Interview with Rosemary Mitchell

Rosemary gave a talk yesterday entitled Teaching Language Learners.  I met her during the Grammar Mimes talk and afterwards she told me about her talk and her new book which is also entitled 'Teaching Language and Learners'.

Rosemary's starting point as a teacher is how a learner acquires a language.  She distinquishes between 'learning' and 'acquisition' and says that learning can be forgotten whereas when a learner acquires a language skill, it is established and will not be forgotten.

Learners have to notice the new language they are about to learn and relate it to what they already know.  Rosemary gave an example of when she was learning Spanish:  the Spanish for 'cat' is 'gato' so she created a mental image of a cat with a 'gateau' (cake), a word with which she was familiar.  Next learners commit the new learning to memory, then they use it and finally it is fully acquired.

If anyone would like to know more Rosemary is happy for you to contact her on rjwestwell@hotmail.com.