Secrets of Language Learning Success

Secrets of Language-learning Success - by Daniel Stephens & Stefania Zamagni
This e-book was downloaded from: www.madrelinguaitaliano.com
Secrets of LanguageLearning Success

Daniel Stephens
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Secrets of Language-learning Success - Contents

About the Authors...............................................................................................................3 Welcome language learner!................................................................................................4 Secret no.1.............................................................................................................................5 Secret no. 2............................................................................................................................6 Secret no.3.............................................................................................................................7 Secret no.4.............................................................................................................................9 Practical suggestions.......................................................................................................9 Would a study holiday in Bologna help your learning?...............................................11 Secret no.5...........................................................................................................................13 QUALITY LANGUAGE TEACHING.........................................................................13 "METHOD" SCHOOLS: A MARKETING MANAGER'S DREAM!.............................13 TEACHERS ARE LIKE COPS AND DENTISTS........................................................14 Secret no.6...........................................................................................................................15 THE THEORY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING...............................................................15 TIPS FOR CHOOSING A LANGUAGE SCHOOL....................................................17 Secret no. 7..........................................................................................................................19 Secret no.8...........................................................................................................................21 The REAL value of studying Italian in Italy...................................................................22 Secret no.9...........................................................................................................................23 How to organise your studies..........................................................................................24 Secret no.10.........................................................................................................................26 Secret no. 11........................................................................................................................27 Summary: The 10 Secrets of language learning success!..............................................29 Can't get started?...............................................................................................................32
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About the Authors In 2005 Daniel Stephens and Stefania Zamagni started their own language school, Madrelingua, in Bologna Italy. Madrelingua means "native speaker" or "mother tongue" in Italian, and the name was chosen because of the belief in the advantages of having a native-speaker teacher. Daniel has been in the language teaching business since 1990, when he first worked as a language teacher (of English) in Ankara, capital of Turkey. There followed jobs in Britain (teaching Japanese children), Poland, where he was Director of Studies, and then Britain again, in some of the best London language schools. On his travels, he learnt Turkish to intermediate level, plus bits of Japanese and Polish (all sadly forgotten). Stefi was a linguist from birth, with a Swedish mother and an Italian father. She learnt English and German at School, then Japanese at university. In 1996 she decided to spend a year in the UK, and once there decided to do a course to become an English teacher, which was were she met her future husband, who was one of the trainers on her teacher-training course. A year later, tired of London, and in search of adventure, Stefi and Daniel moved to Bologna, where Daniel began work as a teacher at the British Council, the city's most prestigious language school, and Stefi gave birth to the first of their three children. In 2005, on the closure of the British Council, they started their own school, which is now recognised as one of the most professional and well-equipped language schools in the city, and employs more than 10 teachers.
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Welcome language learner! Welcome language learner, successful or not! We know how you feel, because we are both learners and teachers of foreign languages, and we meet hundreds of people every week with the same desire as you : to learn to speak a foreign language. Misconceptions abound when it comes to language learning, and unfortunately "success", however it is defined, seems less common than "failure", so this e-mail series is intended to clarify, encourage and support you in your journey to learn Italian. Do you feel that learning a foreign language could be beyond you? Would you say you are too old, too slow, or simply not "good at languages"? Take heart! Things may not be as bad as you think...
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Secret no.1 I have been teaching foreign languages to adults (and children) for nearly twenty years (see biography on the right) and in that time I have met precisely TWO people with an exceptional talent for language learning (both teenage girls, surprisingly), and maybe a dozen or so who were really incapable. Virtually everyone, therefore, fell into the "can do it given time and effort" category, so that means you too! My own French teacher at secondary school rated me "incapable" of learning a foreign language, but I have successfully learnt to communicate first in French, then Turkish and now Italian, the latter to a level when I run my business completely in the language. So, I am well placed to tell you secret no. 1 of language learning success: LANGUAGE LEARNING SUCCESS TAKES TIME! Lower your expectations - in a week or two, nothing much changes in your brain, except your attitude and motivation levels. Think medium-long term, and you will get results. You may not speak and understand Italian this week, next week, or next month, but if you keep at it and manage to keep interested, one day you will amaze your friends with your fluency. We promise!
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Secret no. 2 Secret no. 2 is a rather obvious one, but often overlooked. Have you ever signed up for a fitness club membership in January, only to have given up going by March? (In fact, the fitness club industry bases its entire business model on the expectation that you will do just that - they sell many more memberships in the new year than they actually have space for, knowing that you will lose interest fairly soon!) Motivation, then, is the key. If you have a REASON TO LEARN, your chances of mastering the Italian language are much higher. Italy is full of Polish cleaning ladies, Filipino maids, North-African drug dealers and Russian domestic assistants (apologies to anyone offended by these stereotypes), who all speak Italian fluently because it is essential to earning a living, and who probably never attended a private language course. Actually, language learning is a NATURAL human talent, and seems to happen almost "by magic" when we NEED to do it. Think of people who live in countries which have many languages in common use. African or Indian citizens with no more than a primary education, but who speak the language of their tribe or community, plus the language of the country, and maybe an international language (English, French) as well. If they can do it, so can you! What does this mean for me? First, you CAN learn Italian. Second, BE PATIENT, it's going to take a while! Third, if you don't have an obvious motivation (like being married to an Italian), FIND REASONS TO NEED THE LANGUAGE.
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Secret no.3 Secret no.3 is one of the really important lessons, but sadly one that many language-learners often fail to learn (and some teachers too!). One of the most natural things to do when starting something that you're not really sure how to do, like learning a foreign language, is to think back to previous experiences you might have had. Do you remember studying a foreign language at school? Perhaps in your school there was a syllabus based around a progressive study of the grammar of the language you were learning? It's likely you remember some of the tenses of the language you studied, even if you are now unable to speak or understand a word. So, when starting afresh with a new language, or picking up again with one that you've previously studied, many students reach straight for the grammar book. Teachers like grammar too, partly because they know their students like it, but also because it's very "measurable". Unlike the vocabulary of the language, which can be almost limitless in quantity and changes rapidly, there is a finite quantity of grammar to teach, so it's possible to organise lessons in a coherent way and give participants a sense of progress. You can measure the results easily too, unlike say with more communicative activities. A quick test, and hey presto! Learning is demonstrated to have happened, and all are satisfied! However, as anyone who has ever worked on the reception desk of a language school can tell you, virtually everyone in the market to buy a language course has studied the grammar before but failed to reach their goal to speak and understand. Potential clients arrive at our school saying that they studied the grammar at school, at home, with a private teacher, using a computer programme, or whatever, but admitting that they can't really manage to speak or understand the language. Often, they will specifically ask for a course in which they will be able to study the grammar again, on the assumption that the problem is simply that they don't remember what they studied well enough. Their assumption is that: KNOWLEDGE OF GRAMMAR = ABILITY TO SPEAK / UNDERSTAND And Secret no. 3? The above assumption is not true at all!
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THERE'S A LOT MORE TO LANGUAGE THAN GRAMMAR. In fact, it's probably possible to get by very well in a language without ever studying it at all! Think of the pre-school age children you know. They may not write or read much, but they can certainly speak and understand! Foreign language learning has parallels with the way that children learn their first language (see also Secret no. 1 - language learning takes time - do small children learn to speak immediately?) Conclusion? Any course based primarily on grammar will be poor in opportunities to develop essential language skills such as speaking and listening. You need to practise these skills, they don't just come naturally when you've memorised all the tenses. So, do yourself a favour, put away your grammar book and do something more useful!
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Secret no.4 Secret no. 4 follows on from Secret no. 3 It's simply expressed: If you want to develop a good understanding of a foreign language, YOU NEED TO READ A LOT. Here are some reasons why: -Reading is free, or cheap -There is a limitless supply of texts available -Texts in Italian are full of vocabulary and grammar in a context which will help you to learn both -You can get them free or cheap on the internet - Reading is motivating, interesting, and can enhance your life -Reading is a "natural" way to learn -Reading can "simulate" the experience of "being there". In fact, if you read enough, you may as well be there! Honestly, if you do nothing else, you should read! It must be the cheapest, most practical, and most effective way to "grow the Italian in your head". Personally, I learnt Italian almost exclusively by reading (which explains my horrible accent!). I was working as an English teacher in Italy and therefore dutybound to interact with my clients in English. But I knew from experience how isolating this can be in the long term, and was determined to learn to read Italian so I would not be "trapped" in the world of ex-expatriate English speakers. I vowed never to buy an English book or newspaper while l lived in Italy, and (with some exceptions) I have more or less stuck to my decision. The result? Without studying the language formally, I reached advanced level and became confident with texts of every type! "But that's because you live there!", you say. Ah, but my students of English live in Italy too, and I give them the same advice I'm giving you. Get some of the language you want to learn into your daily life, and soon you'll find you are improving naturally. You really DON'T need to live there. Practical suggestions Here's a list of things you can do RIGHT NOW to improve your Italian:
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1. Lock your grammar book in a drawer for a week. Find other ways to study. 2. Find websites in Italian which interest you (shopping, travel, news, etc.) and spend 10-15 minutes a day on them. 3. Set your "homepage" to your favourite Italian-language website, that way reading it will become a habit! 4. Buy a simplified book with audio CDs. Search for "graded readers" at www.italianbookshop.co.uk We recommend: listen and read first (quickly), re-read at your leisure, listen again in your car or on the bus (as many times as you wish). Then share the book with your friends who are learning Italian!
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Would a study holiday in Bologna help your learning?
Have you considered taking a few weeks out of your busy life to study Italian in Italy? Many thousands of people, of all ages, visit language schools in this country each year. Could it work for you too? WHY BOLOGNA? Actually, you really SHOULDN'T go to Bologna. You'll learn much more Italian if you go to Florence or Rome, where you can hear English spoken everywhere and there are thousands of people from your own country to make friends with! Only joking, of course. Studying in a city which has lots to do, but is not one of the top two or three tourist destinations will give you the chance to experience what life is really like in Italy. And you'll need to speak Italian whenever you order a coffee, buy something in a shop, or whatever, because life in the city does not revolve around tourists. Want to know what the Bolognese think of their city? "Si sta bene, a Bologna" ("You live well in Bologna"). Why would anyone want to go anywhere else? WHAT SORT OF COURSE WOULD I DO? Group? Intensive? Individual? It's up to you, really. Look at some course descriptions to get some ideas. The ADVANTAGES - you'll be exposed to Italian all day, so lots of chance to speak, listen, read and generally interact with the language - you'll be spending at least part of the day in the "controlled environment" of a language school, with professionals to help and support you The DISADVANTAGES - you'll be exposed to Italian all day, so lots of chance to speak, listen, read and generally interact with the language (this can be more stressful than you would
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imagine!) - cost, being away from your family and friends, having to adapt to being a student again. There are so many reasons NOT to make the decision. But how will you know, if you don't try? WHAT DID OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF IT? To read about the experiences of other students, visit our "Student's comments" page
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Secret no.5 Many learners will leave the decisions about what they study, and when they study it, to their teacher, or to the writer who prepared the course they are following. As you will read below, this could be a big mistake! QUALITY LANGUAGE TEACHING "50% of language teachers are below average. 50% of language schools too" At the time of writing I am owner of one of the many language schools in Bologna, Italy. There are around twenty private companies teaching English to adults in this city of 300,000 people, plus the six or seven schools teaching Italian. Three or four (including my school) operate in both markets. Of these (let's say 25) schools, 3 are associate members of AISLI, the national association for English schools, and two are members of ASILS, which is the association for schools teaching the Italian language. Madrelingua is a member of both organisations (you can check on their sites!), so the total number of "recognised" schools is 4/25. What does recognition mean? Recognised schools adhere to "minimum" standards of quality, their teachers have some sort of contract, there will be facilities and guarantees for the clients. Yet these basic requisites for quality are too much for four fifths of the schools in the market! Moral: choose your language school well, it's all too easy to end up in an unregulated institution where quality will be left to the individual teacher. "METHOD" SCHOOLS: A MARKETING MANAGER'S DREAM! Some of the strongest players in the language learning market are the "method" schools. Psychology discredited in the 1950's still serves as the basis of the syllabus in many of these schools, but more importantly, is at the core of their marketing. How much easier to sell a "magic method", "guaranteed to work or your money back", "just sign here", than to offer a service in which success, to a large extent, depends on the client!
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So avoid any school claiming to have a faster, more effective solution. Languagelearning, like many things in life, takes time and effort; there there are no magic solutions, and any "proper" school will tell you that at the outset. (If you are interested in the theory of language learning, read on to Secret no. 6, below!) TEACHERS ARE LIKE COPS AND DENTISTS There are good cops and bad cops, lazy cops and hard-working cops, some who are just starting out and therefore lack the wisdom which comes from years on the job, others who are marking time before their pension. Anyone who watches American movies or reads detective fiction knows this is true! So why should the same not also apply to other professions, such as language teachers? Many of us are mediocre, unimaginative, lazy, de-motivated, or just busy thinking about something much more interesting than you and your grammar problems. Does it matter? Well yes! You're paying good money for your course. You don't want to be fobbed off with a time-server or an incompetent! You deserve a "proper" teacher, a professional, someone who will teach you the way you need to be taught to bring out the best in you. These people exist, and guess where you're going to find them? That's right, in the pricier schools, which pay reasonable salaries and offer stability and longer-term prospects. The schools who don't try to fool you with magic methods, but sell the services of experienced staff, in a nice environment, with good materials and facilities. So do yourself a favour! You wouldn't choose the cheapest dentist in town. Why go for the cheapest language school? Secret no. 5, in a few words: LET THE BUYER BEWARE!
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Secret no.6 THE THEORY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING Why should you care about the theory of language learning? You want to get out there and talk to people in bars, right? Well.. ever had the experience of taking your car to the mechanic, but not knowing how to evaluate the mechanic's advice? Should you agree to pay 2000 for these extra parts, or is the mechanic inflating the bill unnecessarily? You'd wish you knew more about cars, wouldn't you? And unlike getting your car repaired, not only do you have to pay for your language course, you also have to spend hundreds of hours of your precious time on it! How do people learn languages? What works best? Well, actually this is a lot more complicated an area than you might imagine. A colleague of mine, who spent two years studying for a master's in Applied Linguistics (yes we DO have GREAT teachers at Madrelingua!), seems to think that it isn't actually very clear how we learn languages, but that there are general principles which can help us do it better. Wikipedia can explain this much better than me, so if you have time for some "serious reading", follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_language_acquisition Or, if you want something much SHORTER and EASIER TO UNDERSTAND, try reading Stephen Krashen's ideas. There's a summary here: http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html So, Secret no. 6 is: SAVE TIME AND MONEY. GET WISE! LEARN HOW WE LEARN, AND USE YOUR NEW KNOWLEDGE TO PLAN YOUR STUDIES Why choose a "recognised" language school?
Life is too short and our budgets too limited to waste time on study holidays which
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don't deliver. But how to choose wisely? What factors will guarantee your language-learning success? Unfortunately, even the best school in the world cannot guarantee absolutely, 100% that in any particular week, every student will have a perfect experience. What they can do is to try and eliminate as many of the quality issues as possible, and offer a service which predictably gives value for money. Well trained staff, with experience, are the most important factor. Keeping those well-trained staff with experience happy and motivated in the medium to long term is also critical if the teachers are to pass their experience and enthusiasm on to their clients. Transparency, credibility, honesty, professionalism, commitment, experience: there are many qualities necessary to running a top-quality language school, as for any service business. Can you know for sure, in advance, that you're making the right choice? Not absolutely, because in part your happiness will depend on you and your own preferences. But you CAN minimise your chances of wasting your time and energy. Check out the association of language schools ASILS - do they inspect for quality? Do they have a charter, which members must adhere to? Who are members? Look at a few of the web sites to see if you get an impression of quality. Draw up a short-list of "recognised" schools in the areas where you would like to study. Sure, compare the prices, but be sure to read the small print to see what is and is not included. Choose a school which gives a damn what you think. Choose a school which has a reputation to lose. Don't choose a school which bases its appeal on offering the lowest price to the largest number of people.
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TIPS FOR CHOOSING A LANGUAGE SCHOOL I've worked in lots, and there's nothing like an insider's advice to learn how an industry operates... 1. Write an e-mail. Ask LOTS of questions. Do you get an answer? From a real person? Are the answers credible? 2. Visit if you can, or call, if you can't visit. Ask to observe a lesson, or talk to a teacher (and ask more questions!) 3. Ask about the methodology used. The correct answer should be: "Our teachers are experienced professionals who are trusted to employ whatever method is best suited to the needs of their clients", or something like that! 4. Read the small print. Does it seem reasonable and fair??? 5. Trust your "gut feeling". If you don't feel good about a school, there's probably a reason! What REALLY helps in language learning? What's the right balance between classroom learning and other learning activities? Obviously, some form of formal study, whether done alone or with a teacher, will be very helpful in providing you with the basics and in guiding your learning. However, many learners over-estimate the importance of the classroom work (or the grammar book) and underestimate the importance of the "out-of-class" activities. Are you learning to live, or living to learn? Your new foreign language will only have meaning in your life if you DO something with it (learning in order to live): work, have conversations, read books, have a love affair, whatever. There's no need to wait until you have a "complete" understanding of the language before you begin to put it to good use. In fact, many experts would argue that there
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is no such thing as a "complete" knowledge of a foreign language (or even of your own language!). So, don't wait! Start speaking, listening to, reading or writing now, and as a consequence you will create a "virtuous circle", which will continuously improve your language skills and increase your "level", as if by magic!
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Secret no. 7 You don't need to be told how many words you don't know in Italian. In fact, you may often feel that the words you don't know far out-number the ones you DO know, and at the beginning with a new foreign language it really is like this. Clearly, knowledge of lexis is a fundamental element of language-learning success. But how do you increase your vocabulary? Learning new words is not as simple as it sounds, for two reasons: 1. WHICH WORDS? There are so many unknown words, where do you start? Take any topic, "Driving a car", for example, and think of all the words you know in your own language which are associated with this topic: parts of a car, verbs for driving, the Highway Code, mechanical problems, verbs for things that cars do, etc. You could easily come up with a very long list of words which may be considered "basic" to any theme or topic. Where do you start? Driving a car? Cooking? Economics? Health? Most course-books and language courses will introduce the words gradually and link them to situations in which you can practise the language, and to important grammar structures. 2. WHAT DOES "LEARN" MEAN? Well, it's obvious what "learning a word" means, isn't it? You just need to know what it means... No, actually, it can be a lot more complex than that. You need to know its grammatical function, or functions (It's a verb!), plus the grammatical form, or forms (how to conjugate the new verb), the pronunciation (usually straightforward in Italian), the spelling (ditto), any homonyms (different meanings of the same word). And that's just to start! There are also the synonyms (other words with the same meaning), idiomatic uses ("Why do people say "What a cabbage!" in Italian?), register (level of formality), whether the word is specific to a certain region, profession, or generation, and so on. In fact, some words are so complex that you can spend a life-time and not know all of the meanings or uses. DON'T WORRY! THERE IS A SOLUTION
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Given the above, it's hard to avoid rushing to the conclusion that learning a language is a hopeless task, but no! Stop! There IS a simple solution, and that lies with the concept of CONTEXT. Instead of basing your learning entirely on the idea of studying words which you "might need one day", what you need to do is include exposure to lots of "real" language which will act as a context to the vocabulary items contained in it. What do I mean? Like this. Imagine you're reading a recipe for "rag" (Bolognese sauce, served with tagliatelle), and you get through the list of ingredients (onions, carrots, celery, etc.) with no problem. Then you get to the phrase: "XXXX the onions and carrots and XXX them in hot olive oil for several minutes". Oh! My teacher didn't tell me any cooking verbs. Panic! What shall I do? And therein lies the solution to the problems described above: the context provides you with much of the information you need (it's a verb) and, more importantly, it will tell you which words you REALLY need to know (the ones you see all of the time in the stuff you read, whatever it is). Moreover, it gives you enough clues so that you can begin to work out the meaning on your own, without a dictionary. Simply by repeated exposure to the same items in the same and in different contexts, your understanding of the word will grow and grow. So, secret no. 7 is: GUESS UNKNOWN WORDS FROM CONTEXT. Did you know, researchers have identified that one of the most important characteristics of a successful language learner is that they are "tolerant to ambiguity" (they don't freak out when they don't understand something). Instead they might just smile and nod (advice I often give to students!), and so the conversation or reading proceeds, and in due course other examples of the unknown word present themselves, or the concept is explained in other ways. Sooner or later, the problem goes away! Conclusion: you really don't have to understand every word when you read or listen. Be tolerant of ambiguity. Focus on what you can understand, not on what you can't, and you will create a virtuous circle (the more you read, the more you understand, the more you understand, the more you read), which will personalise and accelerate your learning.
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Secret no.8 Secret no. 8: MULTI-TASKING. Women are supposed to be excellent at it! Use time when you're busy doing other things to expose your brain to the context which will help it make the connections and "grow" it's understanding of the language you are learning. How? Got a computer with an internet connection? Got an Ipod? Then you can listen to the radio in Italian, or listen to a podcast. Ladies! Do the ironing (or cooking) while listening to the radio in Italian. Gentlemen! Listen to podcasts or stories in Italian on the commute to work. And if you don't understand? (It's VERY likely, so be prepared). Just "smile and nod", you will understand one day.
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The REAL value of studying Italian in Italy When you decide that your Italian studies need a boost, and that the only thing that can give you that boost is to get on a plane or train and come immediately to Bologna to do a course at Madrelingua (!), what do you think the real value of the course will be? 1. Making friends, with whom the "lingua franca" will be Italian 2. Exposure to the sounds and smells of the language 3. Forming "speech habits" 4. Building confidence 5. Finding sources of motivation 6. Exploring other interests, with added language practice! So, don't forget.. Your Italian course should not just be about studying the grammar. You can do that at home! Make the most of the social-program your school offers, and always, always speak to the other students in Italian, right from the first day!!
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Secret no.9 Secret no. 9 is BE THE ONE WITH A PLAN If you've ever seen the movie "The Shawshank Redemption", you'll know what I'm talking about. The Tim Robbins character, falsely sentenced to life imprisonment for a crime he didn't commit, makes a plan to break out of his cell, in the full knowledge that it will take him a very long time. Twenty years or so later, he succeeds. Why have a plan? - it's motivating (as long as it's realistic) - regular, brief study periods are easier to get done - to balance the different types of useful study activities (listening to the radio, reading a book, revising, studying the dreaded GRAMMAR, etc.) so that one of them doesn't dominate - you can focus on medium-term goals, rather than looking only at the short term - as long as you follow your study plan, you can watch TV and eat potato chips for the rest of the week with a clear conscience! This sounds like such a banal idea that almost no-one bothers to do it. Shame really, because it really works!
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How to organise your studies
Here's a sample weekly study plan, based on the assumption that the student can do 30 minutes a day, except Fridays, when she has her Italian class, and an hour a day at weekends. Remember, your study plan needs to work for YOUR life, so you should organise it in a way that it will make life easier, not harder! +++++++++++++++++++++++++ ITALIAN STUDY PLAN MON - 30 minutes before preparing dinner - revise grammar studied on Saturday TUE - 30 minutes before bed - read/listen to simplified book WED - 30 minutes at lunchtime Read Italian newspaper on internet, Do exercises on internet THURS - 30 minutes before bed - finish read/listen simplified book started on TUE FRI - ITALIAN CLASS! SAT - 60 mins - study 1 chapter from the dreaded grammar book! Do homework for Italian course. SUN -Re-read (slowly) simplified book done on TUE and THUR, listen again without text OTHER: during commute to work, listen on Ipod to simplified books previously read +++++++++++++++++++++++++ The key to a successful study plan is that IT MUST NOT BE BORING, and that IT
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MUST BE ACHIEVABLE. So, better to plan less and do more, than plan more but do less. And aim for a balance of different activities, not just grammar!!
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Secret no.10 Secret no. 10 is MOTIVATION! In my 20 years as a teacher, I have met precisely TWO people who had an exceptional language-learning ability (both teenage girls, strangely enough) and a grand total of ZERO people who were not capable of learning a foreign language at all. However, and most unfortunately, I would have to admit that MANY of the people I have taught or otherwise worked with have failed to achieve their languagelearning goals. Why? Simple: the greatest danger to language-learning success is simply that you will stop trying! Keeping your motivation high means: - being realistic in your goals (take your time, don't expect too much) - get used to failure (you will NEVER know Italian as well as you know your own native language) - measure progress by what you CAN do, not what you CAN'T do - don't beat yourself up. Trust me, there's nothing different about your brain. People who have succeeded at doing what you are trying to do have simply being doing it longer and/or have had better opportunities. Look at someone who has successfully learned a language. There's always an OBVIOUS reason why they succeeded where you seem to be failing ("But you were in a Chinese jail for 20 years. Of COURSE you speak fluent Chinese!"). Keep that in mind - there are (virtually) no miracles in language-learning, just people who get there in the end if they have good reasons to keep trying! And a bonus..
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Secret no. 11 Secret no. 11 (the extra one!) is a good place to end our series on language learning strategies: DON'T BE AFRAID OF MAKING MISTAKES. You may have heard that making mistakes is "bad". In the 1950's, Behaviourist learning theorists (if you've heard of Pavlov and his salivating dogs, that's what Behaviourism is) maintained that learning was the result of a process of action + reward/punishment which eventually led to the creation of correct (or wrong) habits. So, for example, if your child does something wrong, and you reward him with an ice-cream, he will repeat his bad behaviour, but if you punish him he will be less likely to do so. Conversely, rewarding correct behaviour will "reinforce" the action and thus result in learning. This would be more or less most people's idea of how to train a dog, but many of us would believe that children (and languagelearners) are more complex, because aspects such as motivation are also present. Behaviourists would advise correcting mistakes immediately, so as to avoid the creation of "bad habits". In fact, the whole idea of "free" speaking practice would have been suspect, because of the danger that other students in the class would inadvertently learn bad habits from mistakes made by their fellows. Only "controlled" speech would have been acceptable, and any mistakes corrected immediately. Things have moved on a bit since the 1950's, first with the notion that language learning was not simply learned behaviour, but actually the result of an innate mechanism in the human brain which was programmed to acquire language (Chomsky). Subsequent approaches to language teaching and learning emphasised that "communicative" methodologies were the best way to stimulate language acquisition. Communicative situations, by definition, are less controlled, so the "danger" of making mistakes no longer seems like such a threat. In fact, researchers looking at how children learn their first language have identified that children go through stages of using "wrong" grammar, which are consistent with their age and developmental level. Children's grammar, and the mistakes which are associated with it, is an example of a "meta stage" in the development of our knowledge of a language. Mistakes then, rather than being something to be avoided at all cost, are simply a natural result of the fact that your
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"current" knowledge of the language is still at an intermediate stage on the learning curve. From a practical point of view, it can also be argued that learners who are reluctant to make mistakes don't take risks with the language, and so are less likely to be involved in conversations and situations which "push the envelope" of their knowledge and as a consequence result in their language capabilities (NOT just the knowledge of grammar, don't forget!) improving. Conclusion? Get out there and make mistakes! Get used to the idea that you'll never be perfect, and the chances of approaching perfection become greater. Counterintuitive, but true!
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Summary: The 10 Secrets of language learning success! Just to make sure you don't forget, here is a complete list of the Secrets of Language-learning success. We hope you found them useful! Secret no. 1 1. LANGUAGE-LEARNING SUCCESS TAKES TIME Lots of time. Your ability to communicate with words, and to understand the words of others, was developed over years or decades. Think a few hours of classes will enable you to do the same in a foreign language? Think again.!
Secret no. 2 2. YOU NEED A REASON TO LEARN Sustaining any effort over a long period needs a constant stimulus to action. We get lots of opera singers studying Italian at Madrelingua - lots of operas in Italian. Go figure.
Secret no. 3 3. THERE'S MORE TO LANGUAGE THAN GRAMMAR Grammar is easy to teach, easy to learn, but doesn't result in fluent speech or easy understanding. The neural networks that do those things are somewhere else in your brain, and they need nourishing too.
Secret no. 4 4. YOU NEED TO READ A LOT! Where do you think you learnt all those words in your native language? Not from your Mom, or your elementary school teacher, that's for sure. Your decades of reading have shaped your knowledge and understanding of your native language. If you want to be a knowledgeable user of Italian, there's no way around it. You have to start reading a lot in Italian too.
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Secret no. 5 5. LET THE BUYER BEWARE We're lousy salespeople at Madrelingua. We tell you up-front how hard it will be and how long it will take. Beware of anyone who tries to tell you otherwise.!
Secret no. 6 6. LEARN HOW WE LEARN You wouldn't buy a car, just because the salesman told you to, would you? Do your own research on language-learning methodology. It won't take you more than a few hours, and you'll be able to put your teacher on the spot when you want to give her a hard time!
Secret no. 7 7. GUESS UNKNOWN WORDS FROM CONTEXT Dictionaries are great, in their place. But when you're reading, or listening, you need a way of dealing with unknown words which is quicker and doesn't obstruct the interaction. "Hang on! I'll just look that up in my dictionary!" will soon get old. If in doubt, "Smile and nod"!
Secret no. 8 8. MULTI-TASKING Find time to learn Italian by combining "learning rich opportunities" with other daily tasks. Listen to Italian books on your daily commute, for example. Or read Italian websites on your lunch break.
Secret no. 9 9. BE THE ONE WITH A PLAN Spending a little time organising your study time will pay benefits - you will find time to study, without making great sacrifices, and also achieve a more efficient balance between input (grammar, vocabulary) and skills activities (reading, listening, writing, speaking). Result? A more sustainable, more effective learning experience.
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Secret no. 10 10. MOTIVATION Recognise that this is your "Achilles heel". You lose your motivation, you fail to learn Italian. So spend more time on things which really interest you, than on the irregular verbs, which you WILL eventually pick up, if you don't lose interest in the language. Nurture your motivation, boredom is the enemy!!
Bonus: secret no. 11 11. DON'T BE AFRAID OF MAKING MISTAKES And finally.. if you want to learn to speak a language, you have to speak! Given that you don't know how to do it, it's inevitable you're going to make mistakes and feel embarrassed, but if that weren't the case, you wouldn't be trying to learn, would you? If you have something interesting to say (or if you're pretty), people will interact with you, grammar mistakes and all. As a consequence, you'll improve. If, on the other hand, your priority is grammatical purity, you'll not be much fun to chat with, and will have fewer chances of practising your Italian. End note: Nearly twenty years of living in foreign countries, teaching foreign languages, have taught me that what YOU think about language learning is NORMAL! Its normal to feel that you'll never get there, that it's an impossible task, that you're not clever enough. But it's not true! You can learn Italian. We hope this advice will help you!
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Can't get started? KICK START your Italian study program with an INTENSIVE ITALIAN COURSE IN BOLOGNA, ITALY WHAT WOULD AN INTENSIVE COURSE IN ITALY INVOLVE? - normally 2 hours of "input" (grammar and vocabulary) - then all together to the bar to drink coffee and chat in Italian - back to the school for the "practice" part of the lesson (speaking, listening, reading, writing) -lunch -(optional) two hours of homework, with a teacher to help you, if you wish -the social program - an aperitif with your new friends, cinema trips, pizzas, and all the while speaking Italian
WHY BOLOGNA? -few tourists (you really NEED to speak Italian here) -great food, famous the world over: tortellini, ragu', tagliatelli, mortadella, and lots more! -the oldest university in the world -quick, cheap train ride to get to Florence, Venice or Rome -lots of things to do, but small enough to walk everywhere
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HOW MUCH WILL IT COST? -home-stay accommodation just 112 a week -one week course 215 -no registration or materials costs -free, unlimited internet use (15 workstations available) so you can stay in touch with home or work HOW DO I BOOK MY COURSE? - fill in the booking form - pay the course deposit of 150 with your credit card, or by bank transfer -we do the rest! Book now!
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Secrets of Language Learning Success

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Secrets of Language-learning Success - by Daniel Stephens & Stefania Zamagni

This e-book was downloaded from: www.madrelinguaitaliano.com