Received: from franka.aracnet.com (franka.aracnet.com [216.99.193.44]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with ESMTP id h1PNmWP26592; Tue, 25 Feb 2003 18:48:33 -0500 (EST) Received: from sylvan.cccchs.org (216-99-194-129.dial.spiritone.com [216.99.194.129]) (authenticated bits=0) by franka.aracnet.com (8.12.5/8.12.5) with ESMTP id h1PNlJXP026235; Tue, 25 Feb 2003 15:47:20 -0800 Message-Id: <5.0.0.25.0.20030225154637.009eae70@mail.aracnet.com> X-Sender: c4sylvan@mail.aracnet.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.0 Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 15:49:09 -0800 To: nifl-esl@nifl.gov, Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> From: Sylvan Rainwater <sylvan@cccchs.org> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:8638] Re: RE: War as a cross-cultural issue In-Reply-To: <F1153R0cZF7xKnT0rYn0000b57c@hotmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Status: O Content-Length: 1180 Lines: 25 At 03:50 PM 02/24/2003 -0500, Susan Ryan wrote: >Do we need to get so deep into subject matter to teach the English >language? My students are just struggling to put the adjactive before the noun! Obviously, we don't *need* to get so deep into subject matter. But sometimes it's useful. When people get interested in something that is meaningful to them, they quit thinking so hard about using the language and just communicate. I teach computers 1 hour a week, and even though it's all in English, most of them get it, and enjoy it, and forget that they are also learning English in the process. If you can have a discussion of a topic that affects everyone, and if war isn't it right now, I don't know what is, then sometimes that's fruitful to meet more than one need, and sometimes more useful than simply to practice a particular grammar point. Sure, you need both content and grammar, and how to balance them is part of the art of teaching. -------------------------------------------------------------- Sylvan Rainwater . Family Literacy Coordinator Clackamas County Children's Commission / Head Start Oregon City, OR USA . mailto:sylvan@cccchs.org
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