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If you were to design ideal LearniProgram | ||
Tags: Ideal | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4086 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes  Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 1 of 6 24 September 2014 at 9:28pm | IP Logged |
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If you were to design an ideal Self-Learning Program, what would you do?
You are allowed to plagiarize parts from several sources, or simply use available sources concurrently with additional material you design. My program (German): 3 parts: «1» A dialogue based part (Assimil works nicely for this). «2» A rigorous grammar based part, with the grammar based part using high frequency words and particles with...high frequency in its sentences. Something like the first 7 chapers of Hugo, but more expanded out, with more examples. This part should also have full sentence translation exercises from L1->L2, not just fill in the blanks. «3» A dual language reader, utilizing the vocabulary and grammar introduced. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6913 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 6 24 September 2014 at 10:41pm | IP Logged |
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Slightly related topic:
What features in the best language course 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4525 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 3 of 6 25 September 2014 at 12:43am | IP Logged |
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Something like the old Naturmetoden courses (lingua latina, etc.), but with more grammar
instruction and without any testing. The content should be more enjoyable and more up-to- date. Plus it should follow the principle "same but different", ie. instead of having to read the same lesson 10 times, there should be 10 different stories using the same new vocabulary. Add an audiobook version and I'm all ears. Oh yeah, I want this for Finnish and Icelandic. There are enough good courses for the major European languages out there already. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| soclydeza85 Senior Member United States Joined 3911 days ago 357 posts - 502 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 4 of 6 25 September 2014 at 2:33am | IP Logged |
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I've thought about this many times. It would be a package with smaller sub-programs that would work certain areas. I'll use existing programs as examples, but I'm referring to the styles of their methods and why they should be mimicked.
Speaking (on the go) - something like Pimsleur. This would help the learner to learn how to pronounce while also teaching them common phrases and getting used to letting the language flow out of their mouth in guided way. Also, this portion would be audio only so that it can be used while driving, walking, etc. Grammar (book)- This would involve in depth grammar explanations with a listening aspect to it. Something in the vein of the Hugo series. Grammar (audio) - This would be a pure audio explanation of grammar concepts, something like Paul Noble or MT. This can be used as a refresher for certain lessons, or for busy people that don't have much time and would be better suited learning while driving, walking, etc. Reading/Listening/Comprehension - Assimil comes to mind for this part. Something where the learner listens to and reads longer dialogues. No grammar explanations though, as each lesson would be based on what has been learned in the grammar portion. This would act as the cement that binds everything together. Drilling - The drilling style from FSI comes to mind for this. Something that has the learner manipulating sentences based on certain grammar situations (gender, conjugations, tenses, etc). Supplements/Exercises/Fun/Other - I saw a brilliant idea once on Kickstarter; I forget the name but it was basically a virtual world that you can travel through and interact with characters in the computer in the target language for certain situations (unfortunately it never took off). Something like this would be good and allow the learner to have a bit more fun while practicing in a relaxed way. This part would also involve cultural notes, emphasis on idioms, maybe history of the development of the language etc. There would also be an online aspect where the user could view videos with explanations, video clips of dialogues, maybe some native materials, also an interface through which the user can interact with other members (forum, chat, social network). There would also be some form of SRS software, exercises and quizzes, though this would just be extra. Putting it all together The program would have a schedule to it - certain parts get done on some days, others on other days. The user can choose which course to take; a full learning experience or something a bit quicker for traveling. Every part would coincide with each other, meaning that the phrases learned in the speaking section would reflect aspects discussed in the grammar section. The listening/reading/comprehension section would feature actual dialogues that reflected everything learned in the other sections, etc. Everything would be connected. Also, the programs would be progressive, meaning that previously learned material would not be forgotten and would be involved and build upon in later sections. It would also be designed to take the learner to actual advanced levels; by that I mean a comfortable C1-ish, a level high enough so they could comfortably read just about anything and understand just about anything they hear. Obviously, nothing can replace speaking with an actual native and using actual native materials, but I feel like most programs leave the learner at much too early of a level (though they claim they take you to an advanced level) and after they are done they still have a hard time reading the paper or understanding movies/TV. This program would have plenty of materials to practice with and, because the materials are associated with the program, there would be notes on which lessons the material was covered in so the learner will know where to go it they have an issue. It would also have the option to come in a digital or hard, book, format depending on the preferences of the buyer. Of course, things like a dictionary, phrasebook, etc would be included. Now if you'll excuse me, it appears that I have some confessions to make in the You Know You're a Language Nerd When... thread. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Henkkles Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4257 days ago 544 posts - 1141 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish Studies: Russian | Message 5 of 6 28 September 2014 at 12:23pm | IP Logged |
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I am someone who loves meticulous analyses of grammar, phonology and such, and some obvious parts of both are often missed in language courses.
For example I read EVERY Icelandic textbook at my disposal and NONE of them mentioned the frequent elision/sandhi phenomena rampant in Icelandic. Took me like 20 chapters of an audiobook to get a proper hang of it. For example in Icelandic the two words "sagði hann" (said he) are pronounced something like /saj:an:/. How this ties with the subject: An ideal language course does not repeat the shortcomings of language courses before it, but takes a tabula rasa approach about which parts of the language to teach in which order. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6586 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 6 of 6 28 September 2014 at 1:12pm | IP Logged |
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I think ChinesePod is the best program I've seen, so it'd be something like that, with hundreds of lessons at each level, totalling thousands of lessons in all, on all kinds of subjects. The nonlinear approach of the Praxis method is something all copycat podcast methods have failed to replicate, and I think it's a real strength. Add to this the built-in popup dictionary, flashcard integration with Anki export and multiple cultural and grammatic by-shows, I think it's an extremely well-done language learning program and I don't think I'd change that much, to be honest.
For advanced learners, however, I'd want the same kind of support (popup dic and flashcards) with complete books, complete with translations, parallel versions, maybe hyperliteral translations, audio and tools to easily export specific portions of the audio and text into MP3 files. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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