
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