This document discusses teaching foreign languages to young learners versus older students and adults. Some key points made include: - Young children are more enthusiastic learners and less embarrassed speaking a new language, allowing them to develop a more native accent. However, they also lose interest more quickly and have less ability to understand grammar explanations. - While young learners are more likely to ultimately speak without an accent, adolescents and adults learn faster initially. Limited instruction hours per week are not enough for mastery, especially for young children, though it may increase motivation. - Research shows those acquiring a new language from ages 3 to 7 score similarly to native speakers on grammar tests, while older learners score lower, suggesting a critical

1. TEACHING LANGUAGES TO YOUNG LEARNERS.By: The Big Smile.Rita Villaescusa.

2. Hamza Mohamed.

3. - Silvana Sánchez

4. -Rocío MoranoDifferences between children, adolescents and adults.Some differences between children, adults and adolescents are: -Children are more enthusiastic and lively as learners and they want to please the teacher rather than their peer group. -They lose interest more quickly and it’s less able to keep them motivated on tasks they find difficult. -They don’t have the same access as older learners to language teachers use to explain about grammar or discourse. -Children often seem less embarrassed than adults at talking in a new language, and their lack of inhibition seems to help them get a more native-accent.

5. Why should languages be taught to young learners? -A young child tends to absorb a language. -Some child learners end up with accents and incomplete second language grammars, and some adult learners become, for all practical purposes, as skilled as native speakers. -While young learners are more likely than older students to ultimately speak a new language like native speakers. -While young learners are more likely than older students to ultimately speak a new language like native speakers, adolescents and adults actually learn foreign languages faster.

6. Growing up with a language…Such programs simulate the environment of growing up with a language by:Integrating the second language with instruction in other subjects.Giving learners ample opportunities to engage in meaningful discourse with other students and teachers using the foreign language.Exposing learners to a variety of native speakers of the target language.Focusing instruction on attaining the language skills needed for communicating about and understanding academic subject matter, not on mastering a foreign language for its own sake.

7. MEAN SCORE ON ENGLISH GRAMMAR TEST Age in arrivals in United States:Native = 268.8From 3 to 7 = 269.3From 8 to 10 = 256.0From 11 to 16 = 235.9From 17 to 39 = 210.3Source: Johnson, J.S., Newport, E.L. (1989). “Critical Period Effects in Second Language Learning: The Influence of Maturational State on the Acquisition of English as a Second Language.” Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 21, pp. 60–99.