TESOL, TEFL and CELTA forum
Hi,
I am hoping someone is able to help me.
I am currently completing a TESOL course at an Australian University and for part of an assignment i need to interview someone who speaks English as a second language about the use of prepositions in their first language.
It would be really helpful if there was anyone who could answer the following questions for me.
1. What is your first language?
2. In your language do you have words for common English prepositions such as on, in, beside, near, far under?
3. Did you have any difficulty learning the meanings of these prepositions? How did you learn them?
4. In your first language is the word order the same as these phrases-
on the seat
in my car
under the bed
near the tree
5. There can be different meanings for the same preposition e.g up. Was it difficult to understand the meaning of up in the following phrases?
look up a phone number
to make something up
to walk up a hill
she is stuck up
i hung a picture up
6. How did you learn these 'slang' uses of prepositions?
7. Did you ever encounter the following problems when learning English prepositions-
- they were difficult to learn because English speakers do not pronounce many prepositions clearly e.g bottle o' beer- rather than bottle of beer?
-Was it difficult to learn prepositions with similar meanings e.g in, into, inside?
-Did you ever just not use prepositions in spoken speech because they are just too tricky?
- Did you ever use the wrong preposition when speaking and writing? How did you overcome this?
8. How did your knowledge of your first language hinder or help you learn English prepositions?
Thank you so much for spending some time answering these questions.
Your answers are truly valuable and i really appreciate your time.
Thank you,
Belinda
Messages In This Thread
- Interview an English as a second language user (General) -- Belinda 15 March 2010