Steve, et al,
 
Cecilly O'Neill <[log in to unmask]> here in the College of Education does
great things with drama in the classroom teaching young people.  I don't
know if she, or anyone else, has developed "lessons" in teaching foreign
languages using drama, but I'd look there.  Drama, of course, can be used
to "teach" adult learners too, but it seems especially helpful with the
concrete, imaginative kids, many of whom are disaffected with traditional
methodologies.
 
Sara
At 10:06 PM 3/18/98 -0500, SAC wrote:
>Johanna,
>
>Thank you for you most recent and helpfully tempered post.
>
><< I don't want to think about what the intended meaning is here. It is true
> that I have not taught below the college level, but I _am_ an educator at
> that level. And I do have extensive experience as a 2nd-language teacher.
> The techniques I mentioned in my first posting work at least as well as
> 'skills and drills', and my students who have gone out into the world as
> ESL teachers tell me they have applied these strategies with success.
>
>Didn't mean to imply anything here other than the enormous difference between
>teaching adults and adolescents.  There is no tranfer between the two
>experiences.  A college professor cannot teach 4-8th graders just because
they
>have been successful at their current teaching level.  We have great
>difficulty training teachers who do not understand the needs of pre-abstract
>thinkers.  In turn, I have often resented graduate instructors who use middle
>school methods with adult teachers.  Young people need an enormous amount of
>hands-on, concrete, see-it-hear-it-do-it work.  (That is why I want to use
>Latin; I am not sure where you got the idea that I had skill-and-drill in
>mind--though there is a place for that, too).  I am not sure if they can get
>the same thing from looking at modern uninflected languages (besides, I don't
>know any and so I really couldn't teach using any).
>
>
> >>Have you looked for any literature on 2nd-language teaching for children?
>>> I know that there is a lot of work in this area, and perhaps you are
>>> familiar with it already. I imagine materials that work well for other
>>> languages that are commonly taught to young children, such as English and
>>> Spanish, could be adapted to teach Latin.
>
>I don't know this literature.  Can you give titles and authors?  Can you give
>me some examples of materials that you feel would be appropriate here?
>Activities? Methods?
>
>Steve
>
>
Sara Garnes
Associate Professor of English
Ohio State University
e-mail: [log in to unmask]