Hi Whizzes!
So, in this blog, I will share with you some key resources to turbo-charge your mental representation of Spanish or French.
For those of you who want a mental representation like a good size serving of spaghetti a la bolognese, follow me!
First, let’s go over some key basics:
🐣Language Acquisition is a ⚡by-product of receiving comprehensible linguistic input in the target language.⚡
🐥It takes around 15,000 hours of receiving comprehensible linguistic input in their NATIVE TONGUE for human beings to develop the communicative ability of a 7-year-old.
I keep repeating that figure so that people can truly understand just how long the journey of language acquisition is….so they get some perspective, and also avoid scams, which ABOUND. 🥊
Starting to learn languages in middle school is fabulous, because the research points to the fact that READING in the target language can turbo-charge the process of building a mental representation of it, and toddlers can't read (nor SHOULD THEY). 📜
If you’re ever wondering where I get my “research” from—it’s simple. Check out anything written or recorded (podcast) by Bill VanPatten.
It’s not surprising—even when dealing with one’s native tongue, people who read extensively in their native tongue can speak it better, write better, communicate better and have a more extensive vocabulary. Indeedy (there’s literal proof of my extensive vocabulary for you). 🪅 🎊 🎉
So, let’s put it this way. I am a fan of my materials (duh), but I still have oodles of them to publish (which is why I’m taking a year off from teaching and launched a GoFundMe).
And…that’s also besides the point. I’ll say it over and over again—I could write and publish like a fiend for the rest of my existence (watch me), and it still would not be enough input. You need more. 📪 📫 📬 📭
TPRS (Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling) is the methodology that leads to language acquisition the fastest, and funnest. Recently, they launched an ebook library of the books in their arsenal. 🛍🛍🛍🛍🛍🛍🛍🛍🛍🛍🛍🛍 What a gift!
Whether you are an educator, a learner or a parent, this resource is something you need to be aware of and utilizing.
Il'l say it again for good measure and put it in a different color with emojis:
🏖🏖🏖Whether you are an educator, a learner or a parent, this resource is something you need to be aware of and utilizing.🛝🛝🛝
As an educator and as chair of the World Language Department at my old school, during the Covid Zoom Doom school year, we launched something called the ERP—the Extensive Reading Program. That’s right, during COVID, our department grew and got better.📓 📔 📒 📕 📗 📘 📙 📚 📖 Wham. Different Input-Based Programs call their Reading Programs different things, and run it in different ways.
But, to have a World Language Program at ANY INSTITUTION, AT ANY LEVEL, and not have an out-of-class, independent reading requirement is doing a HUGE disservice to learners.🚷 🚯 🚳 🚱 🔞 📵 🚭 ❗️ ❕ ❓ ❔ ‼️ ⁉
HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE.
Any ELA department will tell you that. Why do World Language Departments think they are any different? The answer is simple—either they are not running a research-based program, or they are stuck in the rutted thinking that “well…they don’t KNOW the language, so how can they READ in it.” 🉑 ☢️ ☣️ 📴 📳 🈶 🈚️ 🈸 🈺 🈷️ ✴️ 🆚
Oh, they can read in it. Trust me. 🉐 ㊙️ ㊗️ 🈴 🈵 🈹 🈲 🅰️ 🅱️ 🆎 🆑 🅾️ 🆘
And that’s where we circle back to the right materials. Indeed, in English Language Arts, they are reading books for native speakers—duh. No, you cannot send your Spanish 1 student to read García Márquez alone at home….heck, you couldn’t send most native speakers of Spanish to go read Garcia Marquez at home alone. But, you’re wrong that they cannot read in the language they are acquiring.
If learners are being taught right, they can read from day one onward.
I can promise you this from personal experience both as an educator and a learner (National TPRS Conference). The key is that the input needs to be L+1, right above their level.
I will keep telling you about our Extensive Reading Program, one of the many key parts of what makes the department at my old school so successful, in subsequent blogs. For now, again, whether you are a learner, a parent, or an educator, go check out the TPRS ebook library, and get started utilizing it.
Constanza Ontaneda
your own personal Language Acquisition Witch
