Helen媽媽經(jīng)驗談

The primary factor of language learning is human interaction.
語言學(xué)習(xí)最重要的因素就是人與人之間的互動。

My motivation for teaching English to my daughter began as a long journey with my own experiences learning English in the United States. My parents and I moved to New York when I was a toddler. Neither my mother nor my father spoke fluent English, so it wasn’t until nursery school that I had my first full exposure to the language. I still have vivid memories of my first days in school, trying to comprehend the odd sounds made by the teacher and the kids, and pretending as best I could that I understood them. After a few months of navigating through foreign words and gestures, I began to absorb the language, and by the time elementary school started, I was using English comfortably and at a level that wasn’t far from that of a native speaker my age.
我教女兒英文的動機要從我自己在美國的學(xué)習(xí)經(jīng)驗說起。在我蹣跚學(xué)步的時候，我和父母搬到美國，我父母都不會說流利的英文，所以我一直到上托兒所才開始完全地接觸英文。第一天上學(xué)的記憶依然歷歷在目，我試著去了解老師和其他小朋友發(fā)出的奇怪的聲音，然后盡可能假裝了解他們在說什么。經(jīng)過幾個月對外國字和手勢的理解后，我開始吸收這個語言。在上小學(xué)前，我已經(jīng)可以輕松地使用英文，程度也跟同年的母語人士差不多了。
At home, we spoke only Chinese. It was the language my mother used when she told me was Italian; his English was less-than-fluent, and he knew no Chinese. English, by that time, had supplanted Chinese as my native language because my spoken Chinese, though conversation-ally fluent, had not progressed far beyond the level of a middle-school student. My Italian, however, was better than my husband’s English, and at home we spoke a mix of Italian and English. Although I had thought about starting my daughter off with Chinese because it was the language that I associated with family and my own childhood, I feared that my knowledge of Chinese would be inadequate to progress beyond a rudimentary level. Plus, it would mean linguistic isolation for my husband. Con-versely, English did not seem like an ideal choice either, because it would mean denying Giorgia exposure to Chinese. In the end, after much discussion, we chose Chinese on the basis that it was (I thought) the more difficult to learn
of the two languages. As a result of this decision, I did not begin to teach Giorgia English until she was five years old.
我完成學(xué)業(yè)后，結(jié)了婚并搬到羅馬居住，我先生他是土生土長的羅馬人。幾年后我們的女兒Giorgia 出生，那是我生命中最快樂的時光，當(dāng)然也有很多的懷疑和問題。我先生和我雙方都問的第一個問題是我們應(yīng)該用什么語言和她溝通？這不是個簡單的問題。我先生的母語是意大利文，他的英文不是那么流利，而且他完全不懂中文。而在當(dāng)時，英文已經(jīng)取代中文成為我的母語，因為我的中文會話雖然流利，但大概只有中學(xué)的程度。而我的意大利文又比我先生的英文好一些，所以我們在家是英文、意大利文兩種語言交雜使用。雖然我曾想過要讓女兒從中文學(xué)起，因為那是我和家人及童年的連接，但我又擔(dān)心我的中文只有基本程度，可能不是很適合來持續(xù)進展。再加上，這對我先生會是一種語言隔閡。相反地，英文似乎也不是個理想的選擇，因為它可能會造成Giorgia 拒絕接觸中文。經(jīng)過多次討論后，我們選擇以中文為基礎(chǔ)，因為（我認為）中文是這兩種語言中較難學(xué)的。由于這樣的決定，我一直到Giorgia 五歲都沒有開始教她英文。
In Italy, English is a mandatory subject in the public school system starting in grade one of elementary school. Some friends and family members therefore asked me, why bother teaching her English at home? Weren’t was a way to develop in her an understanding of language as a communicative tool that was more than just as an academic subject.

大家有時候也會忘記語言主要是溝通工具，特別是在課堂上以考試和成績作為語言學(xué)習(xí)成果指標(biāo)時更容易被忽略。可惜，在課堂上所學(xué)到的語言往往只停留在課堂上。只有當(dāng)學(xué)生開始把語言知識應(yīng)用在現(xiàn)實生活中時，這個知識才算真正扎根。因此，用非課堂的環(huán)境和方法讓Giorgia 認識英文，可以讓她理解語言是溝通的工具、而不只是一門學(xué)科。
The last reason for teaching my daughter English and, for me, the best reason, was that it was easy and fun to do. It didn’t require much planning or effort. Unlike other skills that parents may teach their children, such as sports or a musical instrument, teaching English does not require a specific location, time, or tools and props. Like many parents, my husband and I had full weekly schedules between work and other activities and obligations, so the thought of having to set aside a particular time to teach my daughter a skill would have been too overwhelming. However, this is not the case with language learning. Moments in which I taught English to Giorgia were integrated organically into our daily routines, such as preparing meals, doing the laundry, shopping, bath time, or riding the bus. During bath time, a game we played was naming body parts in English. While grocery shopping, I would ask her to name as many fruits and vegetables in English as she could. Walking up or down a flight of stairs, I would ask her to count the number of steps in English. So, there was no need to set aside a special time for teaching. Giorgia was unaware that she was learning a language because the linguistic elements were integrated naturally into her daily life, and she was having fun.
最后一個我想親自教女兒英文，對我來說也是最好的原因就是做起來簡單又有趣。教英文不需要太多規(guī)劃或精力，不像有些技能，例如運動或樂器，父母需要額外花心思去教導(dǎo)。教孩子英文不需要特定場合、時間、工具或道具。我先生和我跟許多家長一樣，在工作和其他活動、責(zé)任之間每個星期都有許多的事情，所以想到要留出一個特定的時間來教女兒某項技境，這是任何父母都可以做到的，不是只有母語人士或英語說得流利的人才行。父母掌控環(huán)境，孩子則從周遭的事物中自然而然地吸收學(xué)習(xí)。
I eventually began offering Italian parents who wanted to start teaching their pre-school children English some suggestions on the kinds of activities and strategies they could use. I recommended traditional children’s songs that they could listen to and sing to their children, and fun, simple games that they could play. Sometimes we organized play dates and, together with our children, we would perform these activities together. Through this process, I also began to realize that not all kids had the same style of learning. While Giorgia was acoustically sensitive and learned best through sound and music, some kids favored visual input, and others were stimulated by physical movement and activities.
后來我開始給想教學(xué)齡前孩子英文的意大利父母提供一些建議，告訴他們可以利用的各種活動和方法。我推薦他們可以讓孩子聽傳統(tǒng)的兒歌并唱給孩子聽，還可以玩一些有趣、簡單的游戲。有時候，我們會安排游戲日，并且我們會和孩子一起來做這些活動。通過這個過程，我也開始了解并非所有孩子的學(xué)習(xí)方式都相同。Giorgia 聽覺非常敏銳，通過聲音和音樂的學(xué)習(xí)效果最好，有些孩子偏好視覺素材的輔助，而有些孩子則是經(jīng)由身體律動和活動來獲得激勵。
Giorgia is fourteen years old this year, and it seems like only yesterday that my husband and I were thinking about strategies to enrich her environment so that she could become an effective and enthusiastic learner in school. Although she has never lived in an English-speaking country, she will be attending an American high school this year, where all her courses will be taught in English, and where her second-language focus will be Chinese.
Giorgia 今年十四歲了，我先生和我在討論該用什么方式來提升她的環(huán)境，好讓她在學(xué)校學(xué)習(xí)時可以表現(xiàn)優(yōu)異又充滿熱忱，這些仿佛還只是昨天的事。雖然她從來沒有在英語系國家住過，但她今年要上美國學(xué)校高中了，學(xué)校所有的課程都是以英文授課，而她的第二外語則是中文。
but that your child is engaged in conversation. The primary factor of language learning is human interaction.
我們都希望給孩子最好的，所以有些父母或許仍會擔(dān)心無法提供孩子正確的英文素材。孩子學(xué)語言的過程中，父母及其他長輩的確扮演很重要的角色。然而，并不是身邊的大人說一口完美的英語，孩子才能學(xué)會正確的英文。想一想孩子學(xué)母語時接收語言訊息的情形，大人的口語通常都是從許多的錯誤開始，像是片斷的句子、含糊不清的發(fā)音，甚至語法錯誤等，但是盡管他們周遭的語言環(huán)境并不完美，孩子還是能自然而然學(xué)會母語。這樣的概念在學(xué)習(xí)第二外語時一樣適用。如果爸爸或媽媽對孩子說的第二外語自己說得不是非常流利時，那么爸媽或許只會用簡單且發(fā)音不正確的單詞和句子。但是這并不會阻礙小孩在語言學(xué)習(xí)上的發(fā)展。因為重要的并不是將小孩安置在完美的英語口語環(huán)境中，而是小孩能積極投入在會話中。語言學(xué)習(xí)最重要的因素就是人與人之間的互動。
Today, parents have a rich choice of multimedia English learning materials to choose from, from TV shows and DVDs, to computer software and iPad applications. Choosing one or a few of these options can seem like a good way to provide English input for your child. Indeed, it would be easier for us parents if we could sit our children in front of an English learning DVD or com-puter game for 30 minutes while we took a quick shower or made a phone call. However, viewing TV and DVDs, using iPads, or any other activity wherein children are expected to stare at a screen, is a passive activity. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Children learn best in the context of relationships and meaningful interaction with people they respect”. However, meaningful interaction cannot be achieved between a parent and a child if there is a machine or a screen between them. Furthermore, research has found that even very small amounts of English language exposure, such as an hour a week, can help pre-school children develop the ability to hear innuendos in the sound system of a language, much like a native speaker of that language. However, for this to happen, are not familiar with the material can listen to it first before sharing it with their kids. Although listening to the MP3 with your child is an option, it should be kept in mind that parents are the main con-veyors of the songs and rhymes, not the MP3. Also included in the CD-ROM are supplementary work-sheets and games related to the unit topics that parents can print out and integrate into activities with their children.

本書每一個單元都著重在與主題相關(guān)的詞匯，以及相同主題的歌曲或韻文。歌曲和韻文在學(xué)習(xí)過程中扮演重要的角色，因為不只可以讓孩子接觸自然的韻律、節(jié)奏和英文字的押韻，也可以強化孩子對新學(xué)到的詞匯的了解。這些歌曲韻文中有好幾首都是可以互動的，包含肢體動作的配合。依照歌曲韻文提供的提示來做肢體動作可以訓(xùn)練孩子的英語理解力。所有的歌曲和韻文在CD-ROM 中都有收錄，所以不熟悉這些內(nèi)容的父母，在與孩子一起分享前可以先聽過MP3。雖然和孩子一起聽MP3 也是一種選擇，然而父母應(yīng)該要記得父母本身才是歌曲和韻文主要的傳遞者，不是MP3。CD-ROM 中還包括另外補充與單元主題相關(guān)的學(xué)習(xí)單和游戲，父母可以打印出來，并將這些整合到與孩子一起進行的活動中。
Another key component of this book are the flashcards. These provide a visual aid for your child to learn and remember new words. Because it can be too overwhelming to introduce all the vocabulary words in a unit as one group, I have found it helpful to break down the flashcards into groups which introduce three new words at a time. Review these words and make sure that your child is familiar with them before moving on to the next group of three words. Do this until all the words in the unit have been covered. Learning the words in groups of three is a suggestion for breaking up a large chunk into manageable pieces. If you feel that your child would be more comfortable learning two words or four words at a time, then you should tailor the method to suit your child. One mother, a friend of mine, decided to focus on “a
word a day”. Just one English word a day, which she would use and repeat whenever the occasion arose. It may appear like not covering a lot of ground, but it was a good way to ensure ment can help in the English-learning process.
本書的單元內(nèi)容設(shè)計是建立在從前面單元得到的知識。例如，這單元學(xué)到與臉和頭相關(guān)的單詞，緊接著下一個單元就會學(xué)到五官的表達。因此，建議父母不要在單元間跳躍學(xué)習(xí)，最好能按照順序。至于每個單元應(yīng)該花多少時間——這根據(jù)孩子自然的學(xué)習(xí)步調(diào)，以及每周可以花多少時間在英語上而定。所以，無須擔(dān)心速度，也不用擔(dān)心孩子為何無法自然運用已經(jīng)學(xué)過的內(nèi)容。每個孩子的學(xué)習(xí)步調(diào)不同，而且在這個年齡他們往往比較容易理解事物甚于表達，所以重要的是他們能持續(xù)接收新的事物。此外，孩子的性格在學(xué)習(xí)語言時也有很大的影響。你的孩子會多容易就感到挫折？他可以持續(xù)專注多久的時間？她對挑戰(zhàn)新事物的反應(yīng)如何？以Giorgia 來說，她能夠持續(xù)專注在一個科目很長的時間，但她從以前到現(xiàn)在都不喜歡被挑戰(zhàn)。因為關(guān)于學(xué)習(xí)和理解，她比較喜歡設(shè)定自己的步調(diào)，把她放在具有競爭性的情境中并無法刺激她學(xué)習(xí)。父母無法改變孩子的性格，但了解孩子的性格對于學(xué)習(xí)英語的過程是有幫助的。

Lastly, parents ought not focus on perfection or correcting their child when he or she makes a mistake in English. Although correction is important in the learning process of older children, it can be counterproductive to a preschooler’s learning process. Focus instead on what your child has achieved. Offer lots of encouragement and exude enthusiasm. Helping our children learn with this kind of attitude is one of the most valuable things that we as parents can give our children.
最后，孩子在學(xué)英語犯錯時，父母應(yīng)該不要著重追求完美或糾正孩子錯誤的地方。雖然大一點的孩子的學(xué)習(xí)過程中給予糾正很重要，但對學(xué)齡前孩子的學(xué)習(xí)可能會造成反效果。反之，父母應(yīng)該將重點放在孩子學(xué)到的東西，給予大量的鼓勵和激發(fā)興趣。用這樣的態(tài)度來幫助孩子學(xué)習(xí)，是身為父母的我們能給孩子最珍貴的東西。
美國伊利諾大學(xué)香檳分校比較文學(xué)博士候選人LiveABC 資深英文編輯