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"This way of learning a language made complete sense to me. Working with the SpeakEZ German course, I was able to understand more in 2 weeks than in five years of German in school!"
-- Asbj�rn Finsnes
"The way in which this method is presented provided me with language that will suit me in a foreign country instead of a collection of unusable vocabulary words.
Those who have studied languages realize that looking-up individual words cannot convey a language in the correct manner. Becoming fluent means being able to verbalize ideas ; not learning technical rules and identifying the Past Predicate Indicative.
The audio part of this method has been my favorite portion of the learning process. Not only is the pronunciation slow and clear, but it is presented so that I remember the flow of sentences and concepts.
Thank you for the opportunity to work with this amazing program; it has been a blessing for me."
-- Destiny Yarbro, College Student
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Challenge Your Language Teacher!
by Nathalie Fairbanks
Have you ever thought about the difference between a math teacher and a tennis coach? Grossly oversimplified, a math teacher meets you in a classroom, presents some rules and then asks you to apply them in a few carefully chosen exercises. If you master the rules, you're in control of the exercises.
A tennis coach on the other hand meets you on the court. He might go over some basics at the beginning of a lesson but then hand you the racket and see how you deal with what's coming your way. When he sees you repeat mistakes, he'll give you a hint on how to better your game and maybe set you up at the wall, so you can practice that particular move. You know very well that being "in control" is a very relative concept for a tennis player.
How does that relate to language teaching?
For one, much of what happens in many classrooms tends to be modeled after a math class--rules, vocabulary, and exercises. You usually get to practice a few rounds of applying the rules with your neighbor, and maybe present it in front of the class.
Take a step back...is learning a language more like learning to play tennis or more like learning math?
Learning a language is about creating habits. When you have a conversation, infinitely complex reactions of your muscles, thoughts and emotions need to happen within microseconds, or the flow of speech is interrupted and everybody knows something's off--you've lost your train of thought, you have a word hiding on the tip of your tongue and can't find it, or your emotions block your delivery. Putting thoughts into speech truly is a miraculous process.
If you're not a native speaker, there's primarily one reason for you to stumble: lack of habit. You're trying to say something but can't find the right words or constructs to express your thoughts, probably because you haven't talked about this particular subject before, or because you haven't spoken much at all.
In time, you get into habits of speech and know which words to string together to say certain things or to ask something. These are patterns that get used over and over, and once you master them, you can vary them as much as you need to and express what you want.
You can probably sense what I'm aiming at here: just as the tennis coach sees something that you need to work on and sends you to the wall to perfect it, your language teacher should pick up on where your weak link is and give you a drill to practice until you don't have to think about it anymore. Then, he or she should be supervising how long and how well you practice that drill.
The reality though is that the classroom is not where real practice happens. It happens when you pick up the phone to call a colleague overseas, or in line at the grocery store when someone asks you a question in your new language. Where's your language teacher then?
The fact that many language teachers see themselves as "presenters" of material has a lot to do with the expectation of the students. If you take responsibility for your learning and talk to your teacher to address roadblocks that you encountered in your "reality check practice," you'll progress much faster than if you follow the old "let me show you and then we'll do some exercises" routine. Your questions will be to the point, and the answer you get will be meaningful. You'll be able to put it into practice right away--it won't be stuck in a notebook somewhere!
See your language teacher as a coach rather than a theorist. It'll speed up your learning like a rocket!
© 2008 Nathalie V. Fairbanks
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