Sena’s Acquisition of English- Comprehension Vs. Production

According to Krashen, in order for language acquisition to take place, the language input has to be comprehensible. That is why for a child to acquire the language of the parents, the fact that he hears his parents speaking is not enough. The parents have to make their language (the input) comprehensible for their child. This means that they should not merely talk or converse with him, but rather communicate, and comprehension should be the focus.

In an attempt to teach, Sena, my 20-month old daughter, English, I began speaking to her in pure English 45 days ago, at 18.5 months of age. Sena, who has been spoken to in Arabic by all of those around her, including me, since her birth, exposure to English was completely new and unfamiliar. To aid her comprehension of this new language, I simplified the language input to promote comprehension on her part. The characteristics of my simplified language were, as Hatch (1979) has put them (cited in Krashen, P. 64):

1. Slow rate and clear articulation to make it easy to identify word boundaries and allow more processing time,
2. Use of high frequency vocabulary, and
3. Use of short sentences; syntactic simplification.

Above all, use of realia and pictures were very common when communicating with Sena, especially since her age requires most communication to be about the “here and now”.

Thus far, I have mentioned points that would aid Sena in acquiring a second language, English in her case. But there are numerous factors that could delay her acquisition of the new language. They may be put as follows:

First of all, Sena receives English only from me. No one besides me communicates with her in English. Besides that, she is not exposed to others communicating among each other as the case is in her Arabic. Thus, the discourse types are narrowed down to just one, which is mine.

Another hindrance for her acquisition of English is that the quantity of English she receives is not sufficient for initial readiness to speak. I, her mother, being a full-time teacher and a full-time student at the faculty of education have, little time to communicate with her. Not to forget that I am her only source of English, with the exception for my parents whom she spends two days a week with but use only isolated English words put in an Arabic context.


During the period of 45 days, the times which Sena spent with me, apart from her
sleeping time, were Mondays and Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. till 9:00 p.m. (including her three-hour sleep), Saturdays from 6:00 a.m. till 12:00 p.m., Fridays from 7:00 a.m. till 12:00 p.m., and Sundays. This shows that the majority of her time was spent apart from me, her only English source. In the last two weeks of the 45-day period of communication in English with Sena, I had a better chance of spending more time with her because of my holiday from the school I teach at.

The last two points mentioned summarize the quantity of input, which Sena has received and how they could delay her acquisition of English. In fact, they are what Krashen mentions as two characteristics which should not be present for optimal input for acquisition. In addition to those, Sena often refuses the English version for a word she has already established an Arabic word for.

In this article, the quantity of Sena’s comprehension in the target language will be compared to her production in this language. Her comprehension of input will be measured by:

1. her ability to perform activities after being asked to in English,
2. responding to what is spoken to her whether her response is in Arabic or English, and
3. reporting what is said to her in English to others. She often reports what is said to her in Arabic.

The data collected includes the English structures and vocabulary which Sena was able to comprehend and those which she was able to produce. This data was collected in a period of three days while communicating with her, and it will be classified into:

1. General structures of language,
2. Isolated terms, and
3. Songs.

English Comprehended and Produced by Sena

The following is what Sena has come to comprehend after being spoken to in English for a period of 45 days. An asterisk (*) is provided near structures she produces spontaneously. Any other word or phrase that Sena understands could replace what is written between parentheses.

I. General Structures
A. Imperatives

• Wash your (face).
• Dry (your hands).
• Drink (the juice).
• Wipe (Nawal’s hands).
• Lie down/on the bed/on the mattress.
• Go ask (daddy) (to comb your hair/to show you the goats).
• Stop it! *
• Turn the TV on/off.
• Put on (your shoes/shirt).
• Wake up. *
• Wake up Suzy.
• Get up.
• Give (me/Alaa) (a Kleenex).
• Come here. *
• Go to (the Kitchen/bedroom). *
• Smell (the flower/your hand). *
• Sit down/Stand up.
• Walk. *
• Run.
• Have a seat.
• Move, please. *
• Put (your hand) (on your head/on the table).
• Count. [She counts up to ten if there is a group of objects, but she always skips number 4.]
• Blow on (it/your food/the candle].
• Blow (your nose).
• Get me (the cup of water).
• Stay here. /Wait here.
• Draw (a circle/Suzy).
• Take off (your shoes/socks).
• Open the door. *
• Close the door.
• Pick up (the toys).
• Put (the paper) (in the garbage).
• Listen. *
• Look. *
• Clap your hands. *
• Clap with your feet. *
• Throw (the rocks)* (in the water).
• Hug (mommy).
• Give me (a hug/a kiss).
• Tickle (Alaa).
• Hit (Alaa).
• Slap. * Punch. *
• Look up there/down here.
• Put (your baby/Nawal) to sleep.
• Ask (Nawal) (to come/to go/open the door).
• Tell (Nawal) to (look on the TV/look at the goats).
• Leave it.
• Sing. *
• Hands up.
• Show me (your tongue/the paper).
• Brush your hair.
• Get on the bed.

B. Negative Imperatives

• Don’t touch!
• Don’t touch (the curtain).
• Don’t run/walk/cry/move.
• Don’t spit out your food.
• Don’t!!
• “Don’t” with any expression she understands.

C. Present Progressive Tense

• (Daddy) is sleeping. *
• (She) is eating.
• (Ahmad) is brushing his hair.
• Note: Sena understands any sentence in the present progressive if the verb is any of the above mentioned verbs.

D. Future Tense
The most frequently used sentence here is, “I’ll turn the car on,” and of course any verb Sena understands in the simple form, she understands in the future tense.

E. WH Questions
1. Questions Beginning with “What”

• What’s your name? [She replies, “Sena.”]
• Sena what? [She replies, “Sena Khateeb.”]
• What do you want?
• What are you doing?
• What do you say? [After she asks for something without saying “Please”, or after taking it without saying “Thank you”.]

2. Who?

• Who is on the phone?
• Who did this [a mess]?
• Who came?
• Who gave you the book?
• Who’s this/that? *

3. Whose?

• Whose this for?
• Whose (book/paper/jacket) is this for?

4. Where?

• Where are you/Where is (daddy)? *
• Where is (your neck)? *
• Where is (the ball)? *
• Where are you going?
• Where? (In the course of speaking.)

F. Prepositional Phrases
Sena understands prepositional phrases used in sentences if the phrases begin with the following prepositions:

• With- Who is with (daddy)?
• On- (It’s) on the table.
• Under- The pen is under the pillow.
• Beside- Put (your toys) beside (the TV).

G. Statements (Beginning with Subjects and Verbs)

• It’s cold. *
• It’s hot. *
• It’s a (hand). *
• This is (a hand). *
• (Suzy) is sleeping. *
• (Daddy) is outside/inside/in the kitchen. *
• (He) went to the (house).
• (We’re) going to (Iman’s house/the bedroom).

H. Singular/Plural *
Sena uses the singular/plural form of all the regular nouns she knows appropriately.

I. Possession

• This is (mommy’s book). *
• It’s (Alaa’s teddy). *
• This is (Sena’s house). *

Note: She usually replies to questions beginning with “whose” in sentences containing possessive nouns. For example, if she is asked, “Whose (car) is this?” she replies, “It’s daddy’s.”
Besides that, Sena shows a good understanding of possessive pronouns.


J. Expressions and Idioms

• Oops! *
• Okay. *
• Hooray! *
• Hi. /Hello. /Bye. *
• Yes/No *
• Please. *
• Thank you. *
• Shame, shame. *
• I love you. *
• Let’s go. *
• Let me see.
• Not this way; the other way.
• This way? *
• Like this. *
• This? *
• That’s enough.
• I’m freezing! [Sena says it when she’s cold.]

K. Yes/No Questions
When Sena is asked a yes/no question, she replies with either a “yes” or a “no” whether she understands the question or not. Such questions are as the following:

• Is it good?
• Can I have me?
• Are you happy?
• Will you come with me?
• But there are yes/no questions which she understands such as:
• “Is this my nose?” Where Sena replies, “No, it’s a hand”, if the speaker is pointing to his hand and not to his nose.

L. Who?
The same case with yes/no questions applies to questions beginning with “who”. When Sena is asked this latter type of questions, she replies by a person’s name whom she knows, whether she understands the question or not. Such questions are as follows:

• Who’s nice?
• Who’s my girl? [Here she always replies by “Sena”, and she is asked, “Who’s your girl?” she replies, “Sally,” her doll.]

M. Songs
Of course, I do not suppose that Sena understands the meaning of the songs she sings often except for some isolated words, but they do contribute to her sense of the language. Only the lines she sings are presented here.

• Jack be nimble/ Jack be quick.
• Twinkle, twinkle, little star/How I wonder what you are.
• Criss, cross, apple sauce/Spiders here, spiders there.
• Rain, rain go away.
• Wake up, wake up.
• Here we are, here we are.
• Incy, wincy spider.
• Sleep baby sleep.

N. Isolated Words
Body Parts Clothes Around the House Food and Related Items

• head* shirt inside*/outside*/house* placemat*/cup*/bottle
• hair* pants home/plant/ fork*/spoon*/
• face* overalls* bedroom*/bathroom*/ milk*/water*/juice*/
• eyes* dress* kitchen*/garage ice*/bread/sadwich*/
• nose* socks* floor/stairs/ soup*/tomatoes*/
• mouth* sleeve crib*/bed*/chair*/ cucumber*/potatoes*/
• tongue* jacket* mattress/sofa/TV*/ fries*/spaghetti*/
• tooth* pocket carrots/meat*/chicken*/
• ears* hat rice*/chips*/chocolate*/
• neck shoes* apple*/banana*/orange*/
• tummy slippers* strawberries*/biscuits/
• (stomach) diaper* coffee/tea
• belly button* towel
• foot*
• leg*
• hand*
• finger*
• toes/nail

Animals Toys Nature Accessories Objects Sena

• Elephant piano* sun* nailpolish* Uses
• Doggy* (dog) board* moon* ring* powder*/cream*
• Horsy (horse) keys tree* necklace babyoil*/Q-tips*
• Pony bicycle plant headband blanket*/pillow*
• Duck toys* flower* book*/paper*
• Birdy rocks* pen*/soap*
• Rabbit water* shampoo*
• Cat
• Turtle
• Penguin
• Dolphin*
• Panda*
• Fish*
• Spider*
• Worm*
• Ant*
• Bunny*
• Goats*
• Sheep
• pig

Other terms

• Music*/songs*/dance*/picture/matches/circle*/fridge/washing machine/door/window/table/chair*/candle*/car*/airplane/helicopter/
• Baby*/man*/boy*/girl*/women*
• Here/there
• Hot*/cold*
• Sleep*/eat
• More*/no more*
• Inside*/outside*
• Nice*/ugly*
• Up*/down*
• Happy face*/sad face*

The rest of this article is missing; I must have saved it on some floppy disk since it was written in 1999😒

عمل المرأة وتعزيز فرص بناء الأسرة وتربية الأولاد

مقالة نشرت في مجلة "جنى" الشهرية 

تكثر الدعوات للمرأة الأم والزوجة بأن تلتزم بيتها لتربية أولادها والاهتمام بزوجها، معلِّلة تلك الدعوات بأن من شأنهها لا الحفاظ على الأسرة فحسب، بل على المجتمع ككل. ويرى الكثيرون أن تفرُّغ المرأة الكامل لبيتها وعائلتها له الدور الأول والأساس في صون الأسرة والحفاظ عليها وإبعادها عن مزالق الفساد والانحراف. ولكن قبل إطلاق الأحكام وتعميم مثل هذه الدعوات، ينبغي علينا أن نناقش ما إذا كان هناك إيجابيات لعمل المرأة خارج بيتها قد تعود عليها وعلى أسرتها والمجتمع.

أولاً: نشرت قناة الـ بي بي سي في العام الماضي نتيجة دراسة غربية أظهرت أن الأمهات الموظفات عندهن حرص كبير على تمضية أوقات فراغهن مع عائلاتهن بشكل منتج، هادف، يتَّسم بالتفاعل بين الأم والولد أكثر من اللواتي لا تعملن، أي إنَّ هذا الوقت الذي تقضيه الأم العاملة مع أولادها وإن كان أقل كمَّاً، إلا أنه وقت نوعيٌّ تحرص فيه الأم على التواصل مع أبنائها ومعرفة ميولهم وتنمية مهاراتهم وتنظيم مشاريع هادفة معهم من مثل زيارة أماكن تثقيفية من مكتبات ومعارض ونشاطات. وأكدت الدراسة أن أبناء الأمهات العاملات أكثر حبَّاً للقراءة والمطالعة والبرامج الثقافية، وأكثر تحصيلاً في الجانب الأكاديمي من أبناء الأمهات غير العاملات. .

ثانيا: أظهرت دراسة لمجلس الإنماء والإعمار في لبنان على أفراد الهيئة التعليمية أنَّ ارتقاء المعلمات في سلَّم التعليم يسمح لهنَّ بتحقيق حركية اجتماعية أعلى، ويتيح لهنَّ فرصة الارتباط بأزواج يساهمون في رفع السقف الاجتماعي لهنَّ، وتُستكمل هذه الحركية في قدرة العائلة- حسب الدراسة- على تأمين مستوى تعليمي متوسط أو عالٍ لأولادها، يسمح لهم بتجاوز مستوى الأهل الاجتماعي. وهذه الحركية الاجتماعية بطبيعة الحال لم تكن إلا نتيجة لعمل الأم، الذي ساهم بشكل مباشر في تعزيز الاهتمام بالعلم والتربية، الأمر الذي يترك أثره في سلوك الأولاد الأكاديمي، وكان السبب المباشر لارتباط الأم بأب من مستوى اجتماعي ساهم في تحقيق ما أشرنا إليه.

ثالثا: عمل المرأة عنصر هام في إحداث تغيير داخل العائلة، فعملها له ارتباط وثيق بالمستوى الثقافي والاجتماعي والدخل المادي للعائلة، وهي أمور لها انعكاساتها الإيجابية على الأسرة، لارتباطها بإيجاد الرأسمال الثقافي وتعزيز المواقف الإيجابية تجاه العلم والتربية في محيط الولد الأساسي، ألا وهو البيت. وهذا ما وصلت إليه دراسة أجرتها شرلي هيث في منطقة "كارولينا بيدمونت" في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية حيث إنها –صاحبة الدراسة- وجدت خلال مراقبتها فترة تسع سنوات لأولاد في مناطق متباينة من عوائل ذات مستويات ثقافية، اجتماعية واقتصادية مختلفة، أنه كلما ارتفع مستوى العائلة الثقافي والاجتماعي والاقتصادي، كان الرصيد اللغوي للأولاد أعلى، مما جعل فهمهم لما يقرؤون أدقّ وأكثر موضوعية، ولاحظت أن هؤلاء الأطفال أكثر قدرة على التمييز بين ما هو واقعي وما هو خيالي فيما يقرؤون من قصص.

هذا الرصيد اللغوي يحمله الأبناء معهم إلى المدرسة. وحسب الدراسة المشار إليها آنفاً، فإن هؤلاء الأولاد ذوو الرصيد اللغوي الأعلى كانوا أكثر قدرة على تلبية المتطلبات الدراسية والاندماج في البيئة المدرسية. وهذا من شأنه تأمين الدفع اللازم للتقدم الدراسي دون تعثر.

وأمر آخر لا يقلُّ أهمية عما سبق هو أن المرأة العاملة تصبح أكثر إدراكاً لحاجات المجتمع وخصوصياته وسلبياته، هذا المجتمع الذي ستضطر الأم أن ترسل ولدها إليه منذ سنواته الأولى من حياته، مما يجعلها أكثر قدرة على التنبؤ بما سيعترض ولدها من مخاطر خارج بيئته الصغرى – البيت- فتحاول تسليحه بالقيم والأفكار والسلوكيات التي سيحتاجها لمواجهة مشكلات المجتمع.

ثمَّ ماذا تعمل الأم التي سهرت ليالٍ طويلة لتحصيل شهادة علمية معينة؟ هل تنقطع عن مجال اختصاصها لتنظِّف وتطبخ وتستقبل وتودع؟ أمور لا عيب فيها، بل هي مطلوبة ومحبَّبة في حياة المرأة، لكن الاقتصار عليها قد يكون قاتلاً للمواهب، داعياً للكسل، مسبِّباً لتراجع فرص الأسرة بتلاشي ما حصَّلته المرأة من علم ومهارات. وهنا يأتي عمل المرأة لا ليعزِّز ما تعلمته المرأة في دراستها الأكاديمية فحسب، بل ليطوِّره وينمِّيه ويوظِّفه، لأن الشهادة الأكاديمية مجرد نقطة انطلاق لا أفق لها ما لم تتبع بالممارسة الحياتية، ولهذا كلِّه المردود الإيجابي على شخصية المرأة عبر مساعدتها في فهم نفسها وبناء ذاتها وإشعارها بالإنتاج والعطاء والتَّطور والنُّمو. أمور كلها لها انعكاساتها على عائلتها، فالأم ذات الاستقرار النفسي والمعنوي أكثر انسجاماً مع نفسها، ومحيطها وأكثر قدرة على التعامل معه.

والمرأة العاملة خارج بيتها تعطي نموذجاً، إلى جانب نموذج الأب، عن الالتزام بالمواعيد وتنظيم الوقت وإدارة البيت، وتكون مضطرة لتعليم أولادها الالتزام بمسؤولياتهم وإعطاء كلٍّ منهم دوراً وواجبات داخل المنزل، مما يجعل كلَّ فرد في الأسرة مسؤولاً عن عمل ما: الأب والأم، والابن والبنت- لا الأم فقط، ومن شأن هذا خلق خلق شعور قوي بمتعة التعاون والمشاركة، فالبيت مؤسسة تنجح وتزدهر بتعاون وتناغم أفرادها، وبهذا التعاون والتناغم يتحقق التوازن في مسيرة الأسرة وتتعزز فرص تنمية شخصيات الأولاد وبناء قدراتهم ومعارفهم ومهاراتهم، ويجيب عن السؤال الذي طالما تمَّ طرحه عن عمل المرأة وكيفية التوفيق بين مسؤلياتها خارج البيت وداخله.

The Writing Process

It is a phenomenon in Lebanese schools that the educational concepts are not unified among the teachers of the different subjects in the same school. This discrepancy should be minimal between language teachers, usually Arabic and a foreign language (English or French). But that is not the case; most often the foreign language teachers have different approaches to teaching the language skills than the Arabic language teachers. Thus, I have always found it a persistent need to unify concepts, methodology and techniques between the educators on both sides; Arabic language and foreign languages. In an attempt to minimize the gap and bring teachers’ understandings closer on one of the language skills, writing, I carried out a workshop on process writing at Al Manahil School. The workshop took place from Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008 till Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008. The attendants were language teachers; Arabic and English teachers. The following is the workshop schedule.

اليوم الأول

نشاط كسر الجليد

قبل البداية

تنظيم الأفكار في المقالة

كتابة مقالة باتباع خطوات عملية الإنشاء

اليوم الثاني

متابعة كتابة المقالة

التصحيح

اليوم الثالث

مراجعة الخطوات

المنظمات الترسيمية

المقدمة والخاتمة

Writing Lesson Plan

Working in a group in a World Links workshop, a group consisting of Fatima Younis, Janet Ayoub and me, Amal, prepared a writing lesson plan that utilizes technology. The following is a link to the lesson plan.
http://www.geocities.com/amfarhat/lessonplan.htm

The Workplace

I designed this project to use with the unit titled The Workplace. My students have enjoyed this project throughtout the years especially since they feel that the activities are related to their reality and that they will use the skills in future years. http://www.geocities.com/amalatrafeed/project1.htm


** note: the above link no longer works. I will update it soon. 

DRUG ABUSE 

This is a project for Unit 3/ Grade 10: Drug Abuse

WebQuest 

To 1st Secondary Students

Today I will be saying good bye to all my 1st Secondary Students. It was a great year full of activities and interest. I really enjoyed teaching you and the cooperative class atmosphere. Many of you had highly positive input, and I could see gradual growth and development. Best of wishes on your exams and have a wonderful summer.

To My 3rd Secondary Classes

Now that the year has come to an end, I can't but say that I really enjoyed this past year with you all and I learned so much from you all. It was really a pleasure working with you on language skills and prepartion for the official examinations. I enjoyed both the Humanities and Sociology & Economics classes; the class atomosphere was a warm, pleasant one and I had great example of students who were really willing to improve their language skills and so they did their best. Each one of my students has a special interesting personality, is unique in a way and I could see that each could excel in a specific domain. I would really appreciate your input on the past year whether positive or negative because I believe that the best way to evaluate myself and improve is to have my students express their opinions on what goes on in their class. Please feel free to say what you wish to say. Best of wishes to you on your official exams and have a great summer.

Cooperative Learning in the Lebanese Environment

We have always been trained and have read a lot about the importance of cooperative learning in creating a healthy learning atmosphere at schools where students not only learn their academic skills but also are prepared to real life situations where they will need to work in teams and share their ideas and products. One of the important aspects of cooperative learning is sharing rather than competing. I have been noticing lately that many students, when given the privilidge of being independent in the classroom, tend to abuse this privilge. And so I am wondering: If students are raised in their families where no freedom of choice or freedom of expression are encouraged and appreciated, and if those same students are bombarded with the politicians' and party leaders' stiff stands where no one is willing to compromise and accept others' views, how are we to teach students the importance of being collaborative and sharing? Aren't we contradicting their realities? Doesn't this contradiction created confusion and chaos in the students' behavior? Can teachers work on values in isolation of the society? Should we come up with an adapted method for our society rather than take what is not made for us?

The Tell Tale Heart/ A Web Quest

I replaced the Unit 4 short story "Mr. Loveday's Day Out" with Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart". Check out the web quest for resources and activities I used to teach the story.

http://www.geocities.com/amfarhat/index.htm

** note: the above link no longer works. I will update it soon.

Grade 10 Writing

Despite the major Lebanese educational reform, the English language books are still lacking in many skills at all levels. The writing skill is completely neglected in Grade 10 and then in Grade 11/Humanities, we see signs of writing and in Grade 12/ Humanities, writing is addressed in a completely different way than it had been in previous classes. This all leaves the teacher with no choices other than to neglect this skill or to make up for it using external material. For Grade 10, I have added the following writing lessons to give students the opportunity to improve their understanding of different types of essays and to have them go through the writing process and become better prepared for the coming grades :

• Narrative writing
• Physical description
• Compare and contrast essays
• Cause and effect essays
• Process writing
• Argumentative essays

For each essay type, students read a text and analyse its type and what characterize that writing. Then we focus on 2 or 3 grammatical points that I expect them to focus on in their writing. Preliminary writing activities are carried out and finally, they write the essay going through the steps of the writing process.

The English Language Curriculum

Have you ever tried to find a link among the English books of the secondary level? Did you find a common methodology among the three grades? Do the skills and objectives of one grade lead to those of the successive grade? Can we consider the curriculum cohesive? Does the curriculum well-prepare our students for the official exam? ...