Learning a language- the sooner the better!

Small children learn languages more easily and more quickly than adults do. Starting to learn aforeign language when you are over the age of 18 is infinitely more difficult than if you start as a young child or better yet, a baby. Why is this?

Babies start to pick up on sounds of a language while in the womb. They listen to the “song” of the language(s) being spoken around them, the rhythm, stress, andintonation of speech, which linguists call prosody. If you hum a sentence in English the sound of that is the prosody. If someone then hums a sentence in Spanish, Russian or Chinese the prosody of each language will sound different. Of course, babies that are exposed to more than one language while in utero, and thus more than one prosody, have a head start on being bilingual or even trilingual later in life.

A child´s first word is, for parents, one of the most exciting moments in their child´s evolution. After that first word come many new words and by a year and a half most children start to “arrange words” or put them in small sentences. By 2 years old, most children know between 20 and 200 words and that number soars to almost 1,000 words by the age of three. The process seems effortless, and for children, it is. But how exactly does it happen?

One of today´s experts on children´s ability to learn languages is linguist Dr. Charles Yang, author of the book “The Infinite Gift: How Children Learn and Unlearn the Languages of the World”. Dr. Yang´s book comes after years ofresearch in linguistics and an especially close-to-home study of his own young son and the way in which he learns to speak the English language. Yang demonstrates that children learn languages naturally.

Yang believes that the linguist Noam Chomsky revolutionized linguistics as he was the first to give children the credit they deserve in language learning. Yang writes, “The only way for children to learn something as complex as language, Chomsky contends, is to have known a lot about how language works beforehand, so that a child knows what to expect when immersed in the sea of speech. In other words, the ability to learn a language is innate, hidden somewhere in our genes.”

Whereas adults use their heads to learn a language, children use their bodies and respond to new languages with curiosity and impartiality. While adults have to memorize different grammar rules to understand a language, children learn grammar naturally by listening to those around them.
Chomsky wrote:
“A child who learns a language has in some sense constructed the grammar for himself on the basis of observation of sentences and non-sentences (i.e. corrections by the verbal community)”

He also believed that most children exposed to spoken language around them, independent of the language, culture or intelligence level learn at a similar and very rapid pace, “…the young child has succeeded in carrying out…a remarkable type of theory construction. Furthermore, this task is accomplished in anastonishingly short time, to a large extent independently of intelligence, and in a comparable way by all children.”

Parents are encouraged to speak a lot to their toddlers, read to them frequently and expose them to a wide variety of vocabulary in order to prepare them for the big wave of speech starting between 2 and 3 years of age. And for those who expose their children to more than one language, even better. Immersing your children in another language and culture is beneficial to their social and cognitive development. Many experts believe that children exposed to two or more languages from a very early age have what is called “mental dexterity”defined as intelligence as revealed by quickness and alertness of mind. And not only will bilingual children be more alert in the mind, but also more culturallyopen-minded as an adult.

( Taken from http://www.curso-ingles.com/blog/aprender-un-idioma-cuanto-antes-mejor/#more-306)

LEMON TREE ANIMATION with LYRICS!

Daft Punk-Get lucky-ft. Pharrell William (lyrics) (HD)

Presidential Election in Chile.

The first round of presidential election in Chile is set to begin with nine candidates competing to succeed President Sebastian Pinera. There are 2,012 polling stations in 365 municipalities across the country and the preliminary results will be announced after 19:30 local time. According to latest opinion polls, former president Michelle Bachelet is the front runner in the vote with conservative Evelyn Matthei being a distant second going into the election. A recent poll by the Chilean polling organization CEP revealed that Bachelet was backed by 47 percent compared with the 14 percent for Matthei. Matthei, however, has received backing from Pinera, who is not standing for re-election as he is barred by the country’s constitution from running for a second consecutive term. Pinera called for high voter participation in the elections, saying, "I ask people to go vote, to motivate and encourage family members, coworkers and neighbors to do the same”. He will hand over power on March 11 next year. The election rules require the winning candidate to obtain absolute majority of votes. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, the two top two finishers will compete in a December runoff.

Halloween

Every year on October 31st children (and some adults) dress up in costumes to celebrate Halloween. Houses are decorated with Jack-o-Lanterns, artificial spiders and cobwebs, pretend witches and ghosts and other frightening objects that symbolize this special day. On the evening of Halloween, in North America and many other countries around the world, groups of children can be seen walking the streets wearing costumes and visiting their neighbors´ houses to receive candy. Halloween ObjectTypical festive Halloween activities include Trick-or-Treating (going house to house to receive sweets or food), attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted houses, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. But where does this holiday come from? Halloween originally comes from the Celts that lived in Europe over 2000 years ago. The Celtic festival of Samhain, which comes from the Old Irish for “summer’s end” marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the ‘darker half’ of the year. It was seen as a time when the spirits could more easily come into our world. The souls of the dead throughout history were both honored and warded-off. The custom of wearing costumes and masks at Halloween goes back to Celtic traditions of attempting to copy the evil spirits or placate them. Bonfires, which were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers, were used in rituals and to scare off witches. Throughout history Halloween has been an important tradition in Scotland and Ireland. In these countries, children and poor people would sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cakes which is where “trick or treating” began. The Celts would carry lanterns made with turnips. During the 19th Century when the Irish and Scottish immigrated massively to North America they brought the Halloween tradition with them. On US soil, the turnip lanterns changed to pumpkin lanterns which are called Jack-o-Lanterns. Trick or Treating was confined to the immigrant communities of North American during the 1800´s, but slowly it was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and by the early 1900´s it was being celebrated coast to coast by people of all social, racial and religious backgrounds. Today, many countries still remember the dead on November 1st which is called All Saints Day. Another name for it is “All Hallow’s Day”. The day before, October 31st, is called “All Hallow’s Eve”, or Halloween for short.

We are the World

Telling the Time

Someone like you

English Textbooks 2013

Quintos Básicos:

-" Hot Spot 1" ( Student's book)

Sextos Básicos:

-" Hot Spot 2" ( Student's book)

Séptimos Básicos:

-" Hot Spot 3" ( Student's book)

Octavos Básicos:

-" Gateway A2" ( Student's book)

Friendship

“Friendship is a living thing that lasts only as long as it is nourished with kindness, empathy and understanding.”
( Unknown Author )

Friendship is a gift that two people give to each other. It is not an expected result of meeting but a true and unanticipated gift of enormous potential. True friends form a special connection that will weather any storm. True friends are there even when they are not expected to be present.

Think of your true friends and be grateful for the gifts they bring to your life. Allow your hearts to connect and bring comfort to each other. Expand your world by seeing through their eyes. Give them your love in return for each friend you have is an unearned gift that should be accepted with grace and thankfulness.

Work on some activities

Simpsons Family Quiz, by Vanessa Marruche
Find this and other family exercises in English Exercises .org

Bullying in Chile

“Bullying is an illness and it’s here to stay,” said Chile’s Education Minister Joaquín Lavín, after announcing the first bullying study’s results. The study, which was carried out along with this year’s SIMCE standardized testing system, assessed 225,027 tenth grade students in 2,658 schools.

Taken anonymously, the study consisted of a list of 26 questions. Results revealed 86 percent of students experience insults or teasing “sometimes or almost always.” Furthermore, 71 percent have seen fights in school, 69 percent have witnessed theft, and 50 percent admit bullying and threats in their school.

With regards to the 13,000 students reporting firearm assaults, the Education Minister said the most-affected schools are now a priority.

In order to address this issue, schools will be instructed to assign a teacher to hear cases of bullying and report issues to the ministry of education.

Schools will be given two months to establish a set of school harmony rules. The document will then be sent to the education ministry, having been signed by the principal, a representative of the parents’ board, and a representative of the student board.

A “contract of honor” will also be put in place with parents, encouraging them to talk to their children about bullying and highlight the importance of respect and harmony.

Furthermore, the education ministry will set up a team of psychologists in the most troubled schools in the country to speak with the students individually.

The study also detailed the regions most affected by bullying. The Tarapacá Region in the far north of Chile is at the top of the list, with 34 percent of 10th grade students describing frequent harassment. The Arica-Parinacota and Coquimbo regions follow with 32 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

In contrast, the southern regions have the lower levels of bullying. The Los Ríos Region had the lowest level of frequent bullying with 16 percent, and Araucanía and Maule regions both recorded a level of 17 percent.

Although Chile’s poorest regions showed relatively good results, bullying was highest in public schools (52 percent) in the low socioeconomic group (39 percent) and in the medium-low socioeconomic group (41 percent).

Minister Lavín announced that the government is currently carrying out a study into the relationship between bullying and drug trafficking, a major issue in the far north of the country. A questionnaire on drug sales and consumption will be included in the next SIMCE tests.

SOURCES: EL MERCURIO, LA TERCERA
By Phil Locker ( editor@santiagotimes.clThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
Copyright 2011 – The Santiago Times

There comes a time when you must stand alone.

You must feel confident enough within yourself to follow your own dreams.

You must be willing to make sacrifices.

You must be capable of changing and rearranging your priorities so that your final goal can be achieved.

Sometimes, familiarity and comfort need to be challenged.

There are times when you must take a few extra chances and create your own realities.

Be strong enough to at least try to make your life better.

Be confident enough that you won't settle for a compromise just to get by.

Appreciate yourself by allowing yourself the opportunities to grow, develop, and find your true sense of purpose in this life.

Don't stand in someone else's shadow when it's your sunlight that should lead the way.

Welcome to class!!

Welcome to English class 2011.
It's a pleasure to see you again
and share nice moments with you in class.
I hope you get ready to learn and show
how good you can be at English.
For this purpose you will have
my help along this year as usual.
Receive my welcome and warm regards.
Miss Rose.

Textos para Inglés 2011.

• Quinto Básico:"Friends United 1". Student's book.
  
• Sexto Básico:"Friends United 2". Student's book
  
• Séptimo Básico: "Straightforward". Beginner. Student's book
• Octavo Básico:"Straightforward". Elementary. Student's book
• Nota: Todos los textos pueden ser adquiridos en Librería Inglesa.

Welcome to school!!!

It's school time again! You're probably feeling excited and maybe a little sad that summer is over. Some kids feel nervous or a little scared on the first day of school because of all the new things: new teachers, new friends, and maybe even a new school. Luckily, these "new" worries only stick around for a little while.

Summer Vacation

Words of Eleanor Roosevelt...

-Many people will walk in and out of your life,
But only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.

-To handle yourself, use your head;
To handle others, use your heart.

-Anger is only one letter short of danger.
If someone betrays once, it is his fault;
If he betrays you twice, it is your fault.

-Great minds discuss ideas;
Average minds discuss events;
Small minds discuss people.

-He who loses money, loses much;
He how loses a friend, loses much more;
He who loses faith, loses all.

-Beautiful young people are accidents of nature,
But beautiful old people are works of art.

-Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery.
Today is a gift.