I see my students struggle every day to remember how to
construct simple phrases and questions, or get stuck on certain vocabulary
words. One major issue students have is
with sounds including (but not limited to) the hard “r” sound, the “th”
sound, and the “h” sound. English does
not come easily to most of them but with some encouragement they continue to
try.
A science teacher at the high school offered me a small
tutoring job to help her improve her English as part of the new curriculum is
requiring certain science classes be taught in English and she wanted to get
certified to be able to teach these courses.
I would consider her to be almost fluent in English (although she would
disagree!) but one of her trouble areas is with our use of prepositions. For example, she will say “I will explain you”
instead of “I will explain to you” and
every time she gets so frustrated with the tiny words tripping her up.
Through my tutoring at the university in Dijon I met some students
who needed a native English speaker for an interview project they had to do. They had to make a video interviewing a
native English speaker about certain issues to their class. They sent me the script to review it and as I
made corrections to little errors here and there (mainly verbs) it really hit
me how lucky I am to just know simple things like English verb conjugations
without thinking twice about them.
I know anyone can make these comments about their native
language but being fluent in English, and especially being a native English speaker,
has the potential to open so many doors in today’s global community due to the constant use of English worldwide. And while many Americans are lucky to have English as their first language I still
strongly encourage and support Americans to study other languages. Learning a language is a direct gateway to
learning about another culture and way of life.
The world is only getting smaller and the more we learn about each other
the more united our world will be! As I’ve
been on this journey in France I am so thankful to continue learning about
French language and culture but also thankful for the time this has given to
reflect on my native language and culture, too.
Word of the Post: l’anglais -- English