Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival: Knowledge of Man - Languages

During the last weeks I am pretty sure I was living near the edge of the face of the earth. Some people may even have feared I'd fallen off, especially my mother, if perhaps they had forgotten that the earth is still round. Presumably far from danger, I actually wouldn't have minded risking a more lengthy stay, yet I have found my way back for the moment and here we are!

Still, that IS why the carnival is up late... :)
Due to the fact and relation of my recent hermitage, apparently I forgot about deadlines. I am so very sorry because I do understand that the convention of timeliness is very important in some cultures; of course, not so much in South America! ;) ... though, better late than never I hope.

Now, at the edges of the earth, if it were still flat, I'm sure there'd be people who speak different languages. Don't you think? And, wouldn't it be handy if you happened to find yourself there and you were able to talk to whoever lived at those extremities in order to ask him or her pressing and pertinent questions about the edge of the world and how to avoid falling off of it? I think that'd be mighty convenient, if not downright valuable.

Of course you'd have to speak their language to ask questions like: How steep is it? Precisely how far from here to the edge? What happens to people who fall off? etc. AND you'd have to understand their language in order to find out the answers... all of which brings us to the topic of this carnival. Languages. It's good to know the language(s) with which you must ask important questions or give important answers.

See. it was all for a purpose. ;)

And maybe you'll be glad that as I was writing this, I decided to break it into two posts, rather than compel you to wade through a REALLY, really long-winded version. Short lessons. Full attention. I'm doing this for your own good. You can find the other part here.


This picture is either symbolic of me trying to ignore the rest of the world by choosing hermitage,
OR how the rest of the world sees those of us that only speak our own language... you choose. :)
You've been SO polite to read this far.
OR maybe you just scrolled down directly.
Don't worry... no one will ever know. ;)

Oh and lest you think worry that fashionably late carnivals may be coming into style... don't worry. I won't host again 'til around the end of the year, and most of the other hostesses are North American. ;)

This edition of the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival's topic is...
The Curriculum: Knowledge of Man - Languages


And now for the lovely, lovely contributions for this edition of the carnival...

Christine shares: Lessons for the New Homeschool Year

Lanaya shares: Finding a Balance for High Expectations

Cindy shares: Charlotte Mason Narration How-To with Video

Nancy shares: Our Schedule, Our Atmosphere

Bobby Jo shares: Starting with the Simple Things

Megan shares: The Mysterious and Wonderful World of Solfege

Camille shares: Learning and Teaching - Language

Carol shares: Intellectual Courage and Courage of Confession

Tammy shares: Teaching a Second Language if You Don't Already Have One Yourself

Mama Squirrel shares: On the teaching of languages, especially French

Amy in Peru shares: Thoughts on Languages

Find out more HERE about upcoming carnival topics & how to get yourself on the e-mail list to receive reminders and announcements so that you never miss another edition.

Submit any Charlotte Mason Education posts on any topic at any time to charlottemasonblogs (at) gmail (dot) com!

Thoughts on Languages.

In this chapter Charlotte discusses some basics related to teaching English, French & Latin. She states that it is better that a child should begin with a sentence and not with the parts of speech, that is, he should learn a little of what is called analysis before he learns to parse. Or said even more simply, he should learn to get the gist of things before being bogged down with the nitty gritty.

The basic method she mentions is listening with narration, other activities being added along the way. When it does come to parsing, much of the grammar of each language seems to be picked up through narration and/or pointed out naturally at first, advancing in detail with further learning. The teaching of these multiple languages seems to correlate and so contribute to the mastery of comprehension and grammar of all.

Which seems absolutely brilliant to me as I have seen the beauty of that correlation and contribution in teaching my own kids. Teaching Latin and a foreign language at the same time as going over the basics of English grammar, around year 5 or 6 I about shouted out loud as I saw all the lights come on. VERY fun.

Also not surprisingly, we once again find attention a major power in education, especially in acquiring a new language:

"This hitherto unused power of concentrated attention in the study of languages whether ancient or modern appears to hold promise of making us at last a nation of linguists." Vol. 6, pg. 213

I was encouraged by the simplicity of lessons described in the chapter. While I think she left a lot unsaid, I do think the simplicity shouldn't be compromised. Based on what I've learned from past attempts and in the mean time, I'm looking forward to improving the aspect of language development around here. ;) To read more of CM's own words, click here.

This has been another 'thinking out loud' post, along the lines of chapter 10, section II:II of CM's Homeschooling Series, Volume 6, Towards a Philosophy of Education. Did you know that the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival is going through this volume systematically? Interested? Check out recent posts and the schedule for future posts here.

conerning foreign language...

interesting bits about monolinguism vs. bilingualism:


click the image to see it bigger! :)

Speaking of languages...

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about teaching a foreign language (lately = means over the last year or so ;) I've been studying Gouin, talking to friends and thinking a lot.



Speaking of foreign languages, we have some experience in this area, and are constantly gaining more. We all speak English for example! ;) Yep. It's true. Then there's one language (Spanish), that some years ago, was foreign, has become familiar, and now flows for us. These days, we are getting to know another couple of languages that are still, in varying degrees, foreign to us (French & Latin).

It's been fun. and hard. and fulfilling. and frustrating. all that.

Read more about our language studies here.

Based on the recommendation of a good friend, I found the link and checked out the following program and it looks really good for a basic start in Spanish. She follows a lot of the same principles that I've been reading about via Charlotte Mason, Gouin and what seems to me most natural about learning a language. She is a Spanish teacher herself and offers the help of a native Spanish speaker as well. Andrea is offering an intro price of $7 for the first 5 lessons (normal price will be $37).
Please check out:

Spanish with Andrea!

Make sure to tell her I sent you!
I don't make a commission, but I'd love to know how many of you go there because of this post! ;)


helpful quote:

"Again, it is incontestable that the ear, and not the eye, is the physical organ for apprehending a language, just as truly as it is by the mouth, and not the ear, we appropriate food." vol 1 pg 303

CM on French

French should be acquired as English is, not as a grammar, but as a living speech. To train the ear to distinguish and the lips to produce the French vocables is a valuable part of the education of the senses, and one which can hardly be undertaken too soon.

As regards French, for instance, our difficulties are twofold––the want of a vocabulary, and a certain awkwardness in producing unfamiliar sounds. It is evident that both these hindrances should be removed in early childhood. The child should never see French words in print until he has learned to say them with as much ease and readiness as if they were English. The desire to give printed combinations of letters the sounds they would bear in English words is the real cause of our national difficulty in pronouncing French. Again, the child's vocabulary should increase steadily, say, at the rate of half a dozen words a day. Think of fifteen hundred words in a year! The child who has that number of words, and knows how to apply them, can speak French. Of course, his teacher, will take care that, in giving words, she gives idioms also, and that as he learns new words, they are put into sentences and kept in use from day to day. A note-book in which she enters the child's new words and sentences will easily enable the teacher to do this. The young child has no foolish shame about saying French words––he pronounces them as simply as if they were English.
But it is very important that he should acquire a pure accent from the first. It is not often advisable that young English children should be put into the hands of a French governess or nurse; but would it not be possible for half a dozen families, say, to engage a French lady, who would give half an hour daily to each family?

(...text in the following passage goes on about Guoin's study 

in regard to teaching language... also very interesting ;)

vol 1 pg 301-302

helpful notes:

• train the ear to distinguish sounds
• train lips to produce sounds with a pure accent
• acquire a true accent by hearing
• learn vocabulary (in context of sentences and idioms)... steadily increasing acquired words daily
• use newly learned words, phrases, sentences and idioms daily
• teacher may use a notebook to record new words and sentences
• making use of a native speaker would be the ideal

*image courtesy of gleidson sávio

Spanish: Q&A

Q:
Rosetta Stone is out of my price range and I need a program that we can get started on in a few weeks when we start Year 8. Suggestions?

~Ambler {technical term for an anonymous AO user}

A:
Dear Ambler,
First of all, I'm going through a revolution in my foreign language learning/teaching understanding. Previously I would probably have recommended both resources you have already nixed (Rosetta Stone seems to be the most comprehensive, customizable and highest quality - which aspects are definitely reflected in the price!). The BEST option would be to meet some Spanish speakers and get involved in their lives... :) but, as this is not going to be something you can check off a list or get credit for... :) A ready-made curriculum is better for those who maybe wouldn't otherwise be able to incorporate a foreign language because of time constraints or interest level or what have you. As far as I know, Rosetta Stone remains the best in its category.

However, I am more recently again becoming a big proponent of each family putting together their own custom-made studies based on real life Spanish experiences when possible and otherwise on free resources available online (and the library when available!). I know that in your case, you may not have time to work out your own curriculum, and that's okay. There are a lot of free curricula online (see links below). Based on my study, learning audibly first, then speaking, before integrating reading and writing IS the best way and so if one has time and willingness, a custom-made plan might just be better... (see my post here for the beginnings of my research). I plan to continue my research in this area and hopefully someday have some resources of my own to share. :)

Some AO users have expressed the concern that in their experience some colleges won't accept 'Homeschool Spanish' at the high school level, this could be addressed by taking community college courses, or better yet, testing out of them!

Here are the best links I've found for higher level Spanish (or been directed to by a trustworthy source):





Helpful Links:

How to Learn Spanish online for free  (a webtour) - this webtour lists just about every online Spanish resource I've ever heard of and that one could possibly want... seriously, it's worth the 9min. to watch
OnlineFreeSpanish.com
BBC Languages: Spanish