The current situation that we are experiencing limits the possibilities of social encounters and trips, but the need to learn, to teach languages, does not disappear.
"The condition of communicating and relating to the world continues to occur," says Natàlia Perarnau, an English philologist who starts the Kids & us method (a strategy that breaks with the traditional system and is used to learn English in children from 1 year of age ) about a decade ago.
Learning a foreign language in a multilingual world is a priority.
More information
These are the advantages of children and adolescents speaking several languages
The Pros and Cons of Raising a Bilingual Child
“The ideal stage for acquiring a second language is childhood, especially for later learning.
In the first years of life, the child's brain is moldable and susceptible to new learning, due to its plasticity ”, states Estefanía Bueno, psychologist and educational counselor.
“A great neural process is activated that generates numerous connections, and with it, translates into the development of cognitive, linguistic, emotional, social and motor skills.
Getting acquainted with a second language at an early age will be positive for later learning ”, adds the expert.
The educational policy of the European Union affirms that studying languages is enriching for personal and professional development, and educational legislation links the learning of a foreign language with the curriculum, emphasizing its acquisition at an early age.
According to Bueno, some of the advantages of learning a language from the mother tongue for the child are that:
It favors the improvement of communication skills: Learning opportunities occur in a social context through observation and imitation.
Increases motivation, so you gain self-esteem and improve your self-concept.
The development of skills such as critical thinking and creativity is generated.
The psychologist mentions the promotion of “meaningful learning” (concept of David Paul Ausubel, 1918, a reference to constructivist psychology) “for the assimilation and consolidation of knowledge of the language”: “It is essential to build this learning under a playful approach, since that through play a better understanding of the language is fostered and their motivation increases ”.
Diego Rodríguez Losada, English teacher in Primary Education at the Carmelitas Ourense Plurilingual School (Galicia), explains that he has verified how many adolescents upon finishing high school were unable to communicate in the English language, after years of learning: “The teaching methods sometimes obsolete or a late start in learning prevented the child from acquiring knowledge for this purpose ”.
Rodríguez Losada maintains that it is "essential a quality communicative competence in a second language".
“Both the methodology and the concepts must be constantly changing.
We live in a technological age that as teachers forces us to keep up, and the sooner we start working on it, the more optimal the results will be ”, says the English teacher.
The coronavirus crisis and language learning
For Natàlia Perarnau teaching languages is, in these times of pandemic, more inescapable than ever for the following reasons:
The health crisis will imply an economic crisis.
We know that in these situations people bet, especially, on training and on acquiring tools that allow them to reinvent themselves and face difficulties and new professional challenges.
This is the case of English.
The indisputable increase in online communication channels makes us more open and connected with the world.
Therefore, it may now be more likely that someone needs to learn languages in order to communicate, study or socialize.
So the need will continue to exist.
Now, the pandemic has had a very significant impact on the world of education, not just languages, and educational institutions are obliged to modernize and prepare to continue providing knowledge in any context and with the same quality.
We have found that the world of knowledge could not stop for our students.
Perarnau affirms that they have digitized their method "in order to guarantee assimilation in any setting."
Human beings are "animals" that need communication and socialization.
“If the physical borders between countries are at their peak of impermeability, the online world that unfolds before our young people is limitless.
Communication or openness will happen yes or yes, making its way through where it can flow more easily ”, he declares.
Collaboration with multilingual teams in which the common language is English will be increasingly common.
“Many families have decided to postpone after-school activity for the time being, waiting for the situation to normalize.
Even so, English is one of the extracurricular activities that families consider to be "survival" (according to an internal study carried out by Salvetti) and, therefore, it is one of those they have tried to preserve, "says the philologist.
"Now, the extracurricular has to be prepared to continue to exist in times of pandemic," he adds.
Virtuality allows many more people to access various content and this is the case in education.
“In our company we have been forced to make changes that perhaps we would have taken years to make or test.
Some will probably be able to establish themselves, as is the case with
blended
education
(a combination of face-to-face with virtuality) after a certain age ”, says the professional.
The stage the world is experiencing is circumstantial and should not harm the child's learning process.
“There are children who have a certain accumulated baggage.
Having a good command of English can make a difference in the future employment of our children ”, asserts Perarnau.
"Current and future unemployment figures will mean that children and young people will have to prepare more decisively for an international context that is likely to become more difficult and competitive," concludes Perarnau.
Socialization is essential in learning a language in childhood
For Natàlia Perarnau, being able to travel or not is not a differential fact for the acquisition of a language: “It can be so for adults, but seeing how virtuality is increasingly present in our daily lives, possibly not traveling does not affect to learning ”.
And it offers some recommendations to families, children and educators so that the relationship with a new language is a passable path:
Open and positive attitude towards language learning, even if the environment or the tools have changed a lot.
Learning languages, regardless of the pandemic, is still a MUST.
Be flexible to new learning environments.
Virtual education has been imposed by necessity, but it has also shown that, well considered, it is an alternative to face-to-face.
We are capable of teaching and children are capable of learning in the virtual world.
Accompaniment to students and families.
The processes of change are painful and produce discomfort.
The task of educational institutions is to provide support and confidence so that the transition is carried out in the best possible way.
We must be very accessible so that both students and families can send us questions, concerns, and we can communicate the evolution in the process.
At an early age, without a doubt, socialization is essential.
Going to school or kindergarten is a constant learning that goes far beyond the content.
With coexistence you learn to live in society and manage emotions, among which, and very important, is frustration.
We learn through the senses, and physical contact is essential.
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