A second language is for talking with other people…guess what the best method for learning a language is?
Obvious?
Yes…but there is a reason for stating the flamingly obvious. If the primary purpose of a language is to talk with others, then it should follow that we should put much more effort into interacting with other people.
We don’t learn a language to speak to machines, to look at a screen, to write answers in boxes, answer multiple choices. It is true that we may need to do some of these things at some point – but the primary purpose of learning a language is to talk with other people.
And here is another amazing thing….when we talk with other people (and they don’t have to be fluent) then the rate of our learning accelerates – yes accelerates.
I feel sometimes we have been beguiled by technology as the holy grail of language learning. Yet the best way to learn a language is to talk to other people. It’s how we learned our first language.
Lise Eliot, a prominent neurologist explains:
“Babies, infants, and children (not to mention adults) learn best from interaction with other humans. It’s wired into us.
In order to learn, children need situations where the conversations are interactive, adaptive, and pitched at their level….this is true for learning in general and also for language learning”
In this modern age the opportunity to speak with other people is often overlooked to the detriment of learning, faster and more easily and having more fun.
Games that get the conversation going…in seconds
We produce games that help even absolute beginners make sentences in seconds…speak to others…score points…have fun…and build vocab. Its not high tech – its a humble board game, that has won a host of awards.
See how easy it is to make sentence. Can you imagine playing and having fun? Most people do. And then they are genuinely surprised at how much they have learned in a single game. By talking to other people. Strange that.
Related articles
- Recommendations: Culture, language and lifestyle (rinuslanguagecorner.wordpress.com)
- 3 Ways To Help Your Child Learn A New Language (howtolearn.com)
- 961. Learning a language as if by fun (teacherlingo.com)
- Four questions about language-learning, solved here (lovinglanguage.wordpress.com)
- Language revolution for Metropolians (metropoliablog.fi)
It’s easy to agree with you! I just had a conversation with some language advocates at work. They were talking about an internet application that the company bought a subscription to. I said we have all these people speaking multiple languages in our office, so let’s use that first. That’s what they want to learn anyway! Adults learn better interacting with people, too.
It is very strange. Departments spend enormous sums of money to procure technology that replicates human interaction, which is freely available and right in front of them. Why replicate human interaction when you can have human interaction? Much more fun and social too!AndrewFacebook Twitter http://www.kloogame.com Language Pie Blog AWARDSToyTalk Best Board Game or Card Game of the YearGood Toy Guide Award 2013Dr Toy Best Classic Toy 2012 National Parenting Magazine Award Dr Toy Best Travel Game 2012 Runners Up Language Product of the Year
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