1 / 46

How to Learn Language More Efficiently

How to Learn Language More Efficiently . Advice From Your American Older Brother: a Multilingual World Traveler, Veteran Court Interpreter, and Professional Language Teacher . Daniel Steve Villarreal Ph.D., 11A5SLA. Your American Older Brother. Daniel Steve Villarreal, Ph.D.

juliet
Download Presentation

How to Learn Language More Efficiently

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. How to Learn Language More Efficiently Advice From Your American Older Brother: a Multilingual World Traveler, Veteran Court Interpreter, and Professional Language Teacher

  2. Daniel Steve VillarrealPh.D., 11A5SLA Your American Older Brother

  3. Daniel Steve Villarreal, Ph.D. • Ph.D., Foreign Language Education, University of Texas at Austin • Licensed Court Interpreter # 315 (Spanish/English), Texas • US Army veteran, 11A5SLA • Instructor, El Salvador Project, Ranger Department, Fort Benning, GA • Liaison officer with Honduran military in La Ceiba • BA in Modern Languages, The Citadel • Part-time Mandarin student, Mandarin Training Center and International Chinese Language Program, Taipei, Taiwan

  4. Tricks of the trade for learning language Based on my personal experience and professional training; use what works best for you and “store” the rest for later!

  5. Actionable steps! • I’ll present about 5 of them at a time • Discuss with a friend: which have you already tried &/or what do you plan to try? • Which will you take action on and how will you do it? • Then the next 5 • OK, so here they are!

  6. Have moral courage • Mifanbaobao? (I made this word up when trying to order my first Asian riceburger!) • Don’t be afraid to speak or to try • Errors are part of learning! • BE A RISK-TAKER!

  7. Hit the hua4 often! • Get out there and use the language • Native speakers are realia • Find an activity (church, hobby, etc.) that’s done in the other language

  8. Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: One bite at a time! • Which is the section you need to eat first? • For me, it’s Mandarin vocabulary • For you: grammar, vocabulary, verb conjugations?

  9. Prioritize--Eat One Section of the Elephant at a Time • Use The Swiss Cheese Method • “Eat” your most important piece of cheese: grammar, vocabulary, etc. • When one hole gets big enough, start on another hole • Eventually, there will be no more cheese!

  10. "Sir, use ALL your resources!" • A quotation from a great US Army Sergeant! • I made great use of Pimsleur: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimsleur_language_learning_system • Pimsleur for Mandarin-speakers who want to learn English: http://www.pimsleur-language.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

  11. A huge list of possible resources! • http://effortlessenglishclub.com/ • http://www.icrt.com.tw/en/ivy_newTOEIC.php • http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/06/sat_prep_course.html • http://www.princetonreview.com.tw/ • http://www.princetonreview.com/default.aspx?uidbadge=%07 • www.ets.org/ • http://translate.miis.edu/prospective/top_10.html advice to interpreting students from the Monterey Institute of International Studies • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Educational_psychology How learning takes place; • http://www.manythings.org/wbg/ Games for ESL students; • http://www.southampton.liunet.edu/academic/pau/course/webword.htm High-frequency TOEFL words • http://www.english-test.net/toefl/ • http://www.englishdaily626.com/tfvocab.php • http://www.grammar-monster.com/index.html

  12. Your turn! Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

  13. Study how language learning and language teaching work. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Educational_psychology • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_acquisition • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_language_learning • http://www.mindtools.com/memory.html

  14. Imitate successful people: don’t reinvent the wheel • Can your fluent friend recommend a book, teacher, school?

  15. Make your learning active, rather than passive • Mister Lazy: just sits there in class and wants the instructor to pour the language into his cranium • Mister Diligent: takes notes, asks questions, tries things • Nothing stops Mister Diligent! • Which are you?

  16. 2,500 repetitions = automaticity! • A response for those who want a Magic Pill • More is better • Use the language as often as possible: read, speak, listen, etc.

  17. Multimodality: use all of your senses! • Writing Chinese characters: I see, write the strokes, repeat the word • Connect vision, speaking, feeling, listening • Connect different parts of the brain

  18. Your turn! Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

  19. Don’t be scared of the big words! • A + B + C = D • Divide the parts of the word, then add them back up • Syllables • Prefixes • Suffixes • Multiple words in one word

  20. Etymology • What’s the history of the word? • Did you bolo on the rifle range (“bolo” = US Army slang = you failed; you are more dangerous to the enemy with a bolo machete than with the Army’s rifle!)? • http://www.etymonline.com/index.php • See the dictionary entry

  21. Vocabulary flash cards • Make them • Buy them • Online • iPod versions • You can study while you’re in line, on the bus, etc. • Build or select them according to METT-T

  22. METT-T? • “Mission—Enemy—Terrain, weather, Troops and Time available.” • Mission: what are you trying to do? What are your goals? • Enemy: time conflicts? • Time available?

  23. Monitor yourself and self-correct • Relax; have fun with this • Are you bringing patterns from your first language into your second language: “I have an appointment with my friend…”

  24. Think long term, not short term! • What are your long-term purposes? • Good enough to survive on a trip overseas = OK! • Scholarly work? • Business? • Again, consider METT-T

  25. Your turn! Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

  26. Find a great study partner or study group! • Example--Language exchange ad: 7th floor of Mandarin Training Center, Taipei, Taiwan, building bulletin board • Great for test prep • 2 heads > 1 head

  27. Don't be a "this way" learner, be a "many ways" learner! • Pimsleur • Rosetta Stone • Flash cards • Reading • TV • Movies • Classes • Most important: get started now!

  28. Find an activity you like that's done in the other language. • Spanish-speaking churches gave me advanced language skills • Movies • Hobbies

  29. Do you have any English-speaking friends or colleagues? • They don’t necessarily have to be from English-speaking countries!

  30. Exercise your initiative to find ways to speak the language. • Create your own English-speaking foreign country wherever you live • I created a Spanish-speaking country in the US for about a year: UNAM Spanish classes, Hispanic church, Spanish movies, Spanish-speaking work

  31. Your turn! Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

  32. You probably have LOTS of English, etc. in your head; • Now make it come out of your pen and mouth. • Force yourself to use what you learned in your studying. • Again: be a risk-taker!

  33. Don’t wait for the teacher to teach you. • No teacher, book, course, can achieve your goals • Exercise initiative • Preread the lessons • Use the stuff outside of class

  34. Translations of books in both languages • Vicarious learning: you can experience a LOT via reading! • Dynamic equivalence: “hello” = “you good” • Read! • Read! • Read! • Read!

  35. Create mini-lessons for yourself to use during spare time. • Use those 24 hours wisely! • Flash cards • Reading • DVD movies • Recordings • METT-T • Swiss Cheese Method

  36. Find or create foreign language-speaking environments. • US has Chinatown • Taipei has Tian Mu • Foreign-based clubs, churches, schools, activities

  37. Your turn! Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

  38. How do I say this in the other language? • Do this continually • Learn tons of vocabulary • Learn native speech and writing

  39. Go take more language courses! • All are good • They all connect • Action beats inaction

  40. Connect your foreign language to your other subjects, academic courses, and to your work! • Encounter situations or vocabulary • Research it in the other context

  41. Consider studying Spanish to help your English and your career! • For you English-learning Mandarin-speakers • Spanish = Latin connections to English • English + Mandarin + Spanish = communicate with a LOT of people!

  42. Look for patterns across languages • Some languages share grammar (Chinese languages) • Some share vocabulary (European languages)

  43. Never give up! • A lesson from the United States Army Rangers and from the world of dance! • One step in front of the other, whether road-marching or learning to dance! • Keep showing up • Eventually, you’ll get there

  44. Your turn! Which step will you implement? How will you do it?

  45. That’s all, folks! • Thanks for reading this! • There is an inexpensive booklet version of this information; see the link on the website www.americanolderbrother.com • You just got this for free! 

  46. Please Like www.americanolderbrother.com on Facebook (and feel free to forward!) facebook.com/AmericanOlderBrother

More Related