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Language classes do NOT work | ||
Tags: Class Learning | School Education | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6060 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 33 of 116 12 December 2011 at 12:27pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Turkish speakers sometimes point out my mistakes in Turkish, but often do not (my Turkish is almost entirely self-taught, and through conversation, reading or watching TV). Often, if they can understand what I am saying, they will just let the errors through. Whereas a competent teacher would more systematically point the errors out. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5799 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 34 of 116 12 December 2011 at 12:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Yes, there's a sort of "correction aversion" in a lot of teaching at the moment. I was talking to one of the tutors here about correction, and she was saying that the course leader wants full explanations on everything for the beginners course, so I explained my views on "minimal correction" -- giving just enough information for the student to fix the errors themselves. IE if someone says "la hombre", I wouldn't say "el hombre", because the student wouldn't then be able to correct himself -- there wouldn't be any thinking on the students part. Similarly, I wouldn't give the3 full explanation every time of "hombre is a masculine word, and la is the feminine definite article, you need the masculine definite article: el". Instead I'd give a minimal prompt, like saying "la hombre?" with a confused look, or even just "la...?" Or sometimes I'd repeat the words before it -- eg he says "Hablaba con la hombre," I say "Hablaba con...," he says "hablaba con la hombre," I say "hablaba con..." he says "hablaba con el hombre". 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Lianne Senior Member Canada thetoweringpile.blog Joined 4903 days ago 284 posts - 410 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, Toki Pona, German, French | Message 35 of 116 12 December 2011 at 6:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I just finished a very low-intensity evening class in French, and while I would have liked it to be a bit more difficult, I did really enjoy it. I feel like I can actually talk in French now, even if I can't say many things.
I did notice that the teacher wasn't correcting people on obvious pronunciation problems, so I went to her after class and told her I wanted her to be brutally honest about my pronunciation. She agreed to listen closely and correct me on minor problems. So if you feel like your teacher isn't challenging you enough you can always ask! I wouldn't pay the extreme prices to take university language classes or anything like that, but my evening classes are only about $12 a class, and they're great for giving me a chance to speak in the language, so I think it's worth it. It all depends on what you're hoping to get from a class, I guess. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| aabram Pentaglot Senior Member Estonia Joined 5321 days ago 138 posts - 263 votes Speaks: Estonian*, English, Spanish, Russian, Finnish Studies: Mandarin, French | Message 36 of 116 12 December 2011 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Self-learning is all fine and dandy (I should know), but there is one
thing classes can do for many people that otherwise would not happen. That time you got to classes is the time you've set aside purely for language learning. It's like a legal excuse to turn off your phone and not let yourself be distracted. I know many adults with busy schedules who can't study at home because they'd feel guilty of not doing stuff with their kids or spouses. And they'd feel equally quilty going to the library or cafe or wherever for few hours of self-study. They'd still answer their phones and inadvertently multitask with their other responsibilities. When you register for language classes it's an official statement of "I'm busy, I won't answer the phone, this is my learning time". Edited by aabram on 12 December 2011 at 9:57pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4612 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 37 of 116 13 December 2011 at 1:34am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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The only reason I decided to take a class is to force me into learning the language. I knew very well from the start
the bulk of the learning process I wouldn't be doing in class but on my own. That's fine with me. The thing is, I needed that extra boost. With a class, you have an obligation. And I'm paying for it so... I believe that if you don't sacrifice something, you generally don't progress much. That's for me anyway... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6385 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 38 of 116 13 December 2011 at 1:55am | IP Logged | ||||||||
but it's not like teachers at my uni didn't correct due to some Deep Reasons Having to Do with the Philosophy of Teaching :) It's just that the pace would be too slow if every mistake always got corrected, so many teachers tend to correct just the mistakes related to the material you're currently studying. Especially pronunciation mistakes never seem to get corrected unless you mispronounce words like sheet. What makes it worse is that when you've just reviewed a rule/read some examples/done exercises, you're likely to get it right. And while you're focusing on it you'll get wrong what you're not currently learning. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| stout Senior Member Ireland Joined 5159 days ago 108 posts - 140 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 39 of 116 13 December 2011 at 8:04pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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That depends on the quality and the motivation of the students and teachers.In my
experience my French language teachers have been a mixed bag.Good,bad and average. At the moment I doing French online lessons with a language school which is based in France. My current French language tutor is very good and I will continue with her for some time to come.Yes self study courses and language exchange partners are good and useful. However they are not a substitute for a good language tutor. Yes you get good and bad teachers and you get good and bad students too...Do language classes work?...In my opinion that very much depends on the quality of the language tutor and that if the language student is motivated and willing to learn. Edited by stout on 13 December 2011 at 8:08pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| boon Diglot Groupie Ireland Joined 5947 days ago 91 posts - 177 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Mandarin, Latin | Message 40 of 116 13 December 2011 at 9:38pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I hated the textbooks we used at school. Much of the content was boring stuff like learning how to say: "I like sport. I play football. I went to a disco last Saturday night. During the summer I played sports and went dancing."
In short, they were aimed at the popular kids. I looked at some school textbooks in a bookshop recently. They haven't changed. To be fair, they did have some decent content. One French book had an interview with a Frenchman who was homeless for a few years. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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