Learning a Foreign Language – P1

I took a month (ok a bit more) break from learning Czech and Spanish to re-examine my progress which I am not too much happy about. Just by simply going to classes for two/three hours a week doesn’t really help me.  What it does is probably makes me feel good that “Okay I’m taking lessons.” But do I learn really? Classroom and teacher are only some aspects of learning a foreign language.  I’m a holistic learner/doer, thus I tend to accomplish things more easily only once I see the situation from all angles and link them all together to create a customized process of my own. I found an article which I think is very good at summing up many factors in learning a foreign language.

Naturalistic’ method
=> You should learn a foreign language as if you are a native speaker learning the first language, similar to the learning process of a child.

•     All classroom activity should be conducted in the target language.
•     An emphasis on everyday words and sentences.
•     Carefully graded question-answer exchanges between teachers (native speakers) and students in small classes.
•     Correct pronunciation important.
•     Use of objects, pictures and demonstration to teach vocabulary.
•     Grammar, if it was taught, to be taught inductively.

Army method
=> Behaviourist psychology (conditioning – habit formation – ‘tabula rasa’ – punishments/rewards). Language is just a learned habit.

•     Great use of tapes and language laboratories
•     A lot of drilling
•     Repetition and memorizing of phrases
•     An emphasis on structural patterns rather than on meaning
•     Little or no grammatical explanation
•     Positive reinforcement of correct responses
•     Great importance on correct pronunciation
•     Errors must not be tolerated

Seven Characteristics of Successful Language Learners

• They have insight into their own learning styles and preferences.
• They take an active approach to the learning task.
• They are willing to take risks.
• They are good guessers.
• They watch not only what words and sentences mean, but also how they are put together.
• They make the new language into a separate system, and try to think in it as soon as possible.
• They are tolerant and outgoing in their approach to the new language.

The Teacher’s Role

• to motivate; to support the growth of pupils’ self confidence
• to stress some ‘obvious’ points about language learning
• to create situations that will make each pupil as active as possible
• to give pupils plenty to do
• to encourage discussions of ‘how to learn’ and to set activities that will assist ‘learning awareness’
• to convey a genuine interest in learning X
• to ensure that X is the classroom language

I will try the Army boot-camp method and find a teacher who fits the aforementioned criteria or persuade him/her into one.  

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