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Learning through teaching? | ||
Tags: Language Teaching | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| MeshGearFox Senior Member United States Joined 6706 days ago 316 posts - 344 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 1 of 4 16 November 2006 at 2:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I was sort of curious about other Germanic languages lately, and I was looking up information on them. One of the things I came upon was a web page either on Icelandic or Swedish grammar. What really caught my attention was the comment that the guy made the page so that he could help himself further understand the nature of the grammar.
I also remember, back when I was younger and caught up in that whole Japanese learning craze (which seems to have diverged into Mandarin and Turkish learning crazes, now), I seem to recall a lot of other sites discussing Japanese grammar, with similar reasonings behind them. So, I'm wondering if this -- or not even a full-blown website for teaching strictly grammar so much as, say, Jim's Blog About Quirks in Latvian Sentence Structure -- would actually be an effective way to help learn a language. I'm thinking it might be, for several reasons. It forces you to analyze the language in a different way, and also use it quite a bit, and in a different way than you usually would. Also, I'm thinking that this might be effective at creating an artificial environment in which you must know use and know your language to survive, if you will. Granted, I know that a first year Japanese student probably couldn't give someone a full course in Japanese. That's not what I'm saying. I'm thinking more that if they have a friend that's interested in the same language, but not in the class for various reason, just passing on what they know. Or, by the same token, a more advanced student helping tutor some of the less advanced students (this would probably more likely in a highschool setting, I guess, because highschools often do set up peer groups like this). Edited by MeshGearFox on 16 November 2006 at 5:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6714 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 4 17 November 2006 at 4:19am | IP Logged | |||||
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When I studied French long ago I wrote my own private French Syntax, partly because I didn't agree with the theoretical framework of the grammars I could lay my hands on, partly because comparing several descriptions of the same phenomenon forces you to forget about rote memory learning and instead think systematically. I have done the same thing with other languages, but not nearly to the same extent.
It had a strange effect on my notes. I did well, but not exceptionally well on the standard grammar test, partly because I sometimes used words from my own private grammar and partly because I'm not overtly fussy about details. On the other hand I did very well on case studies and in my final thesis because I had spotted the weak spots in the standard grammars and found my own idiosyncratic solutions to them. And I still analyze syntax in any language using the models that I developed during my brief spell as a grammarian. Edited by Iversen on 17 November 2006 at 4:22am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Marc Frisch Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6676 days ago 1001 posts - 1169 votes Speaks: German*, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Persian, Tamil | Message 3 of 4 17 November 2006 at 6:30am | IP Logged | |||||
Turkish learning craze? About 25 members of this forum learn Turkish, which is less than most of the other languages that are discussed here. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lady_skywalker Triglot Senior Member Netherlands aspiringpolyglotblog Joined 6901 days ago 909 posts - 942 votes Speaks: Spanish, English*, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, French, Dutch, Italian | Message 4 of 4 17 November 2006 at 7:17am | IP Logged | |||||
Glad to see I wasn't the only one surprised by that comment! I don't think Turkish has quite the same following here as, say, Mandarin or Spanish. I do agree that it seems like there's been a bit more interest in Turkish (and other Turkic languages) lately as it's been brought up in a number of threads but I'm not sure it's quite hit the heights of 'Mandarin fever' yet. :) Back on topic...I think it's possible to learn, or at least consolidate your understanding of, a language while teaching it to other people. It makes you pay more attention to *why* things are the way they are rather than just memorising a bunch of grammar rules and words. Some people also find it handy to learn a language with a friend or acquaintance as they feel it will give them an opportunity to practice their language skills without feeling that the native speaker is having a nervous breakdown! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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