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Joined: 5 Nov 2008 / Female ♀ 		Last Post: -
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Posts: Total: 5 / In This Archive: 2 		From: England
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xwelcomex   
5 Nov 2008
Language / Word order; simple & continuous tenses; definite/indefinite articles [13]

I teach English as a foreign language. I don't speak Polish (so go easy on me) but do speak 3 other languages in addition to English so understand different grammar systems. I have a number of Polish clients who all have similar problems with English. I would be grateful for your comments on the following.

1. Word order. Am I right in thinking that Polish verbs are highly inflected and so word order can vary in Polish without affecting meaning?
2. Is there a distinction in Polish between the simple and continuous tenses ( ie /I walk/, /I am walking/...)? If not (and I assume not), how is meaning expressed... I mean, what is the literal translation between, say, /I walk to the shops/ (ie I do it regularly) and /I am walking to the shops/(something I am doing currently)?

3. There is, I gather, in Polish, no equivalent to definite and indefinite articles (the, a/an). It's always a difficult area to teach if the first language has no equivalent. Does anyone have a weblink that explains this concept (in Polish)?

dziękuję (:-) I try, I try)
xwelcomex   
12 Nov 2008
Language / Word order; simple & continuous tenses; definite/indefinite articles [13]

501/301 Polish Verbs... must be a series...I have 301 Greek Verbs (and there is a 501 too!).

Present simple and continuous is a particular sticking point for my students from Poland. I'm an experienced teacher of Efl and have tried every way I know... they seem to keep sticking with errors such as "I am walk " or "I walking" and I had wondered if it was L1 interference (ie caused by defaulting to rules from the native language...) Picking up on this thread, I think it is just that the two grammars are so different and that they have become a little 'stuck' using language they have picked up here in the UK and just adapted themselves in order to communicate. I don't seem to have this problem with Greek learners though (also no continuous tense)...and I didn't have a problem picking up Greek. May do a little more study of the polish grammar... (thanks for that link to the website..I'm trying hard :-)) Lost my copy of 'Learner English' (our 'bible' for this kind of thing) so your responses have been great.

(Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and Other Problems , Cambridge, by Michael Swan)