教学目标	1. Ss can  explain how children acquire their first language.   2. Ss can get  some implications from children’s L1 acquisition.   3. Ss can analyze  children’s L1language.   4. Ss interest  in primary English teaching can be motivated by case-analyzing.   5. Ss can discuss  differences and similarities between learning L1 and L2
重点难点	1. Ways children  learn L1   2. Some teaching  implications by case- analyzing.   3. How to  minimize the differences between learning L1 and L2

Procedures:

Step1. Warming-up

  1. Show Ss some picture of children who are in the stage of learning L1leading the topic of this unit.

Lead in the topic, “How do we learn our firstlanguage?’ with questions: what’s our L1? Do you have any troubles inexpression your ideas or communicating with others? Do you think learning L1 isdifficult? Why?

Step2. Children’s L1 learning

1. Task1.1 on Page2 (pictures on ppt)

Ss discuss the ways children learn L1. eg.

  Byimitations, repetitions singing songs and saying rhymes, reciting poems,listening to stories, talking to oneself, acting and performing, talking about pictures,watching television cartoons, drawing and talking, talking to others, andplaying games.

2. Discussion points

1) factors that may influence children’s L1development:

   Interaction and experimenting with thelanguage in communication are very important factors for language development.

2) language features when parents or teachers teachchildren Chinese:

Simplify: Few grammatical, Be shorter, Avoid pronouns)

 Repeat

Rough tune: Adjust input to children’s language level

Meaning-focused not form-focused

3) In teaching another language to children, we shouldalways remember how we can engage children in learning by using similarexperience they have had with their first language.

3.行为主义理论

• 斯金纳发现儿童母语习得过程与动物行为反应的形成过程相似，是一个习惯的形成过程，即多次刺激--反应的结果。儿童母语习得一般要经过模仿--强化--成形三个阶段．

• 根据行为主义理论，儿童的语言环境对其母语习得起决定性的作用，其模仿能力和外界的强化作用决定了最终习得母语的水平．

4.认知理论

• 乔姆斯基提出了与行为主义完全相反的“认知论”．

• 这一理论认为，人类大脑中具有一种适于学习语言的习得机制．它包含着一套适用于所有人类语言的语法，使儿童有能力对语言活动进行分类、提炼。从大量的语言数据中找出尽可能简单的规律．

• 认知论还认为儿童语言是一个合法的受规则支配的系统，其发展是一个在接纳输入材料的基础上进行假设，并通过自己的理解和表达来验证假设的过程，是一个实验　犯错误　再实验的过程，也就是说犯错误是语言学习过程中的必然．

Step 3. Case-analysis ofchildren’s language

1. Ss talk about the following children’s utterances.

  他打你呀？---他打你呀。

  我也没要了。----我也不要了。

  天白了。---天亮了。

---Where is Mytul?

---You mean Mytul?

---No, Mytul!

---Oh, Michael?

---Yes, mytul!

 2.Characteristics:

  Childrenare active and creative language learners.

 --- “poverty-of-the-stimulusargument”(刺激贫乏论)

  Parentsseldom try to correct children.

3. Implications

1).Stimulate and involve the learners as fully aspossible

2). Encourage children’s creativity.

3). Rarely call attention to grammatical errors in anexplicit way.

    1) Interpret children’s meanings from their incomplete utterances

    2) Expand their utterances to provide correct language input

4. Things we can draw from L1 acquisition for L2learning:

1. Try to create a supportive situation.

2. Design interesting activities.

3. Provide more opportunities to hearthe language.

4. Give more chances to experiment.

5. Be tolerant to our learners’errors.

Step 4. Differences and similarities between L1 and L2learning

1. Differences

1). Play two clips of videos for Ss to think about thedifferences and similarities between learning L1 and L2.

Questions:

How do you learn English? Is it similar to learningL1?

Do you agree that learning English as a foreignlanguage is more difficult than learning Chinese?

2). Task1.2.1 (Ss) make a list of the differences thatexist between children learning their mother tongue children learning a foreignlanguage (Page 5)

L1:Natural and adequate, All day long, Supportive,friendly, tolerant, Natural and in context, Listening before speaking, Remainhigh for, communicative needs, Not very much value, Very patient and constant,A lot of opportunities, Encouragement, successful

L2: Not natural, native input is limited, Muchshorter, usually in the classroom, Passive, formal, error correction, strange,TV, radio, textbooks, selected from Ts, limited, 4 skills begin at the sametime, Instrumental motivation, for passing exams, Pay great attention,Impatient, off-and-on, Not too much, no need, Not much encouragement, sometimescriticize, possible fossilization, rarely fully successful

Ss report their discussion results with the wholeclass.(See PPT)

2. Similarities

1) natural order（errors antrials）

2) Poverty of the stimulus --- “poverty-of-the-stimulusargument”

Step 5. Discussion

How can we minimize the differences betweenlearning L1 and L2?

1). Rich context and input

  2).Opportunities for using the language

  3).Interaction with others

Teachers should create a nice environment andinteresting activities for pupils to use the language to do things.