Talk the Talk
'Aapka swagat hai' read a sign greeting young children and their parents.
"Welcome!" translated instructor Minoo Gupta Wednesday at the Hindi immersion story hour at the Cranberry Public Library. "Put your hands together and say 'namaste.' That's how we say hello in Hindi."
The roomful of children clasped their hands and began mimicking Gupta's Hindi words and phrases, continuing long after the session ended. Hindi, generally speaking, is the language of northern and central India.
The story hour is just one of many language learning options available in Butler County for students of all ages.
It's no myth that children pick up languages more easily than adults, said Traci Eshelman Ramey, owner and founder of Little Linguists, a foreign language school that provides instruction in the Pittsburgh area.The company also provides community events, most recently the Hindi immersion story hour.In immersion-based programs, the target language is used for instruction and activities, surrounding students with the second language.Joanna Dickert of Wexford brought her children, Sierra, 3, and Evan, 6 months, to the story hour."I started my language learning in high school, and it was almost too late," said Dickert, who speaks Spanish and French. "If we're truly trying to educate our children to be global citizens, we have to start when they're small."There is physiological evidence that young children learn languages faster and easier before puberty, Eshelman Ramey said."The neurons are connecting at rapid speeds when they're younger, the neurons that are responsible for linguistics," Eshelman Ramey said. "It's a neurological phenomenon."It's never too early to expose children to another language, whether it's through books, videos, tapes or other activities, Eshelman Ramey said."From zero to 6 is the most critical time to get that accent, that's the most critical time for them to listen and repeat the sounds," Eshelman Ramey said. "From 6 to 12 is the next window; I'd say the peak (age) is right before puberty."Formal lessons aren't necessary to introduce a child to a new language, said Eshelman Ramey, who suggests modifying many of the same learning opportunities that parents use in English."You can label the entire kitchen," she said. "You can count in the other language, you can point out the colors when they're playing, you can learn a couple of conversational phrases."Popular children's television shows like "Dora the Explorer" are providing a solid background and creating interest in other languages, she said."So many of our kids come into Spanish and already know the colors and numbers," she said. "That's a really neat trend and the kids want to learn because they identify with those characters."Still, nothing replaces conversation and interaction with another person."If you don't have that human interaction, you lose the ability to communicate," she said. "The whole point of learning a language is so you can communicate with another person."Because each child learns differently, it is important to integrate auditory, visual and tactile experiences instead of rote memorization, she said.Immersion is the most efficient teaching method."It's more natural than holding up a flash card with English on one side and the target language on the other side," she said. "With that type of learning style, you retain more in a shorter period of time than if you just used rote learning."
Learning a foreign language can help students of all ages excel in other subjects, said Eshelman Ramey."Language is like math, it's logic and reasoning," she said. "It helps the students in school for English as well, since older students learn a lot of English grammar by learning Spanish and French and German."Finding out about another country or culture also expands a child's worldview, she added."They are much more accepting of the language and the culture and understand that not everybody in the world is like us, they have different traditions and cultures," Eshelman Ramey said. "It makes them more adaptive and accepting as people."Today's youths will soon enter a global workforce and language skills are a must, she said."It's not even an edge anymore for children or students who are graduating; it's a necessity," she said.Junko Yamamoto taught Japanese for several years at Mount Lebanon High School and found many students were motivated by future aspirations.She is now an assistant professor of secondary education/foundations of education at Slippery Rock University."Some of my students had career goals tied to learning Japanese," said Yamamoto, whose students' ideas ranged from a desire to break into the fashion industry to collaborating with Japanese engineers on international projects.Post-high school, opportunities abound at most colleges and universities.In addition to language majors, many schools offer study abroad programs open to all.Students at Grove City College can take courses taught in English or directly enroll at foreign universities to take classes in the country's native language, said Lois Johnson, director of the college's Office of International Education. Although the college does not recommend that option unless the student is an advanced language learner, Johnson said, it remains a popular choice among language majors."The best way to learn a foreign language is to go to the country that speaks the language," Johnson said. "You get a richer language experience."Opportunities at Grove City College include language clubs, dinner table conversations in the target language and a language laboratory, a facility with audio and visual tools. Many colleges and universities have similar offerings and study abroad options.
Even if an adult has not studied a language, it's never too late to learn, said Julia Ombres, who teaches beginning and intermediate Italian classes to continuing education students at the Cranberry Township campus of Butler County Community College."Some people feel like there's no hope to learn," said Ombres, also an adjunct lecturer in Italian at Duquesne University. "I try to approach it in a fun way; they like to learn in a way that's not pushy."In fact, older students are some of the most enthusiastic learners, said Yamamoto, who recently led a Conversational Japanese course through the Institute for Learning in Retirement at Slippery Rock University."No one's worried about their grades, they're just there for the language learning," she said. "That makes teaching fun for me, too. They just get pure enjoyment out of learning the language."Yamamoto and Ombres both structure courses using a blend of reading, writing, cultural information and conversation. Yamamoto said she stressed to her students that the purpose was communication, not the recitation of stock phrases or vocabulary words."Some memorization may be necessary when you're learning new vocabulary, but you don't memorize a language," she said. "No single situation will be rehearsed in a real setting."Exercises in extemporaneous speaking most closely mimic real-life situations, she added."You want it to carry on somewhat spontaneously," she said. "You start with the memorized material and then you expand spontaneously as quickly as possible."Ombres also recommends listening to native speakers and mimicking the sounds, which can be done independently by watching movies or listening to CDs in the target language, she said.Whether one takes formal classes or not, regular practice and speaking are necessary."When you don't practice, you forget everything you learned," she said.The best way to become fluent in any language is to speak as much as possible, Ombres said."If you make a mistake, you learn," said Ombres. "Nobody is born knowing the language, we all go through the learning process."
<B>Intro to Spanish</B>, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays from Sept. 16 to Nov. 4, Seneca Valley Middle School, Room 201<B>Beginning Italian</B>, 6 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays from Sept. 1 to Oct. 13, BC3 @ Cranberry, Room 121<B>Intermediate Italian</B>, 6 to 9:30 p.m. Oct. 20 to Dec. 18, BC3 @ Cranberry, Room 121<B>Beginning French</B>, 6 to 9 p.m. Mondays from Sept. 13 to Oct. 18, BC3 @ Cranberry, Room 135<B>Intermediate French</B>, 6 to 9 p.m. Mondays from Oct. 25 to Nov. 29, BC3 @ Cranberry, Room 135To register for the BC3 classes, call 724-287-8711.<B>Little Linguists (with Cranberry Parks and Recreation)</B>The following story immersion sessions run every Saturday from Sept. 18 to Oct. 23 at the Cranberry Township Municipal Building, 2525 Rochester Road:<B>French</B>, 10 to 10:45 a.m.<B>Spanish</B>, 11 to 11:45 a.m.<B>Chinese</B>, 12 to 12:45 p.m.For information, call 724-331-0256.<B>Institute for Learning in Retirement </B>No language courses are scheduled for fall.The spring course catalog is published in mid-February. Spring classes begin in mid- March and end in late May.To receive the next ILR catalog, contact learning.retirement@sru.edu or call 724-738-1604.
