“Language is the
vehicle of thoughts” – this statement clarifies that thinking is only possible
when you are able to speak a language. Expressing your thoughts is impossible
without language. But the language used in a school class is mostly different
than the language used at home or with your friends. So the interest in work
from children depends on how far they have ownership of the different forms of
languages used in classroom. Children can only have assurance in speaking when
they have a high degree of ownership of the words pronounced, and an ability to
create and construct meanings independently in ways which listeners recognize.
Speech is immediate and dynamic and it unites oneself with others. For children
who learn a language which is closer to the “authorized” language are often
more successful learners.
Vygotsky identified 3
different aspects of speech. First the “inner speech”, which only exists on
your own head. Second the “oral speech”, which is vocalized and immediate. And third
one the “written speech”, which is the most elaborate one, because it is
planned and rehearsed. So Vygotsky said that in class children need space to
think about their ideas and what they want to say. If they have space to
rehearse and to develop their own interpretations they will make sense of their
learning and in further consequence that leads to a new level of understanding.
Summing up it can be
said that a good teacher should give the children time for thinking. Good ideas
are not coming with stressing the children, good ideas need time to think
about. So if you give them the time they need, they will achieve a new level of
understanding.
I really like this quote, because I think every teacher should heed it. Especially for me, as a teacher in primary, it is very important to
explain things on a very simple level. Therefore it is necessary to understand about
what I am talking and then it is no problem at all to explain it to the
children in class. So for managing that children understand you, you first have
to understand it yourself.
