FuroraCeltica Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6686 days ago 1187 posts - 1427 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French
| Message 57 of 69 03 April 2007 at 4:50am | IP Logged |
I read somewhere that in early childhood the brain is in a state of "hyper-plasticity" i.e. designed to be especially open to absorbing new skills. In adulthood, it is not as flexible, so learning new skills is harder, but not impossible. It is just kids get an advantage over us oldies!
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leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6371 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog
| Message 58 of 69 04 April 2007 at 9:38pm | IP Logged |
Linguamor wrote:
This article discusses how to quickly begin learning a language with a tutor.
http://www.languageimpact.com/articles/gt/kickstrt.htm
This article discusses language learning with a tutor for the non-beginner.
http://www.languageimpact.com/articles/gt/nonbegnr.htm
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Excellent articles Linguamor. I'm still reading them, but the first one you list here has a lot of very useful ideas of what to do with a tutor, and more specific examples of TPR. Thanks!
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luke Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 7026 days ago 3133 posts - 4351 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Esperanto, French
| Message 59 of 69 04 April 2007 at 10:06pm | IP Logged |
leosmith wrote:
Excellent articles Linguamor. I'm still reading them, but the first one you list here has a lot of very useful ideas of what to do with a tutor, and more specific examples of TPR. Thanks! |
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Don't be afraid to summarize them for us if you get a chance ;)
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Darobat Diglot Senior Member Joined 7009 days ago 754 posts - 770 votes Speaks: English*, Russian Studies: Latin
| Message 60 of 69 04 April 2007 at 10:37pm | IP Logged |
That second article (for non-beginners) is incredible. The introduction describing the target reader nearly perfectly describes where I'm at in my Russian studies.
Time to keep reading.
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leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6371 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog
| Message 61 of 69 05 April 2007 at 10:39am | IP Logged |
luke wrote:
Don't be afraid to summarize them for us if you get a chance ;) |
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Heh heh, slacker:) I'll make you a deal. If you start a thread on how to use tutors, and pull together some of the good posts already made on this forum, I'll write a summary.
Darobat wrote:
That second article (for non-beginners) is incredible. |
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Maybe Darobat can be convinced to summarize the second article in luke's new thread?
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leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6371 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog
| Message 62 of 69 05 April 2007 at 12:45pm | IP Logged |
Linguamor wrote:
This article discusses how to quickly begin learning a language with a tutor.
http://www.languageimpact.com/articles/gt/kickstrt.htm
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I just had to post this exerpt from the above article:
Quote:
When you first start trying to carry on extended talk, it can be agonizing. Eventually it gets easier. What makes it easier? Practice. Lots and lots of practice. Now your speech will be--well--it will be your speech. You'll sound like someone who is just beginning, with great effort, to speak the language. Expect to make countless "mistakes". Believe it or not, the main thing which will decrease your mistakes is not being corrected every time you make one, but simply talking and talking and talking, while all the time continuing to be exposed to speech that you can understand.
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My stepmom, perhaps the most skilled ESL teacher trainer in my home state, gave me hell for hiring a conversation tutor, and not allowing said tutor to correct me. Vindication!
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frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6764 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German
| Message 63 of 69 05 April 2007 at 1:04pm | IP Logged |
leosmith wrote:
Quote:
Believe it or not, the main thing which will decrease your mistakes is not being corrected every time you make one, but simply talking and talking and talking, while all the time continuing to be exposed to speech that you can understand.
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My stepmom, perhaps the most skilled ESL teacher trainer in my home state, gave me hell for hiring a conversation tutor, and not allowing said tutor to correct me. Vindication! |
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I don't know. I've been talking uncorrected English, while exposed to oodles and oodles of comprehensible input, for more than two decades, and I still make too many mistakes.
One either needs to self-correct or be corrected. It may not be critical in the beginning, when just the act of speaking is helpful in itself and too much correcting may interfere more than help, but eventually it has to be done or you'll simply have to live with where you end up, which won't be perfect.
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leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6371 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog
| Message 64 of 69 05 April 2007 at 2:47pm | IP Logged |
frenkeld wrote:
It may not be critical in the beginning |
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Correct. That's what the article says, and that's what I meant. Eventually, a certain amount of correction may be useful, but I probably won't be using a tutor by then.
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