What can adults do to make it easier for children to learn English as a second language?
What will be an ideal response?
In many ways, second-language acquisition in young children is similar to their acquisition of their first language. In learning a new language, children engage in the creative construction of the rules of the new language, and this creative construction occurs within the context of multiple social interactions as children use the new language with others.
Adults working with second-language learners need to focus both on making themselves understood by children and on encouraging these children to use their new language. Adults need to focus on the learners' communicative intentions, not on the conventionality of their utterances. Children should be encouraged but not forced to use the new language, and children should not be belittled for hesitancy in trying it. Adults need to recognize that children are learning English even if they are not responding verbally. Adults need to encourage other children who are native speakers of English to have patience with ESL learners and to assist them in their learning. Finally, adults should value the native languages that children bring to school with them and encourage them to continue to use their native languages.
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Indicate whether this statement is true or false.
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a. True b. False
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a. Hilda Taba b. John Dewey c. Don Kauchak and Paul Eggen d. Ibn al-Haytham
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A. True B. False