Some of the factors like race/ethnicity and socio-economic status are conditional in nature.

1. The second language learning process doesn’t always make logical sense to those who haven’t experienced it.

2. It is important to remember that the length of time it takes to learn a second language and the degree of difficulty of that process for anyone are dependent on a wide variety of factors.

3. Some of the factors like race/ethnicity and socio-economic status are conditional in nature. Others like prior educational experiences and the literacy level of parents in their first language can also impact the process greatly.

4. Regardless of these, simple logic would seem to lead many monolingual people to believe that the more time I am immersed in learning a second language, the better and faster I’m going to achieve that goal.“ IN OTHER WORDS: “Doesn’t it just make sense that the earlier and more intensively children are placed in all-English instruction at school the better their English achievement will eventually be?”

5. The reality couldn’t be more “counterintuitive”. It is incredibly important when thinking about second language learning to remember that our “common sense” or “intuition” can be wrong.

6. Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that an individual’s background in their first language has the most impact on how fast they will learn a second language. In other words, the better they speak, read, write and listen in their first language, the better and faster they will learn their second language.

7. But the key is understanding how and why that is true. . . . And that’s where we’ll begin.

8. Sequence Story Sequence Story

9. 1. Seven “Volunteers”

10. A sequence story is simply a spoken story told by a variety of people, one right after the other. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LISTEN TO THE STORY AND CONTINUE IT WHEN IT’S YOUR TURN.

11. When I raise my hand and point to you, you speak. When I pull my arm down, you stop. I WILL ORCHESTRATE THE STORY

12. When I point to someone else, he/she picks up the story exactly where it was left off. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS LISTEN INTENTLY AND FOLLOW MY DIRECTIONS.

13. About our story. . . A setting, two characters and a conflict A husband and wife named Johnny and Sally At the Mall Sally drags Johnny to the mall to shop when he’d rather be home watching a pivotal basketball playoff game.

14. LET’S BEGIN………….

15. First, let’s look at the story itself. We’ll look at the emotions involved in a minute.

16. What happened to the story as we moved from the first telling to the second and then the third? Be as specific as you can. COMPARE

17. STORYTELLERS: How did it feel as we moved from the first telling to the second and then the third? Be as specific as you can. How did it feel?

18. Listeners --- • What was going on emotionally for those of you listening to the story? • As the process got harder, what were you feeling? • What role did effort play in the telling? • How much longer would it have taken for the process to lose its humor and become tedious?

19. Associative vs. Cognitive

20. Storytellers: Which version of the process would you choose to use, the first, the second or the third? WHY?

21. What did the facilitator do wrong? How could the facilitator have aided the storytellers? What specific strategies could have been used to make this cognitive process as associative as possible? Who had the power to make the storytellers more successful? If the modification doesn’t happen, could the storytellers have succeeded?