大家好，我是杰克大叔，在中国当了20年的外教，在英语教育、亲子英语启蒙这一块有还算丰富的经验与见解。以下是家长朋友们最常问我的一些问题，我给大家整理出来，希望能给更多想给孩子做英语启蒙，却苦于没有方法的家长们一些启发。

Parents' English is very poor, and pronunciation is not good ,how to do?

杰克大叔（Uncle Jack）：OK, so don't worry about your pronunciation. What you want to do is create that English environment. You want to build that English foundation for your child. You want to make it natural and normal. The better you can do that, the easier it is for your child to pick up an English book, to listen to an English song, or watching an English cartoon, or whatever tool and pick up language. Why? It's not scary. They know some English, because you created that wonderful support, that wonderful environment for them. You made it fun. You made it interesting. So now they want to pick up that picture book, and they're going to listen to the audio or listen to the video, and they'll be able to pick up language much faster than you, right? As you're working hard to to use some English, and you give them that support, they'll be able to just quickly fly up, because you gave them that great support.

好的，别担心你的发音。你所要做的就是创造一个英语环境，就是为你的孩子打好英语基础，就是让说英语变成一件自然而平常的事。你做得越好，你的孩子就越容易拿起一本英语书，听一首英语歌曲，或者看一部英语动画片，或者（使用）其他任何工具来学习英语。为什么？（因为他们）一点都不怕英语。他们懂了一些英语，因为你为他们提供了很棒的支持，创造了美好的环境。你让（学英语）变得轻松了，你让它变得有趣了。所以现在他们想要拿起绘本，他们会听音频或者视频，他们能比你更快地学习语言，明白吗？当你努力地（在生活中）使用英语的时候，你就给予了他们支持，他们就能够很快飞起来，因为你给予了他们很重要的支持。

What if the parents can't remember the instructions in English?

杰克大叔（Uncle Jack）：Okay, so start with what you can say, how much you can say, make a plan, write down the plan. What can you say in the morning? What can you say in the afternoon? Maybe you're just starting out, so you do like three to five sentences a day. Don't give yourself too much pressure. Start slow, baby steps, right? What you want to do is build a nice routine. You are getting used to your English voice too, right? It's not just your child getting used to mommy speaking or daddy speaking English now, but you need to know what your English voice sounds like too. So you start off with the basics. “It's time to wake up, or wakey, wakey. Let's eat. Or it's time to eat, let's play a game.” okay? And you start with those basic bits of language, and you do it every day, at the same time. You build a nice routine, nice pattern, and once you get comfortable with it, you add a little bit more, right, and you make a little, a little plan on a piece of paper. Or you buy some stickers and you stick them on the wall. When you're in the kitchen, I need to say that when I'm in the kitchen or you're in the bedroom, I need to say that when I'm in the bedroom or you're in the living room, oh, I need to say this right now.

好吧，从你会说的开始，你能说多少，制定一个计划，把它写下来。明天早上你会说什么，下午你会说什么，也许你才刚刚开始，所以你每天（只需要）说三到五句话。别给自己太大压力。慢慢来，一步一步来，好吗？你需要做的就是把（说英语）变成例行公事。你会开始习惯你（说）英语的声音，对吧？（因为）不仅仅是你的孩子（需要）习惯妈妈说英语或者爸爸说英语，你还需要知道你（说）英语的声音听起来像什么。所以你从最基本的开始。 “It's time to wake up, or wakey, wakey. Let's eat. Or it's time to eat, let's play a game.” 好吗？你从这些基本的语言开始，（并且）每天在同一时间做。你建立一个好的习惯，一个好的模式，一旦你适应了它，你再加一点，对，然后你在纸上做一个小小的计划，或者你买些贴纸贴在墙上。（这样）当你在厨房的时候，“噢，我在厨房要说那个”，当你在卧室的时候，“噢，我在卧室的时候要说这个”，或当你在客厅的时候，“噢，我现在要说这个”。

Do all family members speak English to their children?

杰克大叔（Uncle Jack）：Again, if every person in the family can speak English, that's, that's perfect, right? But that doesn't happen very often. So is it necessary? It's not necessary. Again, it comes back to a parent, or two parents, maybe even a grandparent that is setting a nice foundation, building a nice environment. So it always goes back to the tools that you have, what you're going to say, the routine you are going to build for your child and for yourself. And once you do that well, you will see results even if you're the only person in the family speaking English. But at some point too, you can have your child become the little teacher and teach dad or teach grandma some English. That's a good idea. Remember, the more you say, the easier it gets. The easier it gets, the more you can say. So make a good plan and stick to it.

再说一次，如果家里的每个人都会说英语，那就完美了，对吧？但这种事不常发生。所以有必要（每个人都说英语）吗？没这个必要。这又回到了妈妈，或者爸爸妈妈，甚至是祖父母身上，他们（的参与）会打下一个良好的基础，创造一个良好的环境。所以就回归到到你所拥有的工具，（比如）你要说的话，你将要为你的孩子和你自己建立的常规。一旦你做好了（这些），即使你是家里唯一会说英语的人，你也会看到（好的）结果。在某些时候，你也可以让你的孩子成为小老师，教爸爸或奶奶一些英语。这是个不错的方法。记住，你（英语）说得越多，事情就越容易。事情越容易，你能说得就越多。所以（请）制定一个好的计划，并且坚持下去。

Do parents have to speak English to their children all the time?

杰克大叔（Uncle Jack）：Of course, if you can speak English all day, that's the best results, right? But that's not even easy for the best English speaking parents out there. So is it necessary? No, again, it's about building that foundation. It's about building an environment. So you do what you can do. Let's say you're a working parent, you only have some time in the morning, or you only have some time in the evening or on the weekends.That's okay. That's when you do it. But you make it consistent. You build a routine, you build a nice pattern, you build a nice foundation. It doesn't have to be 24 hours, it doesn't have to be 100 %. But it does need to be consistent. You do need to set a nice pattern. If you set a nice foundation, then you don't need 100 %. You don't need 24 hours, you will get some results.

当然，如果你能整天说英语，这是最好的结果，对不对？但这对于那些英语好的父母来说都并不容易。所以有必要吗？不，再说一遍，（最重要的）是打好基础，是创造一个英语环境。所以你就做你能做的就行。让我们假设你是一个职场人士，你只有上午有一点时间，或者你只有晚上或周末有时间，没关系，你就在这些时候说（英语就行）。但是你要坚持去做。你建立一个常规，建立一个很好的模式，你就（给孩子）打了一个很好的基础。不一定要24小时，也不一定用百分百（精力），但它确实需要坚持。当你设定了一个好的模式，你（给孩子）打了一个良好的基础，那么你就不需要花百分百（精力），你也不需要24小时（不停地做），就能得到结果。

When parents speak English, is it better to speak faster or slower?

杰克大叔（Uncle Jack）： I don't think this is a really important question, like I don't think it's that necessary. I think parents should speak slowly and clearly. You want your child to understand your language. It's the same with Chinese. When you speak Chinese to your child, you usually speak slowly and clearly, so your child knows how to use that language, how to pronounce certain words and and to understand ideas better. As a teacher in the classroom, I will test a child's understanding by speaking a little faster. But again, we don't want to bring the classroom into the home.

我不认为这是个很重要的问题，因为我觉得它没有必要。我认为父母应该慢慢地、清楚地（对孩子）说话，（如果）你想让你的孩子理解你的语言。（学习）中文也是这样。当你和你的孩子说汉语时，你通常会说得很慢很清楚，所以你的孩子就知道如何使用这种语言，如何发音，以及如何更好地理解你的意思。作为一名教师，我（有时）会说得快一点来测试孩子的理解能力。但是，我们不需要在家里做老师该做的事情。

杰克大叔（Uncle Jack）： That's true. I've been using it, but I absolutely 100% do not recommend it for children, right? It's important for children, especially when they get into the primary years, when they're getting into school, to enunciate their words. If they do not finish their words, then they will have a very difficult time later on in life understanding how to spell or which words are being said, which words are being used. It's more important for them in the early ages, especially, to enunciate their words. Once they get older, sure they can choose to use those reduce forms, like gonna, wanna shoulda. They're pretty useful for speaking. It can be important for listening skills, to understand, maybe what an American is saying. But it's not important for you to use that language. It's not important for your child to use that language, especially at the early stages of their life. They want to practice their mouth muscles, right? They want to speak correctly. And in, actually, in all of my classes, I think I've only got one reduced form, and that is “gotcha”, because it's such a fun word to use when we're playing hide and seek. But for the other words, I do not suggest it at all. Practice proper enunciation.

那倒是真的，我一直在用连读，但我绝对不推荐孩子也用连读，明白吗？这对孩子们很重要，特别是当他们跨入小学阶段，当他们进入学校后，（需要能）清楚地发音。如果他们不能（清楚地）发音，那么他们将有一个非常困难的时期去理解如何拼写，去理解哪些词在说，哪些词在用。对他们来说，早期发音，尤其是清晰地发音更重要。一旦他们长大了，他们当然可以选择使用这些连读的方式，比如，gonna, wanna shoulda.它们说起来很方便。连读或许作为听力技巧很重要，（因为）你可以理解一个美国人在说什么。但对于你来说不重要，对你的孩子来说，也并不重要，尤其是在他们人生的早期阶段。孩子们要练习嘴部肌肉，对吧？他们想说得准确。实际上，在我所有的课堂上，我只有一个连读的形式，那就是“gotcha”，因为当我们玩捉迷藏的时候，这是一个非常有趣的词。但换句话说，我并不建议（跟孩子）说连读，请练习正确的发音。