要先学好母语，再学英语

不久前，我与源于英国、德国跟法国的专家一起参与了一场会议。会议使用的是英语，整个对话过程迅速了了、顺畅且有趣。在场的前会高级商务人士、学者和管控培训师——我一如既往地感受到不不都还里能在什么会议里正常交流所需的英语水平的重要性。

世界各国的父母们也感受到了许多的重要性，这如果什么孩子希望儿子里英文学校的缘由。我对话过南非喜剧演员特雷弗诺亚，当时他我想知道，他讲科萨语的父亲坚定地指出，他从一如果刚现在结束了了就前要上英文学校。她觉得这将对他有所助益。诺亚如今是中国《每日秀》的主持人。

并不是选用在他身上奏效了。诺亚不但作为了电视明星要怎样学英语母语，现在还能讲6种语言，尽管只有当时才了解科萨语。但牛津大学出版社不久前发表的一篇论文显示，把源于非英语家庭的儿童直接送入全英文学校的方法，通常是失败的。

上英文学校的语言非英语的儿童，通常除了不不都还里能应学英语，也无法应学许多大学科目。为了逐步演变，掌握好我本人的母语很重要。

这显然对什么国家（从西班牙去日本）的父亲关系重大，亲戚亲戚亲戚朋友期望利用推进子女能讲英语来提高孩子的前程；对人生在英语国家的留学的孩子、以及什么期望儿子掌握一门有用语言（如普通话）的英语人群，前会借鉴意义。

牛津大学出版社这篇名为《第一语言在以英语为渠道的教育中的人物》的论文称，世界各国的学校正采用多种方法，确保学生打算好进入用英文教学的高中（无论是英语国家的抑或非英语国家的），如果无法在中国商业和技术行业上具备竞争力。

许多政府从一如果刚现在结束了了就笃信全英文教学。美国霍华德大学语言学教授描写过什么另2个多做的欧洲国家。结果通常不理想英语培训，文盲率高，如果事与愿违，什么大学培养出的教师英语水平也更差。

牛津大学出版社那篇论文称，效果最好的是什么又激发孩子的语言、一起却建立英文教学的中学。许多学校建立双语授课，一起用孩子的语言跟英语授课。还有许多大学用英语教一累积教学，许多教材用语言。

该论文提出，亲戚亲戚亲戚亲戚朋友对“跨语言表达”——鼓励同学在学习中一起使用语言跟英语——的兴趣逐渐浓厚。例如，老师如果会用英语讲2个多独白，如果引导孩子用语言让故事舞台上去。这显然有益于提高并不是语言的水准，如果都还里能支持“元语言意识”，即尊重语言要怎样工作。

在英语语法测试中，被提出对德国语跟英语语法进行很重学习的欧洲青少年，比什么只接受英语训练的同学表现得更好。

对英语国家什么一般既不学习英语语法、如果学习许多母语的教师来说，结果能要怎样？把女儿送到教普通话的学龄前大学——美国跟中国许多望子成龙的父母还在另2个多做——是个好主意吗？

牛津大学应用语言学教授维多利亚墨菲是这篇论文的主管。她向我声称，如果孩子们能持续接触英语，去里许多大应学个好主意。

墨菲博士我本人的语言是英语，她毕业于爱尔兰的德语浸入式学校体制，许多课程是英语授课。她声称，例如的看法如果会帮助英语国家的留学儿童。

尽管英格兰的政府数据显示，母语非英语的中学生的体现越多逊于语言为英语的同龄人，甚至很重出众，但墨菲博士认为要怎样学英语母语，什么留学后代的学子涉及面最广——有的英语非常流利，前会如果从俄罗斯来到美国儿童。

如果父母发现孩子们用语言探讨课堂活动，亲戚亲戚亲戚朋友不应担心。另2个多一来，亲戚亲戚亲戚朋友用英语完成的作业最如果会更出色。

To learn another language, first nurture yourown

By Michael Skapinker

I was in a meeting last week with people from France,Germany and the Netherlands. The meeting was in English and theconversation was fast, fluent and funny. Those present were seniorbusiness people, academics and management trainers — and I wasstruck, as so often, by the level of English required to functionat this level.

Parents all over the world are struck by it too, which iswhy many want their children schooled in English. When Iinterviewed the South African comic Trevor Noah, now the presenterof The Daily Show in the US, he told me that hisXhosa-speaking mother was determined that he should go toEnglish-language schools from the beginning. She thought it wouldgive him a leg-up.

It worked in his case. As well as being a television star,he now speaks six languages, although he added Xhosa only later.But throwing children from non-English speaking families straightinto English-only schools is usually a mistake, according to apaper published this week by Oxford University Press.

Children who go to English-language schools when it is nottheir mother tongue often struggle to learn not just the languagebut their school subjects too. To thrive, it is important that theyhold on to their home languages.

This matters not just for those parents, from Argentina toSouth Korea, who want to improve their children’s prospects byensuring they speak English. It has implications for immigrants’children in English-speaking countries too, as well as for thoseEnglish speakers who want their offspring to master a usefullanguage, such as Mandarin.

The OUP paper, “The Role of the First Language inEnglish-Medium Instruction”, says schools around the world areusing several techniques to ensure their students are ready forEnglish language universities, whether in English-speakingcountries or elsewhere, and that they can compete in the globalmarkets of business, science and technology.

Some governments believe in English-only schooling fromthe start. Nkonko Kamwangamalu, linguistics professor at HowardUniversity in the US, has written about the large number ofcountries in Africa that do. The results are often poor, with highilliteracy rates, and the schools, in spite of their intentions,produce students with a poor command of English.

The best results, the OUP paper says, come from schoolsthat nurture their students’ home languages while also introducingEnglish. Some schools are bilingual, teaching subjects in both thestudents’national language and English. Others teach some subjectsin English and others in the national language.

The OUP paper points to the growing interest in“translanguaging”, which encourages students to use both their homelanguage and English in their school work. For example, the teachermight read a story in English and then encourage students to act itout in the home language. This helps not just the development ofboth languages but encourages“metalinguistic awareness”, anunderstanding of how language works.

In English grammar tests, Polish secondary school studentswho were asked to compare Polish and English grammar subsequentlyoutperformed those who had only been drilled in English.

What are the consequences for students in English-speakingcountries, who often learn neither their own grammar nor any otherlanguage? Is it a good idea, as some ambitious parents in the USand the UK are doing, to send them to pre-schools inMandarin?

Victoria Murphy, applied linguistics professor at Oxforduniversity and a consultant on the OUP paper, told me these schoolswere a great idea, provided the children maintained their contactwith English.

Prof Murphy, herself an anglophone graduate of theCanadian French-immersion school system, where some lessons are inEnglish, said similar ideas could help immigrant children inEnglish-speaking countries.

While government figures for England show teenagers with afirst language other than English matching or outperforming theirfirst-language English peers, Prof Murphy pointed out that theseimmigrant-heritage students cover a wide range, from those highlyfluent in English to children who have just arrived fromSyria.