LLED 360

This reading was very insightful in that it helped to break down the learning process that ELL go through to learn English.  The majority of us aren’t aware of exactly how complex learning any new language is.  It’s fascinating how many words students actually learn each week and throughout their lifetime.  The article stresses the importance of incidental learning.  A lot of this learning happens outside of the classroom so it is important that young children who are learning English receive the right kind of exposure to the language.  When I look back at how I learned English, it is exactly as how the article describes: through oral & print channels.  My parents were very keen on persevering our native tongue, but they were very helpful when I needed assistance with my English vocabulary.  I can attest to the incidental learning that happens in ELLs.  I spoke English a lot at home with my brother against my parent’s wishes and watched English television programs.  I also spent a lot of time listening to English radio stations and memorized the lyrics.  I may not have fully understood all the words I heard initially, but with repeated exposure, I was able to grasp the meaning behind those unfamiliar words.  In addition to this, I really loved to read.  I received a vocabulary book as my first English book from my parents.  The book had pictures and words.  The use of associating specific words and images really aided me in my learning of the language.  I began to frequent the library every week to borrow books for leisure reading, especially in the summer.  I also took the initiative to do my own “research” on certain topics of interest.  When I reached grade 5, my level of English was good enough to be considered “advanced”.  The article mentions the learning of root words and prefixes/suffixes.  My grade 7 teacher spent each week teaching us a root word and its uses.  To this day, I never forgot them and it has really benefited me in vocabulary comprehension.  Not to make this a life story, but I felt that my learning of the English language developed as a result of repeated exposure.  Without the continued repetition of words, I wouldn’t have grasped the language as easily as I did.  I remember watching Much Music when I was younger and I couldn’t make out any of the words.  I thought music in general was all gibberish.  It wasn’t until I got older and learned these songs that I could make sense of them.  In regards to the Tiered level of words, I agree that more focus should be paid to the Tier 2 words.  Far too often teachers want to impress their class by teaching them fancy, novel words that are rarely used.  Teaching Tier 2 words will enable the students to broaden their vocabulary and make the learning of Tier 3 words easier.