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The Forum > Article Comments > Language learning > Comments

Language learning : Comments

By Penny Vos, published 6/5/2008

Esperanto is the best choice for a general primary school strategy for LOTE in Australia.

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By the way you are not alone. Here you can read on how some of the British schools started to include Esperanto in their curriculum.
http://www.springboard2languages.org/home.htm
Posted by Ruslanko, Thursday, 8 May 2008 4:29:16 AM
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When we introduce a subject to a child in Primary School we start with its simplest concepts and gradually build towards the more complex as they gain in understanding and maturity. Human languages have been evolving for thousands of years and are by nature very complex. We cannot expect a young child to succeed at deciphering this complexity unless we give them the skills to do so, and I believe Ms Vos has the right approach. Start with a language like Esperanto that has had many of the irregular complexities of natural languages taken out of it, while still retaining enough depth and flexibility to allow any idea to be fully expressed. Give them a chance to develop an understanding of how human language works (which incidentally could well help those struggling to conquer the vagrancies of the English language), and then with a feeling of success and accomplishment under their belts they can go on to tackle whichever of the world's languages seem important or attractive to them when they get to Secondary School. Ms Vos's suggestion of Esperanto is the most positive move towards a viable LOTE programme for Australia that I've heard in some time.
Posted by Tepara, Saturday, 10 May 2008 3:26:16 PM
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Mr. Right wants children to study their own language first. OK. However, when English becomes elaborate Esperanto is a great help for that very purpose; "propaedeutic" it is often called by teachers. What you had learnt by "rote", by imitation, unquestionably, you can fathom better when you learn another tongue.

Plus, Esperanto is like a MULTILINGUAL dictionary, with enough logical grammar to assemble the words (and no weight in your suitcase).
Posted by Henriette, Sunday, 11 May 2008 5:12:57 PM
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I fully support the comments outlining the propradeutic values of Esperanto. These are confirmed in Professor Claude Piron's Youtube video, which adds other detail on Esperanto as a non-national language. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU
Posted by Brianbarker, Monday, 12 May 2008 2:35:37 AM
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And here is a very recent concrete example from the Isle of Man of the successful application of Esperanto as an "apprentice language" in a Manx elementary school:
http://www.iomtoday.co.im/west-news/Esperanto-project-success-at-Marown.4076954.jp
This is an application of the British Springboard to Languages program:
http://www.springboard2languages.org/home.htm

Also, it seems not to be known in Australia that for years Esperanto has been accepted, on a par with other languages, as fulfilling the foreign language requirement for highschool graduation:
http://esperanto.blahus.cz/cxej/vikio/index.php/Raporto_pri_la_meze?ropa_konsulti?o_2007#Hungara_Esperanto-Asocio

From personal experience as a lifelong language-learner and language teacher, I can attest to the value of Esperanto as an "apprentice language" or propedeutic in improving general language and cultural awareness, basic grammatical analytical skills, increasing interest in etymology and building confidence in one's language-learning ability - even if, in and of itself, its use is unfortunately still quite practically limited and its purpose as a common inter-language alongside all ethnic languages frequently misunderstood.
Posted by mankso, Thursday, 15 May 2008 2:59:43 PM
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