Sunday, June 1, 2014

Accelerated language learning

ACCELERATED LANGUAGE LEARNING.
When a baby is born, his situation is hopeless. Your muscles are not prepared for the gravity of Earth, his ears do not have connections in the brain to process sounds, much less to understand the sense of the sounds that he hears, his mouth cannot make sounds, the only way to get help is weeping; cannot survive on its own, and if not for a social placenta that shelters would die within hours. Has to train and learn many things to survive on Earth. Fortunately this helpless baby comes with a powerful brain and an amazing ability to learn. One of the most difficult and important things he has to do is TALK, COMMUNICATE. And he spends years listening, observing, associating, and finally he will dominate one or more languages ​​and cultures. Many people do not trying to help him, and do not even know that you can speed up that process.

However we have experiences that prove that it is possible to accelerate the process of speech and communication in the infant; for example, a child who is often with other children learns to speak faster than he is alone with adults. The reason may be that children use fewer words and less complicated sentences that make the baby can more easily understand its meaning.

Instead, we have the experience of a child who did not learn in childhood NEVER going to learn to talk. This is the case of children that were bred by wolves: his brain did not make connections necessary to hear and understand the words, that part of the brain is used for other things, and the process is virtually irreversible: The wolf child doesn´t hear the words like us.

Those brain connections begin in the womb of the mother. Newborn child responds smiling when somebody speaks him in his native language, and does not react when speak him in other languages; not react when a machine-TV, talking computer-speak him in the mother tongue: the baby's brain is linked to language and its relationship to human, not electronic media. Putting a baby in front of the TV does not serve to teach it to talk, just to hurt your eyes.

Currently there is much emphasis on teaching children letters, numbers, colors and shapes. There is no interest in accelerating the process of language learning, for 3 reasons: because the child is so intelligent that anyway learns to speak, because most of people don´t know that the language is learned, not natural, and that you can speed up this process and make it much easier for the child, and finally because they don’t know that the child begins to master the language from birth - or before - but cannot yet speak.

The words easier to teach are these that name specific OBJECTS: table, chair, TV. For teach it, we put the baby front the object and point fingers, or touch it while saying the name to the baby. For example, let each case chair saying "chair". Soon, the powerful baby's brain begins to associate the object with sound. And soon it will try to repeat the name.

It is important to start by important words for the child: usually the first word that all children learn is "Mom." If there is a “dad" in the house, each alternately point while repeating "mom", "dad". The child learns that "things" different have names different. Also learns that if he says that word causes a reaction in the person; that is, he learns that the names serve to relate.

In reality the things are not so simple: the baby observes that "mom" also has another name, "Maria", "Lupe" … and that other kids call "mom" ​​to other people, and other "moms" also have names other than "Pily" Juana "," Teresa ". Never mind. The baby is so smart that is not left confused, and will additionally learn from these differences. Actually the baby is much more intelligent and have more ability to learn that we adults.

Start with a word and make every day for a week a tour showing the object and repeating the name. You can do it 2 or 3 times daily. The following week "present" to the child a second word, and makes his travels saying the 2 words. Add another in the third week. In the fourth week delete the first word and add a new one. Then use it occasionally. But don’t bore the children. And adapt you to the rhythm of children's learning.

In this phase includes the names of people close, body parts, food, "stuff" that the child can see, smell, touch.

The second phase is ACTION. It’s more complicated, because its are verbs, and we modify its according to time, the person ... Don’t worry. We have already said that the baby is incredibly smart. And will always be easier for him to learn if we care to teach the relationship between word and action that if we stop worry and wait that he learns it alone. In this phase we say, for example: "Sit" "mom sit" "Sit you" "Juan, sit down”.” Juan sits". The baby recognizes all these words between sounds that are repeated while the action. Adults call it "verbal roots." The baby just realizes that there is a word that indicates when mom is sitting, other similar signaling that he sits down, or his brother sits.

There is still much to be done. There are abstract words for things that don’t look, don’t smell, don’t touch; sometimes we designate things which do not exist, so they are more difficult to teach. Words for sensations, feelings ... Do not worry now of them. If you simply teach the most basic words we advance up to 2 years the child's language level. Imagine a 3 year old boy who comes to kindergarten speaking and UNDERSTANDING as a child of 5.

If when we teach them the objects or actions we also show with vivid color word written in large letters, at the same time, we are teaching reading by the best and simpler method that exists: RECOGNITION OF WORDS. Think we the difference that it will create at school, in college, in life. Now make plans. Begin to teach language to all yours children.