Foreign Language Resource No. 5: Make it Generative, Mr Spock

Putting foreign words in sentences helps them stick!

Use foreign words as building blocks to make sentences

The final part to my learning a foreign language tips is to make it “generative!”. It sounds technical but essentially it means that you should use words as building blocks to create sentences rather than learn them as discreet words that don’t connect. Many language learning systems encourage you learn words by rote or in blocks. This leads to a horrible phenomenon called Systematic Forgetting. You may have experienced it. You can remember the words for a few minutes or hours – but the next day – gone!

So when deciding on what products to buy, look to see if they encourage the placement of new words in sentences. It means you are not learning words like a parrot – but learning how to use those words to create something meaningful – and this is what language is all about.

Discover French with KLOO

KLOO language games do this. Every time, you learn a foreign word you are encouraged to place it in a sentence. Not that you have to worry about it – you’ll be too engrossed in playing and scoring points. The clever language learning principles that underpin KLOO language games do it automatically for you.

Words as building blocks not as islands!