"Chinese learners" by Nancy Lay bring a new light into the issue that Chinese students have learning English as a second language. During the article Lay explains of different writing issues that may come up when teaching Chinese speaking students: such as verbs, causes, and tenses. Since English is a subject that many Chinese immigrants struggle with, many students choose to go into fields like science because it comes more natural to them. Many times these students are also called shy, because in the classroom they tend to be less vocal then other English speaking students. There were a few students that stated that, when it comes to being in the classroom, many times they choose not to speak because they don’t want to sound stupid. Even if they feel that they have a valid point.
The article then goes into the details of what makes up the Chinese language, and how it differs from English. There was the issue of sound, such as the difference between voiced and voiceless sounds does not exist. For example there is no difference to them, between bag/back and dog/dock, which can become a problem when they try to learn English. There is also the issue of sentence structure, and the formation of questions from Chinese to English. The article gave the example of "wh- questions." Many Chinese students in the first stage would say "You make how much money?" In the second stage once they learn that the 'wh-question' goes in the front of the sentence, they may say "How much money do u make?”
Lastly the article deals with the issue of writing but there is also the struggle of speaking English as a second language. This goes into details about all the different elements of the English language, meaning adjectives, verbs, noun, and punctuation. Then comparing and contrasting these elements to the structure of Chinese grammar.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
"Chinese learners" by Kiara Poole
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I found this article very interesting. Americans seem to believe that Chinese people are just smarter naturally smarter. This article shows that they too struggle with academics as well. I believe anyone learning and adapting to a new language will experience a tough time trying to adjust.
ReplyDeleteFamalies should be advised to instruct their children in helpful excercises that improve the understanding of a new language early in the development cycle of the child. If a parent wants the child to learn a new language then they should start with videos or helpful visual stimuli that can help them learn. teachers should find the best style to give parents to teach their children at home english or other language desired by the parents for them to learn.
ReplyDeleteThis article was not surprising to me. I have been told that English is one of the hardest languages to learn. It is easier for those who are born as native English speakers than it is for those who are from a different country or were born with a different native language other than English. For those people that do not speak English very well, they should continuously practice with English.
ReplyDeleteThere are times that I even find myself being to shy to raise my hand and answer the question that the teacher asks. Although it may be true that Chinese people are naturally shy, there are plenty of other people in the world that are shy and are of a different descent.
I have two close friends that are from countries near China, namely South Korea and the Phillipines. The differences between languages are easily seen in conversations with them, and it can require a lot of patience and grace. Particularly with the Chinese language, they don't even use letters, but rather symbols that essentially tell a story. That makes it very difficult for them to learn English because they cannot even operate with the same cognitive framework. I think that the author's mention of the effect this has on their assertiveness and the appearance of their personality in the class is very insightful. They may have a thought that is right on, but if they don't have the ability to express the thought they will inevitably be perceived inaccurately.
ReplyDeleteI found this article to be very interesting because i learned something new about another culture that i thought was naturally good at everything. i learned that even though chinese people are intelligent, they struggle with problems that all people have no matter what nationality you are. learning a second language is hard for everyone in my opinion so i can understand the lack of confidence they have when they are among people who have already mastered that skill.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great story, very interesting. I enjoyed learning about the obvious differences in our languages, but even cultural differences are anything but a norm. While reading the story and noticing how the Chinese language is primarily based off sounds of syllables.
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese people will break a word apart by the way it sounds, not spelled. For example, say you have the word "ENGLISH". They would break the word up into syllables. In that case it would sound like "ENG-LISH" with corresponding Chinese symbols. All in all, good story
Considering English is said to be one the most difficult languages to learn, it is not surprising to hear that Chinese students refuse to talk in classrooms. Learning about the cultural difficulties was nothing new to me. I enjoyed reading about the structure of the Chinese language (sound and syllables).
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ReplyDeleteWhile reviewing this article it had many interesting details about the the difficulties Chinese students endour while learning the English language. Also reviewing the structure of the Chinese language and the syllabes was very different for me. In all, I enjoyed reading about the struggles and the developments that have surrounded this language.
ReplyDeleteI found this article very interesting because of my personal experience with the topic. In high school i took french three years in a row and my french teacher would always describe to us how hard it was for her to adjust to and learn all the rules of our english language. I believe the main reason is like the article said because the english language is composed of so many languages it becomes difficult to keep up with whats going on. I only speak english and at times find it hard to familiarize myself with basic rules of grammar, for example our most recent lesson of who and whom. I can only imagine the level of difficulty it has for chinese, french, or any other foreigners.
ReplyDeleteI know how it feels to be in class and you don't quite understnd the language. This semester I'm taking Spanish and I feel lost everyday. I know how to write the language but speaking in front of the class is very difficult for me. Especailly when most of the students have been taking Spanish all four years of high school. So I can relate to Chinese students not wanting to speak in front of the class for fear of sounding unintelligent or saying something incorrect.
ReplyDeleteI heard that the information in this article is true. I heard the English language is hard to pick up on and learn. I feel that trying to speak any kind of language would be tough to learn in speak. I took a couple Spanish classes before and the use their grammer and sentence structure doesn't make sense at all to me. I cant even imagine what people are going through to learn english
ReplyDeleteThis article is interesting, however I believe it is true to a certain extent to everyone that tries to pick up a second language. It is just hard to pick up grammar usage within any language, because the translation is not always exact from word to word usage.
ReplyDeleteThis article makes me think back to my childhood when there was a new chinese stundent in class and we could not figure out what he was saying, I had no idea that the whole sentece stucture and sounds of the words were as difficult as they were for him. This really makes ESL classes that more important when a person is moving to America.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was interesting because it is true that the english language is hard to learn, no only for chinese students. That are many difficult principles to understand with the english language, such as nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs. I believe that children should be taught these elements of the english language at a young age so it would be easier for them to grasp as they grow older.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting and informative. I never had realized exactly how different the English language was from the Chinease language. I now feel like, as Americans we should appreciate and be patient when speaking to someone who is struggling, like the Chinease. I also think it is important that we make those who are learning the English language feel comfortable and not embarrassed when they are speaking to us. I believe that many of us get very impatient when speaking to someone who does not know our language and it becomes very intimidating. I believe that everyone should read this article because it allows us to understand what many foreigners go through. (copied from the other class's blog, I commented the wrong blog.)
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