As you all know that India is a diverse country. There are so many languages in India. How do children learn the language? They learn the language from their environment. Therefore you need to develop a holistic perspective on the nature of language, its interface with other aspects of life and society, assumptions about language learning, and how we can support the learner’s attempt to learn the language. As language teachers, you need to understand and reflect on how language learning takes place and what the conditions are for learning a language in your classroom contexts and also use this multilingual classroom as a resource and a strategy.
Multilingualism
- Multilingualism is a natural phenomenon that relates positively to cognitive flexibility and scholastic achievement.
- Several recent studies have effectively demonstrated the positive relationship of bilingualism with cognitive growth and scholastic achievement.
- Bilingual children not only have control over several different languages but are also academically more creative and socially more tolerant.
Learning languages as a first, second, and third language
Children come to school with their first language and then they learn the second and the third language. Their first language can be different from their school language. Strategies for teaching-learning languages as first, second, or third language may vary but they require input rich communicational environment.
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Creating input rich communicational environment
Input rich communicational environment is created by introducing print and audio-video material as per the age, interest, and level of the students where the language is seen, noticed, and used by the children helps them learn the language and the proficiency in the language also increases. It is not enough to just provide language-rich input in the classroom, it is also necessary for children to interact with their peers and the teachers wherein learners bring in their examples to enrich the classroom process.
Language Across the Curriculum: Promoting centrality of language in learning
Every teacher is first a language teacher and then a subject teacher therefore, the language skills of the learners develop across the curriculum. Language learning takes place while learning Science, EVS, Social Science, Mathematics, and so on.