7 - How to construct more Simple English (PSE)

7 - How to construct more Simple English (PSE)

We have a recipe for speaking 2 words.
We pick a word from nouns box and a word from verbs box, then we add a spice (ซึ).

There are many more recipes for speaking simple English.

Here are more recipes using
   2 (or more) words from nouns box, and
   1 word from verbs box

For example: cat (a noun), dog (a noun), run (a verb).

We will say this aloud:
   "cat and dog run" (We add "and" between "cat" and "dog".
                      We don't add a spice.)
Or this
   "cats and dogs run" (We add "and" between "cat" and "dog".
                      We add a spice to each noun word.)

Both recipes give good simple English.

What if we use
   1 word from nouns box, and
   2 (or more) words from verbs box?

For example: uncle (a noun), eat (a verb), sing (a verb).

We will say this aloud:
   Uncle eats and sings. (We add "and" between "eat" and "sing".
                      We add a spice to each verb word.)
Or this
   Uncles eat and sing. (We add "and" between "cat" and "dog".
                      We add a spice to the noun word.)

Again, both recipes give good simple English.

Can you see when we add a spice and when we don't add a spice?

What if we pick
   2 (or more) words from nouns box and
   2 (or more) words from verbs box?

What do we say?
Can we add spices to nouns?
Can we add spices to verbs?

[Dear Teachers,

We are learning English in 'Look, Listen and Speak' approach.
We try to get students to 'join in' and 'experience' English.
We try not to give 'rules of grammar' and ask students to remember.
We try to show examples and ask students to find 'patterns'
  (or 'rules') and construct more simple English.

As we can see so far:
   we get new words (vocabulary objects -- input);
   we play with words (experience and knowledge);
   we separate words in 2 boxes (categories);
   we use recipes to speak simple sentences (pattern recognition);
   we (ask students to) construct more simple sentences (production -- output).


That is 'the pattern' of our learning process.

We will
   repeat { 
      /* this process over and over again */
        - get new words
        - play with new words (use or invent games as necessary)
        - categorise new words into N boxes (add new boxes as necessary)
        - use new words in simple English (find more recipes as we go)
        - work out new 'patterns' (add 'rules' as we go)
        - construct simple English (check output for 'good for use')
          }
   until we 'succeed' or we 'run out of time'


So, our PSE course is more like computational (English) learning.

   We learn (English) by experiencing it.
   We learn to construct (output) patterns (in English) from (input) words. 
   We learn a process for learning (English).

What more do we want from life? ;-)  ]

[นาย ประทีป วัฒนสิทธิ์]

สวัสดีครับ จาก http://www.nature-dhrama.com

[ป.]

Thank you for very interesting method of learning - learing by the students' initiative.

For myself, the most problematic grammar in everyday use is time /tense.  It hardly to be a second nature as long as I don't feel different between" I write a letter yesterday" and " I wrote a letter yesterday". Do you have any suggested stratergy?

 

..

[sr]

Thank you for your visit ประทีป วัฒนสิทธิ์

How is your web < www.nature-dharma.com (?) > going?

...

And thank you Dr ป. for your kind support.

I am glad you find PSE interesting -- I would have failed badly, otherwise ;-)

I think 'learning' depends very much on 'learners':

- without learners, there is no learning!

- learners, don't just dress up, tell people, pay fees, ... they must also take responsibility and make efforts to learn

- Teachers, as I have written (in [Dear Teachers ...]), "facilitate" or help learners by providing tools, refereeing games, ... Teachers are like 'general managers' helping learners to learn (workers to work) smoothly and effectively. ;-)

 

As for "the most problematic grammar in everyday use is time/tense":

I think speaking (and writing) English is like 'driving on a multi-lane road', one lane for 'now', another for the 'past' and another for the 'future'. When we have to change lane, we have to give a 'proper signal' to make clear what our intention is. We do read and understand most of these signals. But driving in Thailand for a long may give us bad a habit -- and we do not give proper signals when we change lane.

My suggestion is to keep checking which lane we are in and to slow down so we can give proper signals. ;-)

[sr]

I goofed again:

"...driving in Thailand for a long may give us bad a habit..."

should be

" driving in Thailand for a long time may give us a bad habit "

See how easy one can forget the 'time' ;-) It's a bad habit.

[ป.]

Thank you for the toughtful answer. I always curious why english need tenses and feel with them like nonsense rules.

we do not give proper signals when we change lane.

This will help me/us gain more insight about time