hen I saw the image above a few days ago I thought: yep, sounds familiar. In fact, even after years of living in an English speaking country, speaking sometimes feels tiring. I have thought about why that is, and I've come to realise that speaking in a foreign language has always been my weakest link. Back at school, or when I did my Cambridge Certificate, already living in Ireland, I was always better at understanding, listening comprehension, writing and reading. I read novels and newspapers and follow any news story in English without problems. Having worked in an academic environment, even that level of English is fine with me, until I had to give presentations or hold workshops in English. Well, I managed, but sometimes I felt my choice of vocabulary could have been better or I just couldn't remember a specific term and had to do with much more simple language. If you speak a language other than your native one, at times you can feel quite conscious about how you speak and what you say, even though your audience wouldn't even notice.
When it comes to speaking the new language at school or in a language lesson, most if the time we only repeat words and phrases that we have learned (by heart) before. We are not really speaking freely and come up with our own constructions. Having said that, it also depends at what level the learners are. But even beginners are able to speak a little bit in a suitable context or situation.
Before we speak the new language, other stages of language learning have to happen first, as they do when learning our mother tongue: listening comprehension, repetition of vocabulary in order to memorise it, hearing others speak to pick up pronunciation and intonation of the language.
So when we have achieved the above conditions to a certain degree, how can we support language learners, especially children, to speak more and more often, even in a lesson setting?
One way is to create activities during which the learners are exposed to the language they are to use at a later stage. Activities that introduce vocabulary and grammar in context. This can be done through rhymes, songs, or other play-based activities during which the children hear what you say and make sense of it through actions and demonstrations by the speaker.
The second part is to create follow-on activities so that the learners are able to start applying the new vocabulary and use it repeatedly during the activity, supported by the parent or educator.
What you can do today:
Do you read to your child or pupils in German? Do they have a favourite TV series they watch in German? Read a short story, a chapter of a story or watch an episode together. Afterwards, ask questions in German, supported by illustrations or actions about the story or episode such as Who, Where and What questions. We have many German children's books at home that already contain multiple choice questions for listening comprehension after each chapter or at the end of the story. My kids frequently ask to do the 'quiz'. As a side effect, they use new words and phrases from the stories. At an advanced level add Why and How questions. At beginners or intermediate level offer a choice of two or three (short) answers to encourage your child or pupils to chose one. Use this activity regularly to make speaking a habit early on for everyone involved. This activity requires a bit of patience as your child or pupil gets used to the new language and they will make mistakes. Focus on what they do, e.g. speaking and remember: learning a language is learning by doing!
Have you already tried this activity? What has (not) worked for you when it comes to helping your child or pupils speak German?
Before we speak the new language, other stages of language learning have to happen first, as they do when learning our mother tongue: listening comprehension, repetition of vocabulary in order to memorise it, hearing others speak to pick up pronunciation and intonation of the language.
So when we have achieved the above conditions to a certain degree, how can we support language learners, especially children, to speak more and more often, even in a lesson setting?
One way is to create activities during which the learners are exposed to the language they are to use at a later stage. Activities that introduce vocabulary and grammar in context. This can be done through rhymes, songs, or other play-based activities during which the children hear what you say and make sense of it through actions and demonstrations by the speaker.
The second part is to create follow-on activities so that the learners are able to start applying the new vocabulary and use it repeatedly during the activity, supported by the parent or educator.
What you can do today:
Do you read to your child or pupils in German? Do they have a favourite TV series they watch in German? Read a short story, a chapter of a story or watch an episode together. Afterwards, ask questions in German, supported by illustrations or actions about the story or episode such as Who, Where and What questions. We have many German children's books at home that already contain multiple choice questions for listening comprehension after each chapter or at the end of the story. My kids frequently ask to do the 'quiz'. As a side effect, they use new words and phrases from the stories. At an advanced level add Why and How questions. At beginners or intermediate level offer a choice of two or three (short) answers to encourage your child or pupils to chose one. Use this activity regularly to make speaking a habit early on for everyone involved. This activity requires a bit of patience as your child or pupil gets used to the new language and they will make mistakes. Focus on what they do, e.g. speaking and remember: learning a language is learning by doing!
Have you already tried this activity? What has (not) worked for you when it comes to helping your child or pupils speak German?
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