UND-Pilsa Blog

A Series Overview

“Teaching English in Colombia” will be a series of about 20 to 25 articles. The focus will be on providing prospective TEFL English teachers with a flavor for each of the major city areas, along with enough starting information to at least give them some idea about what each of the locations has to offer. Since many may be foreign nationals, it is assumed that information like local specialty foods, drinks and living conditions will be of some value, although I’m taking care not to provide too much information that might “date” the material, as this would render the work nearly useless in a relatively short time.

Not intended to be an all-inclusive work either, we will simply present the basics for each city area with enough to go on to make contact and/or an investigative visit of even further value. Where to go, how to get there and major EFL schools / institutes that could be contacted in advance to ascertain interest are provided for each city / area. For hotels, restaurants and other travel - tourism specifics, candidates should consult the most up-to-date Colombia travel guide book they can get in English or Spanish.

Important Features

A few important features contained in this series include:

• 3 to 5 area-related photos: Historic / tourist sites, schools, interviewees, parks

• An opening scene which is designed to feature some facet of local everyday life

• City / area features: population, location, principal industry / products

• Commentary on local special events, holidays, celebrations, festivals

• Historical data/ cultural aspects that may be of some relevance in day-to-day living

• Food & drink specialties of each region

• A one-page List of Schools and Institutions with TEFL teachers on staff

Note: The online article-marketing published page differs from the commercial E-book or report in that the article-marketing piece will NOT have photos, graphics, illustrations, be more than two pages long or have more than one page of school / institute listings with descriptions and / or reviews.

Each article or E-book chapter will detail one city area only. When a location warrants support for additional listings and other criteria, a Part 2, Part 3, etc. will be added as subsequent chapters. The cities planned to be elaborated on in this article series are:

City Area Articles / Chapters

1. Cali - Capitol of Salsa Music

2. Bogota - A Capitol City in the Clouds

3. Medelln - City of Eternal Spring

4. Pasto - In the Shadow of Galeras Volcano

5. Pereira - The Growing Heart of the Coffee Region

6. Armenia - The Coffee Region’s Business Central

7. Manizales - Some Like It Hot, Some Like It Cold

8. Popayn - The White City

9. Buenaventura - Colombia’s Pacific Coast Pearl

10. Cucuta - A Sun-drenched Frontier Town

11. Bucaramanga - The City of Parks

12. Ibagué - If You Want to Meet Juan Valdez …

13. Neiva - Pride of the Opitas

14. Cartagena - Caribbean Jewel of Colombia

15. Barranquilla - Always a Carnival

16. Quibdo - In the Steamy Heart of the Choco

17. Monteria - Center of Colombia’s Nickel-Mining Empire

18. Villavicencio

19. Florencia - Orchid City of the Amazon

20. Colombia: An Overview

Summary / Conclusion

The summary will offer a concise round-up of features, benefits and “caveats” presented for the city / area, allowing the prospective TEFL professional to have a balanced view of each of the locations. Alas, we do not live in a perfect world. Each location will have its own items on the minus side of the ledger. While I have made every effort to be as object as possible, I am human. As such, there are areas I like more than others. There are schools I like more than others too, although I will endeavor to keep my personal prejudices out of the way as much as practically possible. This should aid you in making up your own mind. In fact, you should check all information for yourself as much of it is subject to change through the fault of nobody in particular.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch has taught English as a Foreign Language in Colombia since 1995 and is the author of “Living in Colombia: A Practical Guide”, “Teaching English in Colombia: A Guide for TEFL Professionals” and “Insights on English Language Teaching: What TEFL Teachers Need to Know”. E-mail him at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com for more information.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an ELT Teacher Trainer, English language learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. He has published more than 350 articles and academic papers and presented at numerous EFL teacher training and TEFL conferences throughout North America, South America and Europe. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

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This is another installment in our series of mini-articles on Language Acquisition.

Although it is commonly believed that children acquire a Second language quickly and effectively, research shows that the same could be the case with adults, given certain conditions.

The wealth of evidence clearly demonstrates that there is by no means any biologically determined constraint on the language learning capacity that emerges at a particular age, nor any maturational process which requires that older language learners function differently than younger language learners.

This of course does not imply that younger and older learners acquire the language in precisely the same way. Every stage of your life has different advantages and disadvantages, and the same applies to language acquisition. For example, older learners can benefit from what already know not just about language but about life experinces. They can memorize rules without problems and even analyse and understand subtleties of the language. Children, on the other hand, have the advantage that they are not afraid of making mistakes or errors while they try to talk. As you may know, language is acquired through a trial-and error process. This freshness so common in children is difficult to find in adults and plays a decisive role in second language acquistion. It is through errors (in context) that children start to build their internal grammar of the language, without being consciously aware of this process. While interacting with others, through trial-and-error they become aware of what is right or wrong in the language, but even if they make five hundred mistakes in an hour, they feel nothing about them. It is just as natural as breathing. They do it all the time without being aware of the process. In this respect, think of an adult. While making the 3r or 4th mistake in a row, her or she starts to feel guilty, dries up, starts to think of what s/he is going to say for fear of being embarassed, and finally s/he says very little, just “to be on the safe side.”

In addition, when it comes to pronunciation younger learners certainly start out with a “foreign accent” just like older learners, but they are more willing to experiment with unfamiliar sounds and sound sequences that simply blend into the array of sounds that are part of their native language. Adults, in contrast, have a well-rooted phonological system and find it harder to incorporate those new sounds unfound in their native tongue. It is for this reason that we can see that after a certain amount of time, children develp a native-like pronunciation whereas the adults who can boast the same achievement are really few and far between.

In spite of these differences, there is no evidence to claim that there are biological differences between language acquisition in children and adults. Actually the opposite is true: there is no particular age when the ability to learn a second language declines. What is more, linguistic studies that have analyzed the errors of older and younger learners who learn in similar contexts have concluded that they make very similar errors. This clearly suggests that both children and adults use similar cognitive processes to learn a second language.

So now you know. If age has been the deterrent factor for you to learn a second language (or third or more), that is no longer a valid excuse! Language can be acquired at any stage of your life, regardless of your age. So what are you waiting for? There is no more time to waste!

Julio Foppoli is a teacher of English as a Second Language, teacher of Spanish as a Second Language. He is also the creator and owner of http://www.esaudio.net/Spanish, an online educational website with a technological edge, specialized in the teaching of Spanish as second language via audio-conference to native speakers of English from all over the world.

The website offers free listening comprehension activities with Spanish from all of the Spanish speaking world.

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Do you think that you can’t learn a new language? Think again. Our brains maintain the capacity to soak up new knowledge of all types far into our advanced years. No matter what your background or past learning experience, you CAN learn to speak another language using these six quick techniques.

There are a multitude of reasons for wanting to speak the lingua franca of another people; travel, business, education, personal pleasure, even family or friends. Indeed it’s no small feat to habla espaol, parlez francaise, or sprechenze Deutcsh, but the prestige, financial gains, personal satisfaction and envy that can accompany this easily nurtured skill can be most rewarding.

But, “Can I really develop good communicative skills in a new tongue?” you may well ask. Yes, you can if you’ll use these 10 quick tricks for heightening your language - learning experience and incorporating your new language into your everyday life.

1. Take a short course: A number of language courses are immediately available in most areas at a local community college or university. Courses in the continuing education department tend to be more consumer-oriented, less academic and more focused on the prospective needs of students like you. The internet likewise abounds with foreign language course offerings. You can learn Swedish, Norwegian, Danish or Finnish via multimedia at http://www.caselearning.com. The Definitive Worldwide Guide to Learning the Thai Language and Studying Thai Culture is online at: http://study-thai.com if you’re up for the exotic.

2. Mimicking: “Mom, he’s mocking me!” Have you ever heard this complaint when one sibling repeated everything the other said? One imitating word - for - word the speech, sounds even actions of the other? It’s called mimicking and it’s so effective you’ll be using this technique to get talking in record time yourself. The procedure is simple, you repeat exactly, word-for-word, everything your model says. That model can be a newscaster, character on a soap opera, documentary narrator or the voice coming from your tape player or radio. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect. Just start by trying to get your tongue around the words. You’ll acquire speed and ease with practice. You may feel silly at first, but persevere. You’ll get there sooner than you think.

3. Reading Aloud: One of the most effective language-learning tricks is to use the counsel found in The Bible itself at Joshua 1: 8, “…and you must in an undertone read in it day and night, …” and again at Psalms 1:2 stating, “… And in his law he reads in an undertone day and night.” Read passages in the target language aloud to yourself. This powerful technique not only develops speaking and pronunciation skills, but contributes to listening comprehension, vocabulary and grammar too.
Almost any reading material in your target language will do as long as it’s interesting and fairly short. You wouldn’t start an English language learner off by reading “War and Peace” now would you?

4. Watch TV: If you have cable, is there a station broadcast in the language you’re interested in? Many metro areas carry programming in Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. Even Chinese and Hindi are available in some regions. Check with your cable supplier or programming guides to see what’s listed. Programs to watch are the news, soap operas and documentaries. Have a VCR? Tape a couple of programs and play them over and over to accustom yourself to the flow of the language. Many VCR models have slow-motion and stop-action features allowing you to slow down the program to aid your understanding.

5. Listen to Music: In Japan, English students karaoke the Beatles. In Latin America, students mimic Bruce Springsteen. In Africa, the Backstreet Boys rule the airwaves. Lip-syncing popular songs is all the rage for English language learners, so why don’t you turn the tables and use it to your advantage. Check at music shops and bookstores for song CDs and tapes. Ask around for recommendations on where recordings in your target language might be available. Ethnic restaurants and shops are another good source for music or referrals. Lyrics to literally thousands of songs are available online. Songs are frequently available online in many major languages. Check the local library. The internet will yield hordes of song titles and stations worldwide in dozens of languages. A good online source for starters is www.live365.com which has live global feeds 24 hours a day in multiple languages.

6. Read: Stop at the library for a grammar book and some reading material. The grammar book will be an infrequent guide through those rough spots when the target language grammar differs substantially from English. But don’t overburden yourself with grammar and rules. A copious variety of entertaining magazines exists in most major languages and unless you’re learning Cochimi or Kukapa, you should be able to find something. A newspaper, general interest magazine, the bible, brochures, even comics can help you along. Short articles are best at first. Although you can wade through one or more of those in a matter of minutes, your personal satisfaction at doing so will be boundless. Try www.amazon.com for hard-to-find titles.

You can’t pick your family; but you can pick your friends and you can pick conversations with native speakers of your target language. In the supermarket, in the mall, in the park, a restaurant or a convenience store - almost anywhere you happen to meet or run into a native speaker of your new lingua franca, don’t just stay there mum - say something. People are generally flattered that you’re trying to meet them on their own terms or in their own language and are usually more than happy to chat. Surely, you can say “Buenos Tardes” to someone passing down the aisle in the supermarket. It’s also great practice for breaking the ice when you finally light out for foreign soil.

These quick tricks in conjunction with a short language course will make your language-learning efforts less painless, more interesting, more pleasurable and much easier. Try to do something each and every day. Just think how green with envy your friends are all going to be - and start packing your bags.

Larry M. Lynch is a writer and photographer specializing in business, travel, food and education-related writing in South America. His work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, South American Explorer, Escape From America, Mexico News and Brazil magazines in print and online. He travels researching articles throughout Latin America and teaches English at a university in Cali, Colombia. To get original, exclusive articles and content for your newsletter, blog or website, contact him at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com.

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Now, you decide to learn how to speak English. There are many online resources that can help you improve and practice you English. Now if you are like most other ESL students reading this article then you already have a fairly good notion of the English language. You most likely are looking for a place to practice and enhance your English skills. So, here are four easy steps to do just that.

1. Preparation
There is no need to start from the beginning, since you already a fairly good notion of English. Take stock of your current skills and find out where you are weak. Once you know what you need to learn…all you have to do is learn it.

So, pick out something from your list of things that you know you need/want to learn. Take a few minutes to analyze why you want learn this information, and make sure you focus on that particular point while studying. It is super easy to get side-tracked onto other topics.

If you do see something of interest while you are on your search for information…make sure to take note of it so you can come back at a later time. But for now…FOCUS on the task at hand!

2. Practice
Now that you know what you know what you want to learn, jump over to Google or Yahoo and do a quick search on your chosen topic of interest. From there you should be able to find sites that will provide you with tools and resources such as audio files, video files, exercises, and tests to practice what you want to learn.

3. Use
Alright! You are ripping, raring, and ready-to-go! You studied what it was you wanted to learn, and now you need to put it into use in real life situations. Use what you just learned on your friends and acquaintances. Hit the forums and try out what you now know. Try to use it at least thirty times to really assimilate it well and make it a part of you.

4. Evaluate
Once you are done for the day, sit down for a few minutes and evaluate how you did. Did you learn everything that is required? Are you still weak in certain areas of this topic?

If you have a strong determination to learn English, take note of these things. Start making plan now and start practice it tomorrow. Make sure to do these four steps everyday, and you will steadily see your skills progressing. So now…just go do it!

George Williams maintains many translator websites, including Language Translator, Latin Translator ,and Online Translator.

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It’s quiet in the house as I sit down to an early breakfast watching the TV news, a favorite book readied by me side for the commercials. A faint noise from above and a slithery sound on the stairs sibnals the premature arrival of my spouse, ready to do battle. ‘Good mornings’ are followed by a crashing a cacophony from the direction of the dishwasher which is being emptied. Then sink sounds plow through the air to my sensitive ears, completely covering the breaking news. the message in this performance is that there is a lot of work to do today and I had beter help her do it. I counter by mentioning al the things I had already performed to no avail. I suggest that she make out a list of projects waiting to be done but get only a long harangue on how the last list she made twenty years ago was half crossed off and the other half ignored. What a memory!

I have become adept at pattering on conversationally to a stony face and buttoned lips. The meaning contained in this feminine language translates that I have said or done something completely unsympathetic or have not done something supportive to her cause. I usually try to jump over this lack of communication by announcing the start of a new project dear to her heart, hoping that the real cause of her silence will reveal itself.

An offer to go shopping with her brings on a instant happy response, in spite of the knowledge of my notoriously short attention span toward women’s clothes and household knickknacks. She drags me through the stores looking for bargains, exchanging the items she bought last week for new ones. She asks my opinion on wall sconces, sweater sets, cooking pots, flower arrangements and glassware. My priorities are strictly based on function and quality. Her priorities are exact matching shades of color, how it will fit in with the other ten thousand knickknacks, and whether the store will take it back.

Soon I find myself three steps behind, finding places to sit down, getting into conversations with the sales people and mimicking E.T. saying “Home”. A remark that she never goes shopping with me to Sears Hardware or Crazy Max’s Electronic Wonderland is met with a blank stare, a half smile, and a look that means an out-of-hand dismissal of the idea. The only saving of the day is a nice coffee and yogurt break in the middle.

Through all the variations of meaningful looks, reminders of past mistakes and silent treatments, the expression I see on her face of pure happiness when presented with an unexpected bouquet of flowers or a needed chore done while she was last minute food shopping for guests makes her secret language all worth while.

Next year we’ll be married for 40 years. I’ve been in love with the same woman all that time. No, not great - if my wife finds out, she’ll kill me. Just kidding. LOL

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Do you ever wonder as a translator whether you can one day be good enough to translate English to Spanish without a dictionary?

Well, let me tell a short little story. When I was in college starting my training to become a Spanish translator, I always wondered if my language ability would ever be good enough so that I wouldn’t have to use a dictionary and I would be able to translate English to Spanish off the top of my head.

However, the more I studied, the more I realized how much is out there to learn about a language and that I would never reach that point of not having to use a dictionary. At first I was disheartened because I thought that having to use a dictionary would reflect on my knowledge of the language; however, I soon came to the realization that having to use a dictionary to translate English to Spanish is not necessarily a sign of weakness in a language, nor is it a crutch.

Dictionaries are an aid. Translators shouldn’t try to be “master translators” and think they are so good that they don’t need dictionaries. Even native speakers of a language often go to dictionaries to get more precise meanings of words, as well as synonyms and antonyms of specific words. Without dictionaries and other reference materials, translators put themselves at a disadvantage in their work.

It’s like a doctor working without medical reference materials. There always comes a time when they have to consult other resources and not rely on their own knowledge. They owe it to their clients to consult every resource at their disposal. In the same way, translators owe it to their clients to use every means they can to translate English to Spanish or any other language combination in order to provide the best product they can deliver.

So don’t fall into the trap that I did and think that your translation skills will only be top-notch if you never have to use a dictionary. Nothing could be further from the truth. Professionals realize that by relying on outside resources and materials, their skills will only improve. So will yours.

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Spanish Classes

If you successfully completed at least The Learnables and The Pimsleur Spanish courses then you are ready for the formal study of Spanishgrammar. I cannot emphasize enough that if at all possible you also complete the course work that the company Bilingual America offers as well.

I know that this is very costly. I know because I’ve paid the price myself for these courses. But what do you want? Do you want to become proficient in the language or do you want to start with formal courses that do not teach you spoken fluency? With the former your investment pays off, with the latter you are pouring money down the drain.

Now, at this point the very logical question may come to mind that after paying all that money for The Learnables, The Pimsleur Spanish, and The Bilingual America courses why should you take on more course work, for more money, at the college level? And, you may be right.

If what you want is spoken fluency and you do not care if you learn to read and write in the Spanish then formal grammar course may not be for you. I get that. It makes sense. But if you want to now go after the ability to read and write in the target language NOW is the time for formal study in the classroom.

After completing The Learnables and Pimsleur Spanish, I attended four months of Total Immersion course work in Guanajuato. This was nothing more than the same identical course work available at any U.S. college or university only it was taught completely in Spanish. Same method, same grammar, same everything only totally in Spanish.

I am convinced that had I NOT had the preparation of at least The Learnables and Pimsleur Spanish that I would not have made it in the formal coursework. What I learned in the formal classesthe grammatical structuresmade sense to me instantly because I had developed a high degree of spoken fluency BEFORE I entered the formal grammar sequence of study.

So what you can do is now that you have some fluency in spoken Spanish is to simply enroll in Spanish I at your local college or university. You will, as I wrote earlier, receive a textbook, workbook, CD or cassettes, and a class syllabus for the class. It will seem painfully simply because of your previous preparation but will be an easy “A”. In fact, I believe you will be able to “cruise” through the Spanish courses with ease, or at least much easier, because of your study with the methods I outlined in the previous chapters.

This formal coursework will prepare you for the study of Spanish literature if you so desire. It will also enable you to read other works in Spanish from the newspaper to novelsif that is what you so desire.

What about the Total Immersion courses in Mexico?

Total Immersion

Going to the host country of the targeted language has always taken on a sort of mythical quality. It has been believed since, well, since I was in college believed that you could not learn a foreign language unless you went to the country associated with the target language and engage in Total Immersion.

What is not commonly known is that most of these programs require that you have at least 4 semester of the target language before going abroad. This was true more than 32 years ago. I do not know what they now require if anything.

Here is the myth. It is believed that if you come to the country of the language of your choice that some sort of linguistic hocus-pocus will one day swoop down on you, possess you, and you will one day know the language. I mean, really, come on! Let me set you straight right now: There is NO magic in spending a small fortune in coming to live and study a foreign language in its host country! The Spanish fairy is not going to show up some night, while you sleep, and do the “now-you-know-Spanish” spell over you. It is NOT going to happen.

The only difference in you coming to Mexico to study Spanish is that all the classes are going to be taught in Spanish and it will using the same method used in the United States. You will get a textbooksometimesand attend a conversation class. You will have to still study your buttocks off. The only difference is that in the host country there are more opportunities for practice.

But here is what we seeall the time. These American kids come here and hang out with other American kids. They spend what precious time they have in Mexico speaking English with their companions instead of hanging out with the locals and speaking Spanish.

This is one reason why the so-called Total Immersion experience is a waste of time and money! If what you are going to do is spend all your out-of-class time hanging out and speaking English with your fellow Americans then what is the point? We see this too in adult students who come to the private language schools.

No wonder America is only 9% bilingual!

Here is another problem with the Total Immersion experience. There is the false expectation that if you haven’t one word of Spanish under your belt that you can come and enroll in a beginner’s class and start learning. Nothing can be further from the truth. First there is the myth that there is some sort of magic in coming to the host country to learn the targeted language and second is that these schools will take you at the absolute beginning levelWRONG.

All of the schools in Guanajuato, and most of the others I have contacted in research for this article confirm what my experience already taught me.

When you come to the country of the language you are trying to learn and enroll in one of the private schools, you will be coming into the beginning, or the middle, or at the end of a sequence. What I mean is this:

When I first came to language school in Guanajuato, I came into an intermediate class that was already into the 4th week of the sequence. They did not start a new intermediate class just for me. I was stuck in a class where 4 students had already been going through intermediate instruction for 3 week before I got there. I came into the 4th week of instruction.

If you are a rank beginner and do not even know the Spanish alphabet much less the difference between the verbs ESTAR and SER, you will not necessarily come into the beginning session of a beginner’s class. Do you get what I mean here? You will be sandwiched into the level at which you test but you will be put into the instruction where everyone else is presently at!

We heard of a lady from America who had absolutely no Spanishnone! She paid for three months of a very expensive private language school at the beginning level. To her unsuspecting shock and surprise, she was put into a class of beginners who had been there for a while in the cycle of the beginning class.

You have to see the school’s logistics in all of this. They could not start a class at all the different levels all the different enrolled students would test at. Just think of it. You could have 100 students all at different levels so you would have to have 100 different classes and teachers for these classes. You have to have “cycles” of levels of instruction in which to insert the students.

Most Americans do not know this when they enroll in Total Immersion classes in foreign countries.

At the University of Guanajuato, they do have classes that start at each semester. So, you could be a rank beginner and begin a rank beginner’s class with the rest of the rank beginners at the start of the rank beginner’s cycle. This operates just like classes in the United States. The private schools, however, cannot do this. You might “luck out” in one of the private schools and happen to time your study vacation when the beginning of a beginning, intermediate, or advance level cycle is starting but don’t bet the farm on it!

Expatriates Doug and Cindi Bower have successfully expatriated to Mexico, learning through trial and error how to do it from the conception of the initial idea to driving up to their new home in another country. Now the potential expatriate can benefit from their more than three years of pre-expat research to their more than two years of actually living in Mexico. The Plain Truth about Living in Mexico answers the potential expatriate’s questions by leading them through the process from the beginning to the end. In this comprehensive guide, you will learn not only how-to expatriate but will learn what to expect, in daily life, before coming to Mexico.
BUY BOOK HERE: http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1581124570

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So, you are want to learn Spanish. With all of the different options available, it may seem like a formidable task to determine which learn-Spanish package is right for you. There are dozens of ways to learn, whether from a local university, a booktext or audio, telecasts, webcasts, personal tutoring, etc. Two things are for sure: 1) plenty of high-quality resources are available for learning Spanish, and 2) no single method is superior to all other methods of learning Spanish.

To determine which method of learning Spanish is best for you, consider these five questions.

1. What is your budget?
2. What do you want to learn? Proper grammar and verbage or just the essential Spanish phrases? Or maybe a little of both?
3. What type of learner are you? Are you more visual, oral, hands-on, or somewhere in the middle?
4. How much time to you want to put into learning Spanish? Do you need to learn super quickly or do you want to go at a more leisurely pace?
5. For what purpose are you learning Spanish? For a job? To get a date? For traveling?

Once you’ve answered these questions, begin your search for a learn-Spanish program at the bookstore, or better-online. To find a reputable program, do your research. Ask questions, get references, and do your homework. In the end, you will glad you did because you will have a program that fits your needs, tastes and style.

J. Romriell, developer of The Language Center, reviews learn-Spanish programs for adults, children, and corporations. You can read her analyses at http://www.thelanguagecenter.net.

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As we saw in our previous mini-article, children acquire language through a subconscious process during which they are unaware of grammatical rules.

Their interaction with the environment (i.e. primarily parents and people they have constant contact with) added to their innate capacity to acquire language results in a perfect or almost perfect mastery of their native tongue in a relatively short period of time.

In other words, their need to communicate added to their innate capacity plus the exposure they get from their environment drive their language acquisition process.

In short, it is through interaction and meaningful communication that they acquire the language.

What is important to highlight here is that although this is the process we all go through while acquiring our mother tongue, this mechanism is not restricted first language acquisition. And that is great news for us!!!

In a second language setting , that is to say, with people learning a second language and of any age group, by applying the same principles that rule first language acquisition we can make our students “acquire” the language naturally.

What does this mean?

That to gain mastery of a second language it is necessary to have a classroom in which…

a)communication, NOT grammar is the absolute focus of the class AND

b)everything presented must be meaningful to the student.

Reflection:

Think about your Spanish learning for a moment.

Have your lessons revolved around communication and meaningful interaction?

Do you feel the approach used by your teachers has been appropriate in the light of current research? Explain

This is the end of the second in our series of mini-articles on language acquisition.

By Julio Foppoli Teacher of English as a Second Language, Teacher of Spanish as a Second Language, Creator and owner of http://www.esaudio.net, an online educational website with a technological edge, specialized in the teaching of Spanish as second language via audio-conference to native speakers of English from all over the world. The website offers free listening comprehension activities with Spanish from all of the Spanish speaking world.

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Note: This article makes special reference to the effect of learning syles in the learning of Spanish but the principles are valid for all language learning.

LEER ES PODER!
Learning Spanish!

How can you best learn Spanish? It depends on your particular approach to learning. Take a look at the following approaches to learning Spanish. But if you already know where you are, you can skip the following reflections and go back to see what is available for your level ( beginning, intermediate, or advanced ) in Spanish, to sort and search for your specific needs, as well as to read reviews and summaries of the books that strike your interest.

DIFFERENT STYLES

Non-Virgins: Those who studied another language should use the skills they acquired with that language. They know what a conjugation is. They know that verbs are different from nouns. Their previous study gives them some mental hooks to help with their Spanish. They should not throw away their advantage by working on Spanish in a completely conversational manner. They should try to get an overview of some commonplaces in the language. They should get an “old fashioned” grammar and lean heavily on the tables to organize their thought. This type of learner should “invent” Spanish on the basis of what they know of the other language. They will remember a little of the structure of the other language. For example, what is the relation between adverbs and adjectives in Spanish? What is the most common way to express what happened yesterday (past tense)? If the other language is a Western language, they should observe the possible similarities. If the other language is non-Western, the very differences can be their starting point to learn the counterparts in Spanish. In short, they should study “the wrong way”. This is not for everyone. The learner should know his or herself.

Brains: These folks will operate much like the Non-Virgins. They will progress better by concentrating on the little points that intrigue them such as the difference in usage between the prepositions “por” and “para” and the verbs “ser” and “estar”. To master one or two of these elements so characteristic of Spanish will help the learn build on their conquests to go on to master other things. This analytical approach will be of great utility to the persons with the cerebral learning style.

Motor Mouths: The persons who are not afraid to try out their Spanish will progress very rapidly. These folks probably have a little genetic edge over the rest of us. However, we all should try to put together the pieces as we learn them. If there is no opportunity to talk with someone else, then we can tape our attempts. There are two parts to this early talking practice: confidence and pronunciation. The most important thing is to gain confidence or to be thick-skinned enough to speak your piece, knowing that the exercise will pay dividends. However, we should not put off working on our pronunciation until it is too late and we have given up on acquiring a valid accent. There are too many people who after living years in a Spanish speaking country are perfect in their grammar but who have a typical or even stereotypical English accent. There is no need for that. Spanish is perfectly regular in its phonetics. Motor mouths should also work on their accent!

People People: Anyone who likes being with people and who has a need to communicate will progress quickly in learning a language. Many outgoing, friendly people learn language in the “motor mouth” mode. However, other people without the gifts of the motor mouths can gain valuable exposure to the language by just following their social instincts. These folks, however, should not overlook the need to speak correctly. Although they are not interested in traditional grammar in the same way the “brains” are, they must work at speaking correctly. We all know people who learned English years ago, but still say things like, “I am interested to go with you”. You don’t want to spend your life in Spanish with a similar easily corrected error. Learn it right as soon as you can. The people people have to stay curious about the language.

Learn-while-doing People: I was told once that the only way to learn French was to sleep with a French woman. The idea behind this is that we learn the expressions and words for the activities we are interested in. People who learn like this try to get their Spanish-speaking friends to accompany them as they cook or fix their car. They find that they learn better when their whole body is involved in learning the new words and phrases. For example, the person who learns the word “serrucho” while sawing a board will remember it better than the person (see the “word collector”) who just learns the vocabulary from a list.

Word Collectors: This person may be great at crossword puzzles (Crucigramas) in Spanish but rarely gets to speak it. If you find yourself learning words and not getting any further, break out of it! We once had a houseguest, a young man from Spain who came to learn English. There were times when our family would be talking Spanish, and he would echo all the Spanish words with their English equivalents. He had a great vocabulary but never got around to talking English. This kind of learner should alway make sure that they make up sentences to practice using the new words they learn. They can combine their ability with vocabulary with the “divide and conquer” tactic. They should not only invent sentences to use the new words; they should run through diferent grammatical constructions as the setting for their vocabulary.

Divide and Conquer People: Every learner of a foreign language has to learn to incorporate the learning style of dividing and conquering into their own style. If they are “brains” they should concentrate on one grammatical turn of phrase, such as conditions contrary to fact, (If my grandfather hadn’t died, he’d be alive today!) until they can handle it.
The people people should repeat in the same conversation the new expression that they just heard. The same goes for all the others. The only way to learn a language is by following the “swiss cheese” method, nibble away at the things you don’t know, and master them until they are all gone.

Lost Latinos: This person should try to remember the nursery rhymes that they might have learned in Spanish. They should run over the names of their cousins and uncles. All of this will loosen up their rusty language skills. They should listen to how others speak “spanglish” and try to figure out the proper way to say things. They should make a game of trying to spot the influence of English in the Spanish they hear at home or in the barrio. This detective work will make them more aware of correcting whatever bad habits they have picked up. However, don’t think that these persons have all the advantages. The person learning from scratch will probably spell Spanish words better than those who know a little Spanish. I’m not sure why.

What works for EVERYONE… There are two activities that will help everyone, no matter what their learning style, move forward rapidly: They are: 1. Passive Listening, and 2. Pattern Response Drills.

1. Passive Listening. Everyone should keep the Spanish radio on as much as possible. Keep the radio or TV on while you doing other things. It has to be the sea of sound that you swim in while you are beginning your study of Spanish. You don’t have to concentrate on it; you are not listening to try to understand. After a while you won’t hear it but it will be affecting you. Little by little you will begin to anticipate the rhythm of the language, even before you understand everything. You will also begin to recognize certain words. You will begin to hear “beyond” the differences in pronunciation of different people and recognize the underlying word. Once you clearly hear a word or phrase, you can look it up and progressively expand your vocabulary.

2. Pattern Response Drills. You have to run through all the permutations of the new expressions that you learn. For example, suppose you just learned to say. “Pedro tiene cuatro aos” rather than translating from the English incorrectly, “Pedro es cuatro”. Now to make this new element of the language stick with you, you should go on substituting different ages and the names of different people. You have to be able to say comfortably, “Mara tiene cuatro aos.” “Juan tiene ocho aos.” “Yo tengo treinta aos.” “Cuntos aos tienes t?” “Nosotros tenemos cuarenta aos.” This type of drill is necessary for all the different learning styles.

Do you want to return to look at beginning ; intermediate , or advanced books? Or you can check out other Books ON Spanish at: http://www.bookslibros.com/spanishbooks.php to help you out.

Or do you want to see our books IN Spanish? You will find books on health, the family, self help, literature, etc. and the possibility to search for any other topic. Check out http://www.bookslibros.com/LibrosEnEspanol.php

Kids Can Learn Spanish! Take a look at: http://www.bookslibros.com/SpanishForNinos.htm

Frank Gerace Ph.D has lived and worked in Latin America on Educational and Communication Projects. He currently teaches English in New York City at La Guardia College/CUNY. He invites learners of Spanish of all levels and styles to visit him at: www.bookslibros.com/spanishbooks.php

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