The acquisition of language must be meaningful to the EL's like Krashen's opening statement in the video. "You acquire language only when you understand the message." Students do this naturally through communication. I find that is very natural to Kindergarten students. They are not worried about being grammatically correct just that their messages are understood.
Karshen said that those students who use the monitor all the time are over users; those who prefer not to use their knowledge are under-users; and those that monitor appropriately are optimal users. The information that I found interesting is extroverts are under-users, introverts, perfectionists, and those that lack self-confidence are over-users. I see this everyday with my students and didn't really understand as to why some are so conscious over the way their messages will be received. This was my big "aha" moment.
I was reminded from Krashen's video the importance of making the message clear. I need to make sure that I'm always using cues, hand movements, and gestures as I convey a message to all my students instead of just assuming they already know what I'm trying to tell them.
Tammy, I made a connection with this part of the article too. One of my EL's this year definitely falls into the perfectionist category. He's very bright and one of my better students, but he always hesitates before speaking and gets very upset if he thinks he's said something "wrong."
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