Journal 1
In this journal I will be reflecting on the discussion that it is better to learn a foreign language when you are
younger. I will take into consideration my reading on Read ( 2003) and Enever ( 2015 ), as well as some
opinions and thoughts discussed in this session.
Having taught English as a foreign language to older students, ages 16 - 60 some years ago gave me some
terms of comparison although the learning contexts of a teacher then were completely different from what
we have now. Not only were the teachers less informed and prepared to teach but also they did not have
all the technological equipment that we have now. According to Enever (2015), age can be an important
factor to learn a foreign language but there are other conditions that may be taken into consideration such
as the socio-political context, the neuroscience field among others. On the other hand, teaching young
learners, ages 8-10 nowadays, is more attractive and it is more easy to motivate learners than it was some
years ago with fewer resources to help teachers in the classroom. As Read (2003) mentions, refers there
are several benefits to the individual and society to learn a foreign language at a young age but there are
lots of conditions that are needed to assure this learning happens and, unless those conditions are
provided by the teachers to his students, the teacher will not accomplish his work with success. I do agree
with her with the idea that there are conditions under which to say that ‘young’ can be better but it is
intrinsically related to the way how the learning process is done and what is going to happen in the years
after. From my experience last year in teaching young children in a state school, I tried to engage and
motivate my students but on several occasions I did not have the conditions to show them the resources
the book had. Unfortunately in the last couple of years the Ministry of Education was not very clear about
the use of books in the primary cycle and the upper instructions are to reuse the books, sothe students
receive books full of activities which they cannot put into practise. As Enever (2015) said, we need
conditions to generalise success. , tThrough the process of learning a foreign language, we find advantages
and disadvantages of learning a language at a young age but the most problematic issue we spoke about
was the transition necessary to other cycles of school. In my opinion the syllabus needs to be reviewed in
order to generate more motivation in other ages ( 11-16) and a survey should be done among teenagers to
know what is the reason why they are now less motivated to learn a foreign language.
For the past years I was challenged to work with different age groups and I had to adapt and adjust my
methods to convey meaning to each age group. But thinking about my future practice , I believe I will
analyse and see young learners in a different and more curious perspective but always with a sense of
humour.
References
READ, Carol. (2003) Is young better?, English Teaching professional , p. 5-7.
ENEVER, Janet (2015) The Advantages and Disadvantages of English as a Foreign Language with Young
Learners in Teaching English to Young Learners. Critical issues in language teaching with 3-12 year olds,
London, Bloomsbury.
