We are about to begin a new phase in language learning with the pastor of the church here in Pèdè working with us as our language helper. I am currently trying to plan different ways for us to learn, to keep it interesting for both us and him. I also hope that some things will be accessible for Simon too, as it would be good for him to learn a bit more Monkolé (he currently knows a few greetings and numbers).
One idea I read about to help gain vocabulary in a new language is to use a children's book with lots of pictures. Simon has an excellent book like this, called “1000 Words and Pictures” (thanks, Grandmum!). However, when I looked at it to see if we could use it with our language helper, it turns out that the majority of the book will not be very useful to us.
We will be able to use pages such as: Bodies and families, actions, wild animals, opposites, colours and numbers, and shapes and comparisons.
Some pages are of no use to us because they illustrate places unknown to your average Monkolé, such as:
The Park
The Supermarket
The Railway Station
The Airport
The Seaside
Other pages might sound as if they should be useful, but the places illustrated bear little or no resemblance to the Monkolé equivalent:
The House and Garden
The Kitchen (theirs are outside)
Partytime
Builders and Buildings
Games and sports (they do play football, but skiiing? Judo? Ice hockey?)
Clothes (again, some are similar, but some very different)
Weather and Seasons (you can imagine!)
All about plants
This is, of course, no criticism of the book, which is brilliant for the purpose for which it is intended, and will be very good when we want to explain to Simon and Benjy about European seasons, houses, parks, parties and so on! But for our language learning we will need to be more imaginative. I recently read an article in which the author suggested taking photos of daily life in the local culture and using them to learn vocabulary and descriptions, and I think we may well use this idea.
We could come back to the picture book later when our Monkolé is better to discuss differences between our background and daily life here, but I think we first need to concentrate on local culture.
Speaking of which, the “chef d'arrondissement” here – I think kind of like a county councillor – recently got the opportunity to travel to France as part of a twinning programme. He is from our church in Pèdè, so we know him a bit. Before he went we chatted to him one evening about what he should expect, and insisted that he take one of Marc's jumpers with him, as he said he only had one. He was unconvinced … but when he got back he told us he'd had to wear it every night! He thoroughly enjoyed his trip – except the cold – and when Marc visited him on Saturday he was telling his friends about his journey in the aeroplane. It is interesting to have someone from our new world here visit our "old" one!
One idea I read about to help gain vocabulary in a new language is to use a children's book with lots of pictures. Simon has an excellent book like this, called “1000 Words and Pictures” (thanks, Grandmum!). However, when I looked at it to see if we could use it with our language helper, it turns out that the majority of the book will not be very useful to us.
We will be able to use pages such as: Bodies and families, actions, wild animals, opposites, colours and numbers, and shapes and comparisons.
Some pages are of no use to us because they illustrate places unknown to your average Monkolé, such as:
The Park
The Supermarket
The Railway Station
The Airport
The Seaside
Other pages might sound as if they should be useful, but the places illustrated bear little or no resemblance to the Monkolé equivalent:
The House and Garden
The Kitchen (theirs are outside)
Partytime
Builders and Buildings
Games and sports (they do play football, but skiiing? Judo? Ice hockey?)
Clothes (again, some are similar, but some very different)
Weather and Seasons (you can imagine!)
All about plants
This is, of course, no criticism of the book, which is brilliant for the purpose for which it is intended, and will be very good when we want to explain to Simon and Benjy about European seasons, houses, parks, parties and so on! But for our language learning we will need to be more imaginative. I recently read an article in which the author suggested taking photos of daily life in the local culture and using them to learn vocabulary and descriptions, and I think we may well use this idea.
We could come back to the picture book later when our Monkolé is better to discuss differences between our background and daily life here, but I think we first need to concentrate on local culture.
Speaking of which, the “chef d'arrondissement” here – I think kind of like a county councillor – recently got the opportunity to travel to France as part of a twinning programme. He is from our church in Pèdè, so we know him a bit. Before he went we chatted to him one evening about what he should expect, and insisted that he take one of Marc's jumpers with him, as he said he only had one. He was unconvinced … but when he got back he told us he'd had to wear it every night! He thoroughly enjoyed his trip – except the cold – and when Marc visited him on Saturday he was telling his friends about his journey in the aeroplane. It is interesting to have someone from our new world here visit our "old" one!
A Monkolé kitchen (coincidentally belonging to the "chef d'arrondissement"!):
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