Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
The How of Learning a Language
It does not translate into sitting at some desk daydreaming out the window, nor getting advice from poor speakers, nor obtaining all the answers in your own tongue. It involves being happily connected to the language you are studying.
Rock out to language learning on your MP3 player. Read what you’re hearing. Listen to and read items you have a particular interest in, items you can easily or mostly comprehend. As you continue at it you will grow more and more accustomed to the tongue. Just an hour of alone time is usually much more progressive than several of course time.
Beef up that vocabulary – you’ll require droves. Pay close attention to how words merge into phrases. Acquire more vocabulary via your ears and eyes. Make your own word lists to quiz yourself on using online resources. Don’t stress how well you can talk the talk until you’ve amassed a mountain of foreign words by listening and reading.
Let’s face it, if you don’t truly desire to learn a lingo, it won’t magically happen on its own. If it actually is your desire, however, then seize power.
Select interesting things to learn, things that you will look forward to devoting time to. Then find the foreign equivalents that you will need to comprehend to do that.
Don’t expect the language to be handed to you on a silver platter; you need to go it your own, like when you were a babe first learning to talk. Speak the language when YOU feel like it. Compose foreign messages when it strikes your fancy. Whether its Spanish, French, Chinese or Swahili, no one can get you to being fluent in another language but yourself.
Don’t become stressed over the words you forget, can’t comprehend, or can’t say. What’s important is that you are progressing and growing.
The language will ultimately become clear to you in your mind – it will happen on a time frame that you can’t completely determine. Don’t forget to have fun and spend enough time on everything. That’s all you need to be sure of results.
By: Jacob Lumbroso
About the Author:
Jacob Lumbroso is a world traveler. He writes articles on history and languages for and has used Pimsleur language audio courses to learn various languages.
Learning Foreign Language With Comfort!
Put 10 random people together who are learning another foreign language and you will probably have 7 or 8 different reasons and 5 or 6 different languages. Every answer is valid. In today’s global economy the demand for language skills continues to grow as governments businesses and organizations build relationships with foreign interests. Learning a language is beneficial in employment for two reasons; 1) it offers those in established careers the chance to progress either through gaining promotions or international travel and experience and 2) it opens doors to new careers and employment opportunities. Your local library probably has language learning resources that you can borrow, if you don’t want to start off the year with the expense of buying these materials. When studying on your own in this way, try to devote 10 minutes every day to a bit of study or revision, instead of doing 1 hour one day but then not finding the time to look at it again for a couple of months. . Activities are needed to help the international business person use questioning techniques more effectively and match them to an appropriate communicative strategy. Alerting clients to the potential for misunderstanding for giving and taking offence for having progress frustrated through not knowing the cultural norms of language use is surely a field those training managers to work across cultures should not neglect . The Indo-European Family is generally considered to consist of nine different brunches which in turn gave rise to daughter languages. See http://www.learnforeignlanguage.us/capitalizing-the-benefits-of-a-foreign-language/index.html
There is funding available for elementary schools if they choose to apply to learn a new foreign language. Spanish is an official language on four continents and is of historical importance elsewhere’ This makes Spanish an excellent foreign language to learn. For example, you can find employment as a foreign language translator, either in the United States or aboard. You can also work as a teacher of English as a second language to students in Italy. . Next they would start learning language from similar or different points comparing with native language. The only advantage of this style is that you see the other language in the root which helps you comprehend foreign language as the whole and integral system.
By: Elizabeth Harfleet
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Science of Learning and Foreign Languages
Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles
The theory of multiple intelligences, by Howard Gardner (Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences., 1983), provides the foundation for the seven learning styles associated with this theory. They are:
- Verbal – Linguistic: use language and words to understand
- Logical – Mathematical: inductive and deductive reasoning in using numbers abstract patterns to analyze information
- Visual – Spatial: visualize objects/dimensions and create internal images/pictures to understand how something will or might work
- Body – Kinesthetic: control your body’s physical motion
- Musical – Rhythmic: recognize tonal patterns
- Interpersonal: person-to-person communications, relate with others
- Intrapersonal: spiritual, self-reflection, and awareness
Everyone has many styles of learning and one is dominate over all other learning styles. Knowledge of your dominate learning style helps identify which program to select for learning a second language. See the first link at the end of this article to spend a few minutes answering questions to determine your dominate learning style.
Left-Brain, Right-Brain, Whole Brain Learning
Most instruction in educational settings is left-brain oriented, which means a focus on logic and reasoning (Logical – Mathematical learning style). This approach does not emphasize understanding, because traditional education emphasizes rote memorization of facts. Right-brain activities focus on creativity, such as feelings and the arts (Sperry, R.).
A foreign language program needs to focus on a whole-brain approach to support dominate and non-dominate learning styles. This whole-brain approach focuses on comprehension, as learners are encouraged to describe a visual image, draw pictures, use reasoning, and act out situations in which the language is used to understand new language context. This is a very good method for learning new language vocabularies through contextual settings. See the second link at the end of this article to spend a few minutes answering questions to determine if you are left-brain or right-brain dominate.
Brain-Based Learning
According to brain-based learning research (McClean, P.), although each brain is unique, everyone can learn a foreign language such as Chinese. Better foreign language programs take advantage of brain-based research and dominate learning styles to using a whole-brain approach with the following techniques:
- Orchestrated – immersion into learning environments
- Relaxed – elimination or reduction of anxiety and still challenging
- Active – internalization of new knowledge by processing information
A program should not be strictly lecture-based and depend on rote memorization of knowledge. The best programs use many different instructional strategies that fully engage you in the learning process. Based on this brain-based research to support internalization of new knowledge, emersion in cultural and personal experiences with a new language is important to relaxed and active learning. With the wide diversity of people in this country, there are many opportunities to use the new language in an appropriate cultural setting that helps you process and internalize the language.
Mastery Learning of Chinese
Another key to selecting a foreign language program is allowing you all the time you need to learn and master the language. Mastery of learning moves beyond rote memorization of vocabulary to a level that the new language becomes second nature. After reading the different theories of learning you can see that everyone uses different strategies and techniques to learn, even if they do not understand why. Another aspect with knowledge of your learning style is that you do not learn at the same pace as everyone else. The Chinese program we offer supports learning at your own pace and giving you time to master the language. Mastery is attributed to how we learn and the ways we use a new language (Glasser, W.). The following demonstrates level of mastery when Chinese is:
- 70% – Discussed with Others
- 80% – Experienced Personally
- 95% – Taught to Someone Else
Examples of Mastery Learning
An example of 95% mastery is to teach someone else the meaning of yi gong which means all together in Chinese. This is accomplished by having the person take scattered items and place them together while saying the Chinese word. This helps you to internalize and learn as you observe using a whole-brain approach in an orchestrated/active environment. This example uses dominate learning styles that are Logical-Mathematical or Visual-Spatial.
A second example of 95% mastery is to teach someone else the meaning of yi gong by having them follow your actions. This is accomplished by having someone else emulate your motions as you both gather scattered items and bring them together. Again this uses the whole-brain approach in an orchestrated/active environment. This example uses dominate learning styles that are Verbal – Linguistic, Body – Kinesthetic, or Interpersonal.
A third example of 95% mastery is writing a short song that uses yi gong in a pattern or change the words in a musical lyric to include yi gong. Keep the meaning of yi gong in context at all times in the song or lyric. After completing one of these actives, think about how this fits within any of your other actions or situations. This example uses dominate learning styles that are Verbal – Linguistic, Musical – Rhythmic, or Intrapersonal.
Science of Learning and Our Program
My Chinese Lessons provides all the tools that fit within any learning style to help you master Chinese. Visit our online library of Chinese Lessons, Chinese Games, and Teaching Methodology to learn more how we can help you learn Chinese. Do not forget to complete the online questionnaire and quiz below to quickly discover the ways you learn.
By: Mark E. Piscopo
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Top Foreign Languages To Learn
The assumption behind this question is usually that learning any language is an endlessly tiring task. For many, it’s a lot like asking “Which mountain should I climb first? The Everest or the Kilimanjaro?”
But what if I told you that you can master any language you set out to learn within 6 to 12 months? Would the choice of languages still be a problem?
You may be working on one or even several languages already, then it’s good that you know which languages you want to master. But if you don’t, you might be tempted to ask questions like “which are the top foreign languages to learn”, and “which language is the most useful?”, “which one should I start off learning?”
Some people may tell you that “the answer to your question “depends on the goal you want to achieve”, but something tells me that it’s not the answer you’d like to hear.
If you have ever asked one of those questions, I suppose you don’t feel strongly towards a particular language and just want to hear some general language learning tips, or maybe you just want to pick up a foreign language as quickly as you can.
But what if I tell you that the differences among all those “candidate languages” are almost negligible once you apply the right techniques? What if learning one foreign language is just as easy as learning another one? Which language would you choose to learn then?
The fact is, you should never listen to anyone who’s had a good or bad experience with a particular foreign language. Just because someone had a horrible time with Chinese doesn’t mean you will too. Everyone will feel differently about a specific foreign language according to his or her own education, background and social experience. By the way, did you know that Chinese is one of the simplest languages in terms of complexity?
The very reason that many people find Chinese such a demoralizing language is that Chinese is dramatically different from all alphabet-based languages. Asking a European to switch to a tonal language all at once is just as demanding as asking you to write with your right foot.
However, the same issue is not an issue at all for a new-born baby. Teaching a baby to speak a tonal language with much fewer grammar rules (Yes, day-to-day Chinese has much fewer grammar rules) could actually be more manageable than teaching the same baby a European language with a huge vocabulary and stringent grammar rules such as German.
With all that said, the top foreign languages to learn are:
Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic, Russian
Those include the official languages of the United Nations. Since you are already reading this article, I presume that your English is well beyond “basic”, which is why English is not included here. How about German, which is not an official language of UN? Let’s see… 25% of the European population speak it and it’s the second most popular internet language in the world. The reason German is not listed as a UN Official language is highly political. It should, in fact, be one of the top foreign languages to learn.
By: Owen Lee
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