Teachers That Teach Podcast

For this quick 7-minute episode, Stephen Krashen and Tina Hargaden join Louisa to discuss the fundamentals of how a child acquires a language. Stephen goes into depth as to why the introduction of stories and storytelling is so important towards acquiring a language for a child. It is both Stephen and Tina's goal to get children more interested and excited about reading books, as this will help them learn a new language quicker.   Key Takeaways: [0:40] What does the research tell us about language acquisition? [1:35] Anyone can be successful with language acquisition. [1:50] We can all do it. There's no such thing as a 'language skill'. [2:00] So, how do we acquire language? [2:55] To define it simply, we acquire language when we begin to understand what people are saying in a foreign language. [3:20] At the beginner's level of acquiring a language, it's based off stories. Children love stories. [4:30] Even President Obama has been quoted to say that fictional stories make him a more understanding person