Acquiring English as Second Language at Schools

Acquiring English as second language at schools
Done by: Soumaya Shaitou
Translation student

April 28, 2013

Table of contents
Abstract ---------------------------------------------------------page 3
Introduction------------------------------------------------------page 4
Can adults learn a new language better than children? ----page 4
Body--------------------------------------------------------------page 6
Methods of learning a new language-------------------------page 6
How English as second language is taught in classes: ----page 7
Does practicing language make it easy to acquire? --------page 9
Conclusion-------------------------------------------------------page 11
Why is it important to learn a second language? -----------page11
Bibliography-----------------------------------------------------page 12

Abstract
This paper will discuss the learning of English as second language at schools. This research was done by internet web browsing. First of all it will discuss if adults can learn a new language better than children. Then this research will show the methods of learning a new language, and how English second language is taught in classes. Also, we are going to talk about does practicing language make it easy to acquire? And can adults learn a second language as their mother language?
Finally in the conclusion we are going to shed lights on why it is important to learn a new language.

Introduction
Can adults learn a new language better than children?
Some studies show that adults can learn language better than children. Adult’s ability to hear and understand another language is somehow difficult, but they may learn it faster. (steve, 2005)
Adults are part of a language community, when they decide to learn a new language; means that they choose to become a part of another language community. When learning English language by adults, they feel that they must be perfect in the language they are learning. The greatest problem is that learner and teachers think that adults cannot learn a new language as children. But many studies have shown that this is not true.
Studies show that adults actually learn languages more quickly than children in the early ages.
To speak English language is important to improve our communication ability. And it is not accepted from people to think that a new language is learned only by children.

Body
Methods of learning a new language:
To learn a foreign language you can follow some steps, which make the language easy for you to acquire. 1- Spend time: if you spend a lot of time in learning language, it will be easy for you to acquire. This means you must write read and listen! And you have to love the language you are learning. 2- Listen and read every day: you can read and listen thing which you love. Such as music, books…this allows you to get used to the language. 3- Focus on words and phrases: you will need a lot of vocabularies, study and use them in your language. Learn these words and phrases through your listening and reading. (steve, How to Learn a Foreign Language, 2007)
How English as second language is taught in classes:
English as a second language for adults is often taught in a similar way to teach children. It’s good to label things, draw pictures and listen. It is important to make sure that adults understand the words that have multiple meaning, because in English there is a lot of multiple meaning. (katie)
In classes teachers follow some rules to teach children such as:
Practicing oral reading, study the basics of spelling, understanding how sentences are formed, offer opportunities of creative writing. (Schreiner)
Note:
When we start talking about words with multiple meanings, there are some basic definitions that we need to discuss first. Those definitions are the ones attached to homonyms, homophones, and homographs. 1- Homonyms are words which have the same spelling and pronunciation, but have different meanings.( engaged: They got engaged on March 7th./The students were very engaged in the presentation) 2- Homophones are words which have the same pronunciation, but different spellings and meanings. (buy/bye/by) 3- Homographs are words that are spelt the same, but have different pronunciations and meanings. (read: She is going to read the book later./He read the book last night) (http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/)

Does practicing language make it easy to acquire?
Case study:
Her name is jasmine, she’s 17 years, and she born and lived in Brazil. She knows and speaks on Brazilian language. Last year she came with her family to live in Lebanon, and she face difficulties in learning and speaking Arabic language. She decided to learn English, a teacher come every day to her home and teach her. Now after studying and practicing she knows English very well.
And as I observe, practicing English language such as reading, watching English films, listening to music and speaking English with others allows the person to become better in language.

Conclusion
Why is it important to learn a second language?
In a world that is increasingly interdependent, we can no longer afford to remain monolingual. Studying another language has many advantages:
In education: languages have been taught in schools and universities.
In Public Relations: knowing a language and its culture can make the difference between success and failure.
In Social Services: dealing with social groups who don’t know another language can in many times make the communication abilities difficult. (University) (n.d.). Retrieved from http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/: http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/for-students-and-parents/words-with-multiple-meanings.html katie, c. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/video_5103544_learn-write-english.html?wa_vlsrc=continuous&pid=1&cp=1&wa_vrid=e837476c-8219-4535-a008-eafc9b1a3822
Schreiner, E. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/: http://www.ehow.com/how_6540271_teach-english-primary-school.html steve, k. (2005). the way of the linguist a language learning odyssey. united statet of america : author house . steve, k. (2007, september 5). How to Learn a Foreign Language. How to Learn a Foreign Language.
University, S. J. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.stjohns.edu/: http://www.stjohns.edu/academics/graduate/liberalarts/departments/languages/why.stj