Johanna Rubba wrote:
 
> Linguistics isn't any harder than mathematics or physics or biology or
> social sciences.
 
Let me suggest that linguistics is, in fact, easier than physics,
biology or
the social sciences.  Primary students come to learning about language
with a lot
of knowledge that they don't have about these subjects.
 
A recent volume of the English Journal was devoted to language across
the
curriculum.  It seems to me that language is a wonderful way to teach
students about
the scientific method.  One makes observations about how language works
and tries
to figure out the appropriate generalization and then test that
generalization.
 
For example, consider the plural -s in English and the approstrophe -s
in English.
What do they really attach to?  Do they really attach to nouns?
 
Or, consider the problem of how one figures out the grammatical subject
of a sentence.
What is the appropriate generalization?  Does it relate to the agent of
the verb?
How could we test that?
 
        The baby likes Elmo
        Elmo please the baby.
 
 
> These subjects have been carefully sequenced to match
> children's developing abilities.
 
Children already possess most of the grammatical knowledge they will
need.  Now, how we
can make them conscious of that knowledge is the question.
 
Bob Yates, Central Missouri State University