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The Dream Program

  Tags: FSI
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
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heartburn
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7210 days ago

355 posts - 350 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 1 of 33
02 March 2005 at 3:05pm | IP Logged 
I thought it might be fun to start a thread where we can can design our own language program. Maybe someone from Simon & Schuster or Barron's or Penton Overseas will see this topic and start creating a program from the ideas here. Hopefully they'll get it done before I start working on my next language.

What would your dream program look like?

I'll start...


I think every lesson should fill one whole audio CD. So, I guess a lesson will have about 70 minutes of audio.

How about a format like this:

Track 1 - Pimsleur style lesson.
Track 2 - Vocabulary drill
Track 3 - Substitution/Variation drill
Track 4 - Response drill
Track 5 - Listening/Reading exercise

I think the Pimsleur style lesson can stand in for pattern and translation drills. The later tracks can use words from the vocabulary drill. The response drill should include a spoken hint so you can do them without the book. The listening/reading exercise should be a dialog or short cultural article with a printed transcription.

There should be no spoken instructions or other idle chatter on the audio. Every track should be able to stand alone. What I mean by that is: if I create a playlist of drills on my mp3 player, I should be able to shuffle them and not need to worry about what lesson it came from. Every drill should stand either on its own, or in context.

The course should be really big. As long as I'm dreaming, let's make it 200 lessons. And I don't want to pay more than $10 a lesson, but if it's a really good program, I'm willing to negotiate.


I want to read everyone else's ideas.


Edited by heartburn on 02 March 2005 at 10:02pm

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ElComadreja
Senior Member
Philippines
bibletranslatio
Joined 7241 days ago

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Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog

 
 Message 2 of 33
02 March 2005 at 5:28pm | IP Logged 
Well, I'm pretty happy doing a pimsleur quick and simple followed by FSI. The problem with pimsleur is that the people talk too slow to be able to apply it to real situations, and also the fact that translation never stops.
The problem with both of these, yes even FSI, is that I still feel handicapped in the vocabulary department.
I would just like lots and lots of more FSI type scripts with a targeted vocabulary. And with speakers that don't speak clearly.

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heartburn
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7210 days ago

355 posts - 350 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 3 of 33
02 March 2005 at 8:35pm | IP Logged 
ElComadreja, this is a dream. We can speed it up if we want.

I agree that that the translation never stops with Pimsleur. That's why I said it can stand in for a translation drill. But it might be cool to make it a little faster and shorter. How about 20 minutes instead of 30? That will make more time for the real drills too.
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heartburn
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7210 days ago

355 posts - 350 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 4 of 33
02 March 2005 at 9:10pm | IP Logged 
How about we take some time off the Pimsleur segment and add it to the vocabulary drill? The vocabulary drill can introduce lots of new words to be used in the other drills that follow the sentence patterns introduced in the Pimsleur-like segment.

I'm thinking that the Pimsleur segment might replace the dialogs, pattern drills & translation drills of the FSI program. But then they'd be followed by a VocabuLearn-like vocabulary drill. And then the FSI-like variation, substitution & response drills. With an ImmersionPlus-like listening exercise as a finale.

Am I being too self-indulgent?

Edited by heartburn on 02 March 2005 at 9:11pm

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ElComadreja
Senior Member
Philippines
bibletranslatio
Joined 7241 days ago

683 posts - 757 votes 
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Cebuano, French, Tagalog

 
 Message 5 of 33
02 March 2005 at 9:20pm | IP Logged 
You take this into an interesting direction.
I would say a pimsleur style lesson to learn the script (and applicable grammar), then learning that same script at a fluent speed (possibly with a heavy regional accent) only in the target language followed by some drills that stay in the target language so like..
1-pimsluer style lesson
2-FSI style script (same script)
3-Target language only vocab drills
4-Target language only grammar drills

And you're right, I'd want a bajillion lessons cuz there's never enough.
Pimsluer's good on grammar, but I don't think that that is even completed in the exsiting course. I mean, I'ts where I learned how to conjugate estar,ser, & saber without thinking about it. Also it's good on pronuciation, which FSI doesn't appear to be overly worried about.


Edited by ElComadreja on 02 March 2005 at 9:22pm

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heartburn
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7210 days ago

355 posts - 350 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 6 of 33
02 March 2005 at 9:36pm | IP Logged 
Quote:
possibly with a heavy regional accent


Actually, I really like that!! In fact, I think every lesson should have different voices. I love it.

Edited by heartburn on 02 March 2005 at 9:37pm

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administrator
Hexaglot
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Switzerland
FXcuisine.com
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 Message 7 of 33
02 March 2005 at 11:44pm | IP Logged 
I would include a lot of coordination and substitution drills and many, many lessons. Some advanced lessons should be focused on special situations (ordering in a restaurant, discussing prices, trying to reach somebody on the phone, etc...).

I think the 'Pimsleur' part could be separate from the rest, so that you can work on oral fluency in your car for instance, and work on more technical aspects of the language when near a computer or a book.

If they made electronic vocabulary lists for each lesson people could use them in Supermemo.
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heartburn
Senior Member
United States
Joined 7210 days ago

355 posts - 350 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 8 of 33
03 March 2005 at 12:08am | IP Logged 
Pardon my ignorance but, what is a coordination drill? I haven't heard of that.

I like the idea of advanced lessons focused on special situations. I think that would be great.

I'm not sure if I like the separate part. If the drills relate to the lesson, why not keep them together on the CD? I certainly don't mind skipping a track if it's not the one I want to work on. Besides, don't you think that the drills can be formatted in such a way as to limit dependency on the book to a minimum? I do, but maybe I'm wrong.

You know, I tried SuperMemo a few years ago and I thought it was an awesome idea. But I just can't get myself to study at the computer. How do you do it?


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