Facts about ESL (제2외국어로서의 영어 배우기)
The four stages of learning English as a Second Language (ESL) are:
Stage 1: Survival purposes
Stage 2: Familiar activities and contexts
Stage 3: Usually independent
Stage 4: Fluency approaching English speakers
Did you know:
- It takes 1-2 years to learn everyday English.
- It can take at least seven years to learn English to succeed at school.
- The early stages of learning English usually show rapid growth and "silent periods."
- Learning English means learning and using English in mathematics, science and social studies.
The following factors influence how quickly your child will learn English:
- age
- how long you have lived in New Zealand
Encourage them:
Encourage them to join sports clubs/activity clubs at school
Encourage them to come along shopping with you and help you ask for things/translate names of things, make a game of naming things.
Encourage them to carry their electronic dictionary with them.
Encourage them to NOT study grammar so hard (i.e. like in a Korean school). Don't focus too much on reading and writing when they are a beginner.
Encourage them to have kiwi friends.
Encourage them to hang out with their kiwi friends and bring their kiwi friends home
Encourage them to watch movies with English subtitles
Get a subscription to a Korean website (such as PDbox.com or soribada.com) that has subtitle packages for downloaded movies
Korean subtitles, English subtitles (use gomplayer .com)
Encourage them to NOT play so many Korean video games
Encourage them to study/speak/read some Korean too. If they lose some Korean ability it will make it very hard when they go back to Korea.
For listening to music: get them to look up lyrics on the internet
Use the internet for games and ideas
http://www.esl-lab.com/ (lots of listening practise)
http://www.real.com/freeplayer/?rppr=rnwk (you may need Real Player if you dont have Windows Media
http://www.marks-english-school.com/games.html
http://www.marks-english-school.com/games/A-Z.html (beginner primary kids)
http://www.manythings.org/
http://www.manythings.org/listen/
http://www.english-at-home.com/real-life-english/ (mostly reading/vocab
http://www.biculturalfamily.org/tipsandadvice.html
Talk to the teacher, but don't be too concerned with your child's level. Each kid has different ways of learning. Comparing the kids is not necessarily helpful, and it doesn't always give a realistic assessment.
Group activities:
What does my kid like to do?
What hobbies does he/she have?
Does he/she hang out with kiwi friends?
What kind of music are they into?
What kind of TV programmes do they like?
What kind of games do they like to play (ball games, internet games, etc.)
Does he/she like to read comic books or other kinds of books?
Will he/she want to come shopping/help me at the hairdresser, etc.