Language teaching for children and adults

No other species on the planet uses language or writing — a mystery that remains unanswered, even after many years of research. Historical reports confirm that an Italian cardinal spoke more than 38 different languages ​​around 1840. If only he had left us some ‘magic formula’ for learning so many languages.

The process of learning a language is incredibly complex and even more so for a second language. To understand this process it is necessary to be aware of its differences. An adult’s “acquisition system”, for example, is subconscious, very similar to the process of children when they acquire their first language. This form of communication is also known as natural communication in which speakers are only interested in “getting the message across.”

Language acquisition in childhood does not seem to depend so much on aptitude, motivation, and teachers. Children acquire their mother tongue through interaction with their parents and the environment. His need to communicate opens the way to language acquisition. Generally, younger students have an easier time with phonetic coding, older students have a greater capacity to analyze and work on the “rules”, formulate ideas and understanding. Adults are more aware of learning a second language, which can lead to further learning analysis. Children learn to listen first. Long before they speak and they can understand what others are saying. For adults, reading is usually the first skill and the easiest to acquire, while the auditory process is the most difficult.

Opportunity and motivation work together. Motivated students are more likely to look for opportunities, often outside of class, and thus use their language skills. The acquisition of a new language also requires the acquisition of the essence of the new language, not only for teenagers but also for adults, who grew up comfortable and safe in their language and today can have inhibitions, which serve as a defense wall to age is not everything when learning a second language. The challenges, methods, and specific environment for language teaching for adults, is not a well-mapped territory as opposed to foreign or second language teaching for young students. Some care must be taken so that the need to adjust the old methods and create new ones, is not seen as difficulties.

Language teaching should be seen as an opportunity to develop new methodologies, plan new goals, and achieve a different, and equally rewarding, result.