Classroom Foreign Language Teaching

Alexander Arguelles presents a series of video reviews and demonstrations of those foreign language learning series that he has found most useful in his own studies. For further information about the series, please refer to http://www.foreignlanguageexpertise.com/index.html

Category:

Education

Tags:

• polyglottery
• foreign
• language
• teaching

[caeliean]

I actually had a really good experience with a summer language institute in Chicoutimi, Quebec. There was a signed oath at the beginning that students use only French, or leave. Classes were mornings 4hrs, 5 days a week, with activities and sports filling out the other times (all in French). There were 14 people in my class and it was the biggest at the school. Most students were also in home-stays. My French blossomed more in those 6 weeks than in 20 years of public school.

[laurentius88]

Are some languages more difficult than others? Doesn't it just depend on your previous language experience - your native language plus others that you have learned or studied? I think for an Estonian, learning Finnish would be rather easy :-)

[link0zeldarulz89]

Man, he read my mind. I can't stand my classroom studies. I've found that my results from the classroom method are petty. I hardly know anything after 10+ months of learning German this way. I long to find a method that's promising in the near future.

[tsopa999]

This guy is works in Russia: all the books behind him are Russian and he's sitting in a class of a Russian school or uni.

[bavwill]

Would you say that learning the student's mother tongue is vital to getting successful results?

[svsimon]

In my experience, the most important thing is to integrate all the components in language learning such as grammar, reading, speaking in every class. Whenever grammar class has had one teacher and reading another and speaking another, withouth the teatchers actually working together, you will probably fail learning this new language. You cant learn how to drive just by studying for the written test, you must also sit behind the wheel and face traffic.

[Cosmored]

I found some good teaching material.

Google "Ferd'nand". These are comics without words. First I have he students describe what's happening and practice structures such as the subjunctive. Then I have them role play the situation. The result has been very good.

[bulgakov26]

Mr. Arguelles has produced an elegant description of what I and my colleagues knew intuitively. The key factor in language learning is not the teacher but the student. A good teacher will always search for a hook. Something which pulls in the student and ensures they will do what you tell them.

My expression is woefully inadequate in comparison to this man's. I'm delighted to have my own ideas confirmed so soundly. Thank you!

[bulgakov26]

Thenextscientist

you bring up a good point, I'd like to offer a possible answer.

What Mr. Arguelles is describing is an overall strategy. He explains that teachers and students differ and that the strategy must be adapted in each case.

In the case of dyslexia, his strategy will work IF the correct tactics are employed. I can't give statistics but I imagine that foreign language teaching for dyslexic students is undeveloped and your past teachers did not know the correct response

[accountsjbc]

I'm the Director of Studies at an English language school in Hawaii and I couldn't agree with you more: a good language teacher is herself a life-long language learner. I am astounded too often by the candidates I interview who have lived and taught abroad but have never bothered to learned another language. I've learned 6 & am a native English & Icelandic speaker. Now I'm enthralled in Finnish & Turkish-can't get enough agglutination & vowel harmony! Great videos. T

[xnightxamex]

i respond really well to classroom teaching. its really good at teaching grammar and maintaining progress while being really busy. the biggest problem ive noticed though now that ive branched out and tried to learn on my own is a profound lack of useful vocabulary. after 3 years of spanish in high school i still dont know all of the 1000 most common words. thats ridiculous in my opinion. like you said it has potential but often doesnt live up to it.

[InMooseWeTrust]

It's not impossible to learn another language. If that was the case, exchange students wouldn't come back to their home country as fluent speakers.

You're dyslexic, so obviously that makes it hard to learn a written language. Not much you can do about that.