reading in a foreign language

1. Imagine what it feels like…
This slideshow is designed to give you a taste of what it feels like to
be an English learner. Please have pencil and paper ready for
anything you might need to jot down.

2. How would you feel in the following situations:
a. You’re with your three-year old who needs the
bathroom right now!
b. You’re sick and need some medicine.
c. You’re hungry and want some bottled water.
Write down how you think you might feel.
You’re walking down this street
in Korea.

3. When I think about walking down that street, the words that come to my
mind are confused, frustrated, and perplexed.
Many students feel this way when trying to read English. It’s especially
difficult for those who don’t use the Roman alphabet. Your student may
write and read in
• characters (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, etc.)
• a very different alphabet (Arabic, Hebrew, etc.)
• a somewhat different alphabet (Russian, Greek, etc.)
• the Roman alphabet (German, Spanish, French, etc.)
• or they may not read and write at all!

4. You’re going to do a quick activity that will give you a taste of what
it feels like to read in a new language.
You’re lucky: I only know languages that use the Roman alphabet,
so your task will be quite easy.
Remember that for students who do not use the Roman alphabet,
the difficulty level is much higher than what you will experience in
this activity.

5. Here’s a nice Hungarian street sign. It
has two words: Kiráyli and Cukrászda.
On the following slides, I’m going to help
you sound these words out.

6. Here are the sounds you need to know for “Kiralyi”:
k = k (as in kick)
i = ee (as in keep)
r = r (as in run)
á = a (as in at)
ly = y (as in you)
i = ee (as in keep)
So, now put them all together and practice saying the word.
Aren’t you proud of yourself? You’ve just read a Hungarian word!

7. Now let’s do the second one: Cukrászda.
c = ts (as in cats)
u = oo (as in cool)
k = k (as in kick)
r = r (as in run)
á = a (as in at)
sz = s (as in sit)
d = d (as in dog)
a = a (as in what)
So, now put them all together and practice saying the word.
Good job! You’ve just read another Hungarian word!

8. So, now you’re on your way to reading in Hungarian. You’re sounding out and
saying words. Doesn’t it feel great?
Oh…it doesn’t? You’d like to know what the words mean?
I guess I can see your point!
This is why learning to read in a foreign language is so difficult: you do all
that hard work of remembering letter sounds, saying them, putting them
together, and then…it fizzles. The word has no meaning.
Talk about confusing, frustrating, and perplexing!

9. Compare this to the experience of learning to read in a language you already
know.
Sometime soon after starting kindergarten, you begin to learn letter sounds
and put them together. As you do this, your brain does something like this:
“cat”
When you don’t know the words, however, the lightbulb never lights up. For
example, unless you know Hungarian, when you read “kiráyli” and “cukrászda”
the recesses of your mind remain dark. If you were standing outside a shop
with that sign and the lightbulbs did light up, you would have been happy
because…

10. …this is what you would find inside.
Kiráyli = royal
Cukrászda = pastry shop/cafe

11. Without knowing the meaning of the words, reading is hard work
with little reward. If you do know the meaning, it still is hard work,
but is much more worthwhile.
The Language Experience Approach works because the students
know the meanings of the words they are reading. The lightbulbs
light up. Students feel less confused, frustrated, and perplexed.
This helps them learn!

12. Photo credits:
Korean street by mendhak
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mendhak/4439835259/in/photolist-7LkjkM-gimeFj-96RF7h-8tatTQ-62rS8j-5ZPfrX-
7H54Kk-fdv4WK-oKjTmf-ocSpcH-4AJWdR-8fJnqe-62rLkQ-6bQuRE-9G3sU9-9GWBEi-dbb73k-87FBWy-9Rw3pq-a33FyU-
ajMrKC-6GdHUM-o6YZqk-p3TpMn-pemm3e-b4nRND-5kupYu-5CXXkE-p5s18q-752LRT-9jQR6k-dJvPED-MkrtZ-9VtSxa-
7bfTDb-6E2ftH-6p3skt-6TWkBe-6TaD9-5iBRBQ-4BYHa8-bEozCN-cLDLKJ-3jZrJZ-aBEyF-4yaDyf-mbScCx-5ZUa9d-93uBeN-
51onL4
License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Hungarian sign by charityshopper
https://www.flickr.com/photos/charityshopper/5729659601/in/photostream/
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Cake and coffee by dpotera
https://www.flickr.com/photos/e_calamar/6921829364/in/photolist-9irtie-9irt8X-dLsCZp-m4w5E-6LTyq3-bxEbHA-
4N8r-bkGGML-bqngTj-bLyTAz-6mRLYt-4N8k-4N8d-7o3RM3-4N6m-7o3A4f-7nYFjZ-51Cxba-m4w5S-9ejT6N-6M1VsM-
7rNJjn-7GVDQR-7GZCSU-cdNjp-6hT2Kg-9egRtp-8WTi3h-539mmM-r3UjUQ-9ek3GG-9ek2Pq-9ek1df-9ejYwo-9egSQV-
9egQeT-9ejU23-9ejNWs-vB8nD-7Zty7p-9irciX-iu5wuR-hRaDZH-hRbf8b-hRbv4H-hRbspe-8DinGK-6JNq3Q-53dBFb-
hRb4SJ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/