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syoshioka99
Joined: 28 Oct 2005
Posts: 185
Location: Korea
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 Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 10:38 am Post subject: Questions from Tochigi, Japan |
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I'm an English teacher here in Japan. I am going to have kids translate the passage below into Japanese, and I have to teach high school kids what the passage below mean. (This is what the university entrance examinaiton here in Japan you know!!!) But I acutally do not understand what they really mean...  Please help!
(The passage)
Learning words increases the size of a child�s vocabulary. Behind this
obvious truth lies a series of complex issues concerning the wide range of information that children employ in learning new words. But does the size of a child�s vocabulary influence how he or she learns, or retains, new words? Clearly, there must be a relationship between the child�s ability to learn new words and the size of his or her vocabulary.
(Question)
What is 'a series of complex issues in this sentence above? Can you guess?
What is 'the wide range of information that children employ in learning new words. Could you give me any example if possible?
I'd appreciate it very much if you could restate the whole sentences so I can understand it clearly.
Satoru
Tochigi, Japan
 (Tochigi is famous for its strawberry called "Tochiotome." You will like it!) |
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asterix
Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 1654
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| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:29 am Post subject: |
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(
| Quote: |
Question)
What is 'a series of complex issues in this sentence above? Can you guess?
What is 'the wide range of information that children employ in learning new words. Could you give me any example if possible?
I'd appreciate it very much if you could restate the whole sentences so I can understand it clearly. |
What is 'a series of complex issues in this sentence above?
It means this:
How children use available information to learn new words is complicated.
The wide range of information could be:- books, radio, television, film, or anything that exposes them to new words in the foreign (or their own) language.
This is what it means:
Children increase the size of their vocabulary by learning new words.
This is obvious.
How they use available information to learn new words is complicated.
Does the size of a child's (existing) vocabulary affect how it learns, or remembers new words?
The child's ability to learn new words must affect the size of its vocabulary.
Is Tachiotome Japanese for strawberries, or is it some special strawberry dish? |
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Harmony
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 140
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| Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 5:29 pm Post subject: Re: Questions from Tochigi, Japan |
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| Quote: |
| Learning words increases the size of a child�s vocabulary. Behind this obvious truth lies a series of complex issues concerning the wide range of information that children employ in learning new words. But does the size of a child�s vocabulary influence how he or she learns, or retains, new words? Clearly, there must be a relationship between the child�s ability to learn new words and the size of his or her vocabulary. |
| Quote: |
1.What is 'a series of complex issues in this sentence above? Can you guess?
2. What is 'the wide range of information that children employ in learning new words. Could you give me any example if possible? |
Hi Satoru,
I'd like to add some additional information to Asterix's answer.
When a child learns new words the size of his or her vocabulary increases. Although this fact is clearly true, there are many things which allow a child to learn new words and put them to use.
Exposure to a source of new words is an essential part of learning. Listening and reading are the two ways a child meets a new word. Asterix has given you a list of opportunities a child might have to be exposed to new words.
Next, a word's meaning must be understood before it can be added to a child's vocabulary. Is the size of a child's existing vocabulary one of the things which affects his or her ability to determine the meaning of new words? Your passage states that such a relationship exists, but it doesn't explain the nature of the relationship. I think this is what makes the passage difficult to understand.
The most common way that children and adults gain an understanding of new vocabulary, either when listening or reading, is through the use of context clues. When we make a logical guess about the meaning of a word by paying attention to the surrounding words, we are using context clues. As the ability to use context clues depends upon the known vocabulary, it is logical to assume that a child who knows many words will be able to learn new words more easily than a child who understands fewer words.
Here are some sentences in which the meaning of each of the underlined words may be determined by using context clues:
My work is so monotonous. I need a job with more variety.
The river was full of noxious materials such as cleaning agents from factories and pesticides from the nearby farms.
I abhor traffic jams. I love it when my drive to work is quick and easy.
Rather than be involved in clandestine meetings, they did everything quite openly.
Although some men are loquacious, others hardly talk at all.
The patient is so somnolent that she requires medication to help her stay awake for more than a short time.
My thanks to the various websites where these examples were found.
In the first sentence, the word variety gives a clue to the meaning of monotonous. A child who already knows the meaning of variety will be most likely be able to guess the meaning of monotonous.
There is more that could be said about the process of learning new vocabulary, but I hope this information will be enough to help you and your students make sense of the passage.
~ ~ ~ Harmony  |
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syoshioka99
Joined: 28 Oct 2005
Posts: 185
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri May 26, 2006 8:43 pm Post subject: Tochiotome is a kind of strawberries in Japan. |
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| asterix wrote: |
(
| Quote: |
Question)
What is 'a series of complex issues in this sentence above? Can you guess?
What is 'the wide range of information that children employ in learning new words. Could you give me any example if possible?
I'd appreciate it very much if you could restate the whole sentences so I can understand it clearly. |
What is 'a series of complex issues in this sentence above?
It means this:
How children use available information to learn new words is complicated.
The wide range of information could be:- books, radio, television, film, or anything that exposes them to new words in the foreign (or their own) language.
This is what it means:
Children increase the size of their vocabulary by learning new words.
This is obvious.
How they use available information to learn new words is complicated.
Does the size of a child's (existing) vocabulary affect how it learns, or remembers new words?
The child's ability to learn new words must affect the size of its vocabulary.
Is Tachiotome Japanese for strawberries, or is it some special strawberry dish? |
So...
>>>How they use available information to learn new words is complicated.
could u tell me HOW complicated? or can you guess?
Satoru |
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pugachevV
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 2295
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| Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I don't really think it's all that complicated.
They hear new words all the time. Some of them stick in their minds and some don't.
The more often they hear, or use a word, the more it will stick in their minds.
It's like a fly in a spider web - the more it moves - the more it sticks. |
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