The Linguist - language learning should be fun

Let kids read, no questions asked - more wisdom from #Krashen

2009-12-19T18:40:45-08:00

Here is another excellent letter from Stephen Krashen. This is of course the same position as that of Brazilian educator, Rubem Alves, who said ( I am paraphrasing) that nothing spoils the pleasure of reading as much as being asked to analyze and answer comprehension questions. This applies to kids in school reading their own language, and it applies to learning a foreign language.

Does accelerated reader work?

Sent to the Washington Post, Dec 17.

Accelerated Reader (AR) may be "the most influential reading program
in the country" ("If you're shopping, find the books that work for
kids," December 17) but there is no clear evidence that it works. It
fact, it might be harmful.

AR has four components: It makes sure children have access to books,
provides time to read, quizzes children on what they read with a focus
on details, and awards prizes for performance on the quizzes.

It is well-established that providing books and time to read are
effective, but AR research does not show that the quizzes and prizes
are helpful. Studies claiming AR is effective compare AR to doing
nothing; gains were probably due to the reading, not the tests and
prizes.

AR encourages an unnatural form of reading, reading focusing on often
irrelevant details in order to pass tests.

AR rewards children for doing something that is already pleasant:
self-selected reading. Substantial research shows that rewarding an
intrinsically pleasant activity sends the message that the activity is
not pleasant, and that nobody would do it without a bribe. AR might be
convincing children that reading is not pleasant. No studies have been
done to see if this is true.

Stephen Krashen

Free language learning for the Olympics.

2009-12-17T16:39:56-08:00

Free Language Learning During Olympics

Vancouver based online language system offers free lessons leading up to the 2010 Olympics

West Vancouver, BC, Dec 18, 2009 -- West Vancouver based online language learning system LingQ (www.LingQ.com), is offering free language learning to all residents of British Columbia.

"We are excited about the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler," says CEO Steve Kaufmann. "That's why we are offering free language learning on LingQ to all BC residents, leading up to the games. We want to help people prepare to receive visitors from all over the world."

"Whether meeting French speaking Canadians or international tourists, BC residents will get more out of the Olympics if they are able to communicate a little in the language of our visitors," continues Kaufmann. "At LingQ we offer French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, German, Italian, Swedish, Portuguese, as well as English for speakers of other languages! People can try as many languages as they want. Given that there are only a few months to go, though, sticking with one new language might be the wiser course."

In order to take advantage of this offer BC residents should follow these steps:

Email 2010 (at)lingq.com
Include your postal code in the email. (must be a BC postal code to qualify)
Your account will be upgraded to Basic Membership for 3 months. Hurry! This offer ends January 5th, 2010.

LingQ.com is an educational platform unique in its structured approach to natural language acquisition. LingQ as a Web 2.0 learning community, takes advantage of the Internet and new technology to enable people to help each other learn languages.

For more information please contact me personally by email.

Let the words overflow, the video.

2009-12-16T23:13:09-08:00

Here is the video I did on the subject of my recent post of the same name.

Introduction to #Chinese at LingQ.

2009-12-15T14:39:47-08:00

We intend to provide our newcomers with an encouraging introduction to the language they are planning to learn. I have drafted up some ideas of what this might consist of for French, Chinese and Japanese.

I look forward to comments. Is there anyone out there who wants to do one, either for these languages or for other languages?

Chinese can seem quite exotic when we first start out. No phonetic script. Everything is written in characters. Tones, wow! Can I really learn to sound like that? Let me assure you that Chinese is not only quite accessible, it has many features that make it easy to learn.

But first let's look at the difficulties. Yes it is all written in characters. I recommend that you use the romanized or phonetic script, pinyin, to help you get started. Lessons at LingQ are all in characters, but you can find pinyin converters on the Internet. Move your LingQ text to Print mode, where you can copy and convert them to pinyin.

If you are serious about Chinese, you should take the plunge and learn the characters. We do not have a specific character learning program at LingQ but there are many such systems available on the web. What LingQ offers is content and a way to get used to the language through a lot of listening, reading and word learning.

Tones, ah yes. It is difficult to remember the tone for each individual word. You just have to get used to the music and rhythm of the phrases. Like so much in language learning, focus on your listening first. Do not try to produce the tones until you have had a lot of exposure. Remember, though, that most languages, including English, have tones. It is just that in English, tones are used for emphasis in a sentence. In Chinese they are used to differentiate the meaning of words. You can do it.

Because of the tones, and the absence of a phonetic script, it can be a little difficult to get the hang of spoken Chinese, when you first listen to it. All the more reason to do a lot listening. Listen while reading pinyin on the screen. Then listen while reading characters. Then go away and listen, over and over to the same content. And don't worry about what you don't understand. If you have a favourite text or two, where you like the voice and the speaker and the subject matter, listen to them over and over again. The brain will gradually get the hang of it

When you start speaking, be confident that you will get better. Don't be afraid of making mistakes with the tones. You will gradually improve and never be perfect.

Now that the tough stuff is out of the way, let's get to reasons why Chinese is easy.

No masculine, no feminine, no plural forms. Nothing changes.

Verbs don't change. "I go today". "He tomorrow go" . With the addition of a word in front of your verb, you can easily indicate intention, or the future, or a range of tenses and moods that are so complicated in other languages. A little "le" behind the verb and it is the past tense. That's it. Verbs looked after.

Chinese is the original lego language. Words consist of two and sometimes three or more characters. Once you learn the characters, you can put them together to form compound words, in a great variety of combinations. Often you can take a stab at the meaning of new words, and they are quite easy to remember. There may not be any common vocabulary with languages that you know, but you can quickly build new vocabulary with your character "lego blocks".

Negatives are pretty straight forward. Usually the word "bu" or "not" is used. "I go", " I not go", "tall", "not tall", "yes", "not yes". You just have to remember that with things that happened in the past, you have to say "have not" as the negative. "I yesterday have not go". Negatives looked after.

When asking questions in Chinese, it is more like a multiple choice test with two options. "You go, not go?" "you eaten, have not?". It seems a bit clumsy at first, but you quickly get used to it and wonder why other languages don't do this.

There are few other wrinkles that are best left for you to discover on your own, but none are difficult to remember, once we get used to them. Often there is a work around. One example is the way Chinese uses counters. Just like we say a sheet of paper, or a flock of geese, Chinese have specific counters for many things. But there is also a general counter "ge" and it will usually fill in if you don't know the counter that is normally used. I found that it is difficult to make a grammatical mistake in Chinese. You can almost say things however you want.

The key to learning Chinese is to learn phrases. Perhaps more so than with most other languages, be wary of the complicated grammar explanation. Focus on phrases and patterns. Save lots of phrases at LingQ and watch them appear over and over. When you first start with Chinese it can appear more difficult than certain other languages. Once you are over the hump, it is a delight to have entered this fascinating culture, one that appears so distant, and yet can become quite familiar and certainly enjoyable.

Introduction to #Japanese at LingQ

2009-12-15T14:38:22-08:00

I look forward to comments. Is there anyone out there who wants to do one, either for these languages or for other languages?

Japanese is a flexible language. It seems that there are always a few ways of saying things, and each way conveys a slightly different tone. But you cannot really offend anyone if you stay with the simplest forms at first. As you become more familiar with the language, and have enough vocabulary, you can start exploring the world of polite language. Then as you start striking the right mood with your Japanese language, you start to feel as if you have arrived in this unique and rich culture. But to start with you just need to learn to understand.

Things may seem tough at first. Take the word for "I" for example, pronounced "watakushi". This really is quite mouthful for a beginner. Furthermore it is only one of several possible ways to say "I", each with its own mood or flavour. On top of that, the personal pronoun is often left out. But do not worry, all these initial difficulties just fade away with enough exposure.

Japanese has relatively few sounds and therefore is quite easy to pronounce. However, this means that a lot of words may sound alike at the beginning. Again these are just initial difficulties and it is important not to let them bog you down.

Looking on the bright side, nouns do not have gender, no masculine or feminine. What is more there are no plurals really. You just kind of tell the number from the context. It all works fine, and we find that we do not miss the plurals. You just need to expose yourself to a lot of content. Do not worry if things seem a little unclear at first.

You will soon realize the importance of the little words that come after every noun or pronoun. They help to direct traffic. Watakushi (I) can take a "wa" of "ga" if it is the subject of the phrase But if it is the object of the phrase, it takes a "ni" and so on. I recommend you LingQ these little words to see how they work. That way they will always be highlighted in yellow on your screen.

It is a good idea to learn to read the kana or Japanese phonetic writing system fairly early. Each symbol represents a syllable. There are two parallel systems, hiragana and katakana. The hiragana is more useful. The katakana is for foreign words or words that represent sounds. I would also start learning characters, which is a whole job of itself. There are lots of helpful website on learning Japanese Kanji.

The approach to verbs in Japanese is unlike European languages. First of all the verbs come at the end of sentences. Once you are aware of this, the language will be easier to understand. Not a bad system, you always have to wait till the end for the punch line, so to speak.

There are fewer tenses than English. Furthermore, the verb forms do not change for person and this simplifies the learning of verbs considerably. On the other hand there are various form of verbs reflecting levels of politeness. Don't even try to remember the rules for what to use when, you will gradually get used to it with enough exposure. What is more the rules are really not hard and fast, and you will not offend anyone regardless of which form you choose.

Endings of verbs are extremely important. They determine the tense of verbs, the politeness level, and can convey meanings like "if" or "in order to" etc.. Verb endings also determine whether a statement is positive or negative. Make sure you save the many forms of the verbs that you come across. You can tag them for later review in the LingQ vocabulary section. What is more you can search all of your saved LingQs by different endings. This will really help you get used to them.

One handy aspect of Japanese is that questions usually end in the little word "ka". It is sort of like a verbal form of the question mark. Really quite convenient when you want to ask something.

Of course, there is a lot more to Japanese, but that should help to get you going. From time to time, it may be useful to refer to some of the Japanese language resources you can find on the web or a small ( I repeat small) grammar book. But do not try too hard to remember all the rules. You will get used to the language gradually. As with most languages, initially the obstacles seem insurmountable. Do not try to nail things down when you start. Just be confident that with enough listening, and by LingQing key words and phrases, the picture will start to become clearer. Good luck.

Introduction to #French at LingQ.

2009-12-15T14:36:56-08:00

We also intend to provide our newcomers with an encouraging introduction to the language they are planning to learn. I have drafted up some ideas of what this might consist of for French, Chinese and Japanese.

I look forward to comments. Is there anyone out there who wants to do one, either for these languages or for other languages?

French is, to my ears, a lovely language, with its pleasant nasal sounds. In a way, part of what makes it pleasant is the fact that not only living things, but all objects, have to be either masculine or feminine. This is called gender. There is no rhyme or reason for the gender, except that the Romans did it. There are rules to help you remember which things are masculine (words that end in consonants for example) and which are feminine ( words that end in "ion" for example), but there are exceptions, as with most rules. You can find these rules on the Internet but it will be hard to remember them. It will just take time to get used to all of this and you will continue to make mistakes. Don't worry about it. I still make mistakes with gender and I do not worry about it.

Gender seems to influence a lot of things in French, but the good thing is that getting the gender wrong will have little affect on meaning. In any case you will need to focus on listening and reading and understanding at first. You will notice that words will have a masculine form and a feminine form. You will gradually get used to it by doing a lot listening and reading, and especially by saving phrases when you create LingQs.

French verbs, with all their endings, can seem a challenge at first, but I can assure you get used to them. You need to realize that the form of the verb, that is to say the endings, change with each person. "Je parle, tu parles, il parle, nous parlons, vous parlez, ils parlent". Since one of the delights of French is that letters are often silent, you may not hear the fact that the endings are different. This is great since you can fake it a little when you speak.

But there are other problems. There are many irregular verbs. So when we talk about going somewhere, we get "je vais, tu vas, il va, nous allons, vous allez, ils vont". Nowadays it is easy to Google "French verbs" and find tables with all of the forms of any verb you want. So I will not give any more examples here.

There are two very important verbs in French that are used to form the past tense. The verb which means "to have" , "avoir", and the verb that means "to be", "etre". The French do not say "I ate". They say "I have eaten" "j'ai mangé".. They do not say "I went". They say "I am gone" "je suis allé". Just be aware of it and watch as the forms of some of the verbs change. If you are confused you can ask on the LingQ forum.

I recommend that you save every form of the verb that you come across at LingQ. Each form is a different tense or person, and the phrases that come with it are different each time. Do not be stingy with your LingQing. The more you LingQ the better you will learn.

A few more comments and you are on your way. To ask a question in French you can either reverse the word order, much like in English, or use the pattern of "is it that you are going?" "est-ce que vous allez?".

As for saying "no" in French, the French are not happy just saying "I am not". They like to add another negative word. So they say "Je ne suis pas". Watch for the double negatives.

There are lots of French grammar resources on the web, or you may want to buy a small grammar book. Refer to these resources from time to time, but don't spend too much time trying to memorize rules. With enough listening, reading and LingQing things will start to seem clearer and clearer. Eventually, even the grammar rules will make sense.

Introduction to #LingQ

2009-12-15T14:31:08-08:00

There has been a little discussion at this blog about LingQ. Here is a draft of three part introduction to LingQ that we are thinking of making available to all newcomers to LingQ, in audio format, and in the learner's language. Once the content is decided we will of course translate it all. Comments welcome.

Introduction

Welcome. You are about to embark on an enjoyable journey of language learning and discovery. LingQ is different from most language learning systems. At LingQ you will not do grammar drills and exercizes. Instead, most of your time will be spent on things that are easy to do and effective, such as listening, reading and gradually increasing your vocabulary.

As someone who has learned a lot of languages, I cannot stress enough that language improvement is gradual and unpredictable. You cannot be a perfectionist, at least not at first. The kind of people who are successful language learners are people content to wander in a fog, bumping into the odd tree, or tripping on the odd stump.

This willingness to explore and embrace the unknown, not talent, is what separates the happy linguist from the frustrated learner. Don't worry about how to pronounce each word. Don't try to master each lesson, and all the new words. Just plan to enjoy the journey. It will all come together before you know it, if you just put in the time.

The more time you spend the better you will understand the language. Soon a number of things that were difficult at first, including the pronunciation of the language, will seem easier.

Language learning is a gradual, and natural process. You will steadily acquire new habits, the habits of another culture and language. Enjoy yourself!

Listening and reading

Spend most of your time listening. Once you have chosen an item to study from our Library, download it. Listen often on your iPod or MP3 player. Listen wherever and whenever you can, while doing other chores.

At first try to listen many, many times to the same content. As you progress you will not need to listen as often to each item. And don't wait until you fully understand one lesson before moving on to the next lesson.

Reading is another powerful learning activity. When you read at LingQ, save as many phrases and words as possible. This is called LingQing. You need to a lot of it, take my word for it.

Listening will help you in your reading, and the combination of both listening and reading will help you remember words and phrases faster than any other activity.

Remember, don't try to be a perfectionist. There are a lot of words and phrases that you will not get no matter how often you listen. It does not matter. You are getting used to the language. Things will eventually become clearer.

Keep listening and keep learning!

LingQing

Language learning is a journey of discovery, and the milestones on that journey are marked off in words. LingQ will help you learn words, and will keep track of your progress as you reach each milestone

A few words of advice.

Make a practice of saving a lot of words and phrases. LingQ words and phrases. LingQ the different forms of the same word. LingQ words that you think you know but are not sure about.

Try to review your new words in Flash Cards when you first receive them in your dailiy email. If you fall behind, or can't remember them, don't worry, though. You should be saving so many LingQs that you cannot possibly nail them all down. You will meet them again and again if you keep listening and reading.

The more LingQs you save, the more words are going to be highlighted in yellow in future texts. You will find that this is like a visual trigger that helps you learn these new words. Remember you need to meet words often to really get to know them.

When you want to speak and write, sign up for discussions with tutors, or submit writing for correction by our tutors. Get to know the people in our community.

Happy LingQing.

Let the words overflow.

2009-12-14T22:28:45-08:00

At a Japanese restaurant, it is quite common for the waitress to pour cold sake into your glass until it overflows into the wooden "masu", or cup that it is sitting in. This gives you a sense of abundance. It makes you feel good. You don't really worry about how to actually drink every last drop of the sake, because before it is all gone, your waitress will pour some more, and again overflow the glass.

The same principle applies to learning words in a language. I am always surprised at people who religiously study lists of words, trying in vain to remember them all. They go back over the ones they can't remember. But the fact is that some words are hard to remember and remain hard to remember for a long time.

I just let the words overflow. I find new words in my reading and listening. I save them by the thousands to my personal database which is much too large to review systematically. I review my saved words sporadically. But I keep on running into these words again and again in my reading and listening. Gradually I get to know them naturally, some sooner and some later.

In just over 3 years of Russian self-study at LingQ, I have saved close to 29,000 words. The system tells me that I know close to 59,000 words. Do I know them in fact? I can't say for sure, but when I open up new content to read, I see relatively few words that I do not know. I certainly did not review them all deliberately. I just let them flow over me, like sake overflowing the cup.

LingQ, #mobile learning, and established language centres

2009-12-13T14:35:30-08:00

As language learning evolves to a more mobile learning model, language schools at universities and elsewhere will have to evolve. Of course, we at LingQ will continue to evolve and develop.

I have always felt that LingQ was a natural for cooperative programs with existing language schools in this new changing learning paradigm.

It can be an opportunity for a number of things to happen.

1) Students can access a great deal of content and use LingQ's functionality.

2) Students can participate in an online community of language learners.

3) Students can tutor in their own language and exchange content and experience with other learners.

4) Members of LingQ can find out about these schools. Once people reach a certain level studying on LingQ in their own country, they may want to work on their language in a more intense environment, especially if the school is in the country where the language is spoken.

5) Language schools can teach how to use LingQ and other resources on the web.

I am sure there are more examples. I would be interested in hearing the views of others.

The issue is #non-renewable energy, not #CO2 emissions.

2009-12-12T11:58:32-08:00

I believe we should reduce the consumption of non-renewable resources, when renewable resources exist. We should create economic conditions that favour the use of non-renewable energy. I believe this for two reasons, first of all because I do not think we have the right to deplete resources that may be needed by future generations, and second of all because it is good for my wood business. If people used more wood, instead of steel, concrete, plastic, bricks, etc. we would save on non-renewable energy and other non-renewable resources. If the price for electricity were higher, we could afford to install a biomass power and heat co-generation plant at our sawmill. So higher taxes (or prices) for non-renewable energy are good for my business. My "green" ideology matches my self-interest, as is the case with many eco promoters. I am just more honest about it.

I think that energy produced from non-renewable sources should be taxed, causing the price of electricity and gasoline, for example to rise significantly. I do not believe the hysterics of those who think this would put millions of people out of work. We have seen the price of oil rise ten fold and more. We have seen dramatic changes in certain exchange rates, in Japan for example. Our economies adjusted. There was and will be no economic catastrophe.

On the other hand, I have no idea whether the climate change is primarily influenced by human activity. I have no idea if curtailing CO2 emissions will have any noticeable effect on climate change. I am skeptical of the global warming hysteria, and grow more skeptical in proportion to the propaganda and dishonesty and ideological fanaticism of many of the so-called ecologists. This is without getting into the self-interest of the hucksters like Al Gore, the profiteers who will siphen off most of any carbon-credit money flows, the third world countries who are looking for another whip to use to extract money from the developed world etc.

I believe that the economic growth and development of the industrial world has largely benefited the "third world", creating conditions whereby the population of the third world has increased by many billions of people, and whereby life expectancy has greatly exceeded historical levels.

Increased CO2 production has caused plant life to increase significantly in the third world , so that regardless of the impact of CO2 on climate, there would appear to be benefits from increased CO2 emissions. I do not think that the cost and benefits of increased CO2 production have been fairly evaluated. I do not think the developed world has any reason to feel guilty about its economic development and disproportionate consumption of resources. The modern technological world represents a better, healthier, more comfortable, longer living, safer, cleaner, way of life, one that the most countries aspire to, and one that more and more are achieving in all parts of the world.

I believe that these are all issues that we should be able to discuss calmly.

#Krashen - Just let them read.

2009-12-09T16:19:51-08:00

Here is the text of an interesting email from Stephen Krashen. I fully agree with his comments on the importance of enjoyable input.. It holds for language learning as well,

BTW I regularly receive emails from Krashen as I am on his distribution list. I gather that there are schools without adequately stocked libraries. They probably have reading specialists though. I hope that they buy their books at second hand stores, or do they buy special "scholastic editions" at inflated prices?

Dr. Jerome Groopman, interviewed in the New York Review of Books

(12/17/09), points out that in medicine, clinical guidelines drawn up
by committees don't last long: "A recent analysis of more than a
hundred evidence-based conclusions about clinical practice reported
that after two years more than a quarter of the conclusions were
contradicted by new data, and that nearly half of the 'best practices'
were overturned at five years." (see "Evidence-Based Practice, Best
Practices, and Other Lies " by Susan Ohanian,
http://susanohanian.org/show_commentary.php?id=734)

The LEARN Act insists on direct instruction, reinforced by frequent
testing (sometimes known as "skill-building"). A great deal of
research, done over decades, shows that direct instruction has very
limited value in the areas mentioned by LEARN (phonemic awareness,
phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension, reading fluency, knowledge
of text structure), and that most of our competence in these areas is
absorbed through extensive reading.

Dr. Goopman points out that half of the pronouncements of committees
on clinical guidelines were overturned in five years. Some of the
guidelines in the LEARN Act were overturned before the Act was
written.

Research about LingQ

2009-12-06T20:41:39-08:00

If any one is doing research on language learning, you may be interested in the following call for papers. It would be nice to do a project about LingQ.

Canada International Conference on Education (CICE-2010),
April 26-28, 2010, Toronto, Canada (www.ciceducation.org)

The CICE is an international refereed conference dedicated
to the advancement of the theory and practices in education.
The CICE promotes collaborative excellence between academicians
and professionals from Education.

The aim of CICE is to provide an opportunity for academicians
and professionals from various educational fields with
cross-disciplinary interests to bridge the knowledge gap, promote
research esteem and the evolution of pedagogy. The CICE 2010 invites
research papers that encompass conceptual analysis, design
implementation and performance evaluation. All the accepted papers
will appear in the proceedings and modified version of selected
papers willbe published in special issues peer reviewed journals.

The topics in CICE-2010 include but are not confined to the
following areas:

*Academic Advising and Counselling
*Art Education
*Adult Education
*APD/Listening and Acoustics in Education Environment
*Business Education
*Counsellor Education
*Curriculum, Research and Development
*Competitive Skills
*Continuing Education
*Distance Education
*Early Childhood Education
*Educational Administration
*Educational Foundations
*Educational Psychology
*Educational Technology
*Education Policy and Leadership
*Elementary Education
*E-Learning
*E-Manufacturing
*ESL/TESL
*E-Society
*Geographical Education
*Geographic information systems
*Health Education
*Higher Education
*History
*Home Education
*Human Computer Interaction
*Human Resource Development
*Indigenous Education
*ICT Education
*Internet technologies
*Imaginative Education
*Kinesiology & Leisure Science
*K12
*Language Education
*Mathematics Education
*Mobile Applications
*Multi-Virtual Environment
*Music Education
*Pedagogy
*Physical Education (PE)
*Reading Education
*Writing Education
*Religion and Education Studies
*Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
*Rural Education
*Science Education
*Secondary Education
*Second life Educators
*Social Studies Education
*Special Education
*Student Affairs
*Teacher Education
*Cross-disciplinary areas of Education
*Ubiquitous Computing
*Virtual Reality
*Wireless applications
*Other Areas of Education

Important Dates:

*Research Paper, Case Study, Work in Progress and Report Submission Deadline: December 15, 2009
*Notification of Paper, Case Study, Work in Progress and Report Acceptance Date: December 28, 2009
*Final Paper Submission Deadline for Conference Proceedings Publication: March 1, 2010
*Participant(s) Registration (Open): November 20, 2009
*Author(s) Early Bird Registration Deadline: January 31, 2010
*Author(s) Late Bird Registration Deadline: April 26, 2010
*Conference Dates: April 26-28, 2010

You do not need #language instruction in order to learn a language.

2009-12-06T18:36:18-08:00

You do not need language instruction in order to learn a language. That is right. It is not necessary. There is nothing wrong with it, but it is not the only way. In fact I doubt if a majority of people learn another language through formal instruction. Essentially you need time, motivation and activities that help you notice what happens in another language.

By far the most useful way to notice what happens in another language is to listen to the language a lot, and I have discussed this at great length here. Reviewing things in flash cards, grammar exercizes, teachers corrections, writing and speaking, and tests, can all help us notice, but are not necessary nor as effective, in my view, as lots of input, meaningful, interesting input.

Some teachers will say that formal instruction in the classroom is the only way. On the other hand I have heard teachers tell me the classroom is a ceremony without meaning, only necessary because many learners lack the motivation to learn, whether in the classroom or outside the classroom.

Some learners sit in class and demand a grammar-based instruction process with lots of explanation, although, often, the fact they are still sitting in class trying to improve their English, should be proof that this does not work for them.

Many adults have told me that they were forever frustrated trying to learn Spanish verbs, or Russian cases, or intransitive and transitive verbs in English, and were delighted to be in an input based system like LingQ.

It really depends on what you like. What you like will usually determined what works for you. So formal instruction is not necessary, it is just one option, and in my view not the best one.

Teaching Spanish to illegal American immigrants in Mexico.

2009-12-06T09:48:22-08:00

Let's assume I were teaching Spanish to illegal American immigrants to Mexico.

I use this example because of the ongoing debate at my language and literacy listserv on the role of language teachers. The prevalent view amongst the teachers on the listserv is that rigorous linguistics courses, theories about education, sociolinguistics, challenging values, teaching critical thinking etc. are essential to successful language teaching. I am pilloried for suggesting that learners simply be encouraged to listen to and read things of interest to them. In so doing I am indirectly implying that much of their theory is irrelevant, which is my intention, of course.

Many of their learners are immigrants (legal and illegal) from Latin America. So, if I were a teacher of Spanish to working class illegal American immigrants to Mexico, what would I do?

I would not encourage my learners to question the prevailing societal values in Mexico. I would not try to instruct them in critical thinking. I would not ask them to analyze texts, nor instruct them in how to infer meaning from their reading.

I would turn them on to the most popular Mexican TV and radio programs, magazines, comic books and eventually, novels. I would encourage them to find out about what their Mexican neighbours are interested in. I would prepare audio content with transcripts relevant to this popular content. I would encourage them to get MP3 players and do a lot of listening and reading. I would tell them that their Spanish learning is mostly up to them, and that their best teacher is the society and language world that surrounds them, and encourage them to explore.

Listening to stories is more effective than traditional classroom language study

2009-12-05T11:30:14-08:00

Beniko Mason has done a lot of interesting research on language acquisition. Here is a report on Japanese students learning German, which suggests that listening to stories is more effective than traditional instruction. Check out the rest of her website

Innocent till proven guilty?

2009-12-04T21:37:03-08:00

This article appeared on the front page of the Vancouver Province, implicating my friend and hockey coach Dusan Benicky in sexual assault of a minor, based on allegations about an event that allegedly happened over 15 years ago to an unidentified accuser. I wrote this letter to the Vancouver Province.

"Yesterday my friend Dusan Benicky was on the cover of the Province, accused of molesting a youngster from 1991 to 1994. I have known Dusan for about 30 years . My sons and grandchildren have been coached by Dusan, as have countless others, including NHL pros, and there has never been anything improper. But that is not the point.

Why does the Province participate in this public humiliation of an ordinary citizen, on the basis of allegations by an unidentified accuser? Why is this so important that is must be sensationalized on the front page?

The police are obliged to investigate these accusations. No doubt they have been persuaded that they have grounds for prosecution. As an innocent man until proven guilty, however, does not Dusan have some rights, for now at least, to have his reputation protected from the hysterics that you encourage? This would not be the first case of false prosecution for sex abuse. If the charges are shown to be groundless, what is left for Dusan?"

I saw another article in the local newspaper, the North Shore news, and sent a copy of my letter to their reporter who justified this sensationalism by saying to me,

"when a person in a position of authority (hockey coach, boy scout leader, teacher etc.) is criminally charged with child sexual offences as Dusan Benicky has been, it is a matter of public interest."

I disagree. I replied to her as follows.

"Child abuse hysteria, often groundless, seems to be increasingly common and the victims are typically teachers, day care workers, coaches and the like, who are vulnerable to accusation by people with various motives.

I think we, as a society, need to be mindful of the lives that are destroyed by the aggressive methods used by police to pursue these cases. People are innocent until proven guilty and the consequences of a wrongful accusation in such cases are often irreparable."

What do you think out there?

#Tiger Woods' values - words that do not mean anything.

2009-12-03T11:17:38-08:00

I, and others, have commented here about the way some words lack meaning and have become mere ornaments. We sprinkle our discussion with these words to dazzle others, to show how deep, how moral, how sincere we are, as if the fact that we use these words makes us exemplars of their personification. "Critical thinking", "creativity", "cultural sensitivity" are examples that come quickly to mind. These are terms that have lost any meaning in an absolute sense, at least to me. If they have meaning it is only in the specific action of individuals with reference to specific situations.

Even the term "values" is another example of an empty verbal bauble. Witness Tiger Woods who said, with a straight face, “I have not been true to my values".

Surely values are reflected in what we do, and not in what we say.

#bilingual dictionaries or monolingual dictionaries for language learners.

2009-12-02T14:47:50-08:00

I essentially only use bilingual dictionaries when reading in a foreign language, even for languages that I speak well. I have never understood the arguments in favour of using monolingual dictionaries. I guess it depends on how you use dictionaries.

I use dictionaries as little as possible. I want in and out as fast as I can. I just want a quick indication or hint as to the possible meaning of a word to help me through some context in a foreign language. A translation into a language that I know well, like my own, is invariably clearer, shorter and faster than some effort to explain a term using other words of the same language. Describe a tree, hunger, green, fast, or feelings using other English words, or do it with a translation into French or Spanish. Which is faster? The same is true going from a language I am learning into a language I already know.

But it all depends on your study habits. It just seems that the monolingual dictionary people seem to favour them as a matter of "you should" "it is better for you", and I have never understood that.

"anti #Anti-moon. A different take on things.

2009-12-02T11:45:05-08:00

Anti-moon is a popular website where language learners discuss and debate issues surrounding languages and language learning. The learning philosophy at anti-moon has many things in common with what I believe; the importance of input, the need for motivation, and the relative inefficiency of the classroom and deliberate grammar study.

There are, however, a number of important points on which we disagree and I will set them out here.

Here are some of their positions (in italics) with my comments.

Reading is easier than listening, concentrate on reading.

Yes it is usually easier to understand when we read, although by no means always. But it is easier to listen, just about whenever and wherever we want. Listening is tremendously beneficial to our reading. We need both listening and reading, but I have far more time available for listening than for reading.

Learn the meaning of every word as you encounter it.

This is impossible to do in practice, and futile to attempt. Words will click in when they do, and you cannot control it.

Learn to pronounce very word correctly when you meet it.

The pronunciation will get easier and easier over time. Stay focused on input, listening and reading. Worry about output when you are more familiar with the language.

Spend hours and hours of time on the Web, every day, learning English.

Simply not practical for most people. If you can spend an hour a day on your iPod enjoyably listening, you will do fine.

Use an English-English dictionary.

No. I find that a bilingual dictionary gives me a better, clearer and quicker head start into learning a new word. I will eventually learn the full meaning of the word from encountering it in many different contexts.

Study the example phrases from your dictionary.

I prefer to study examples from my listening and reading. They are easier to remember. The (online) dictionary is just needed to help me understand what I am listening to and reading. I do not study dictionaries. I find it hard to remember anything from dictionaries, definitions or examples.

Start speaking English with your best friend.

Massive input is more practical, in reality. Your best friend may not speak English well. A native speaker may not want to talk to you until you speak well. You can pay for a tutor but costs will quickly add up. I prefer to spend most of my time listening on my iPod and reading. Now that I feel more confident, I also talk with tutors at LingQ, but most of my time is still spent on input. It is just easier to organize unless you live surrounded by the language.

Use SuperMemo to memorize vocabulary.

I prefer to spend most of my available time listening and reading. My Flash Card review is random. There is not enough time available to devote myself to thorough vocabulary study using memory systems. My vocabulary has grown quickly, just the same.

Dialogue avec mon jardinier and Empties (Vratné lahve)

2009-12-01T23:05:21-08:00

My wife is away for a week, so the last two nights, after cooking myself a nice dinner, I watched two movies, one French and one Czech. Both were refreshing departures from the kind of Hollywood movie that has basically turned me off movies. One was Empties (Vratné lahve) and the other was Dialogue avec mon jardinier. I enjoyed them both. I am back on to watching movies, but tomorrow and the next night it is the Vancouver Canucks, unless they play as poorly as they did the last game in which case I may just read my book. I am reading American Caesar, the story of Douglas MacArthur, an excellent biography.