This is an article I wrote about learning foreign languages nowadays.
HOW TO LEARN A LANGUAGE IN THE 21st CENTURY.
I fell in love with English when I was eigth as I was starting to study it at school.
Despite my youth, I immediately understood that it’s a great instrument and I began to look at it
with passion.
I still remember very clearly my effort in memorizing poems and rhymes, spending hours dreaming
far countries and conversations with foreigners in their own language.
Time has quickly passed and after English, have arrived French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.
For sure, my travelling spirit has widened this passion and facilitated the learning process of
languages.
Over time I transformed this interest into a job, getting a certification and becoming a teacher. Then
I have been sharing my knowledge with young and adult learners for some years.
So far many dedicated schools and institutes raised all over the world and, by the internet advent,
tons of services and apps have seen the light of day, making pretty much simpler the approach to
languages.
Even so, lot of people are struggling in learning a language and for quite a while exists a
controversy in charging the responsibility to teachers or tools, rather than to students.
The truth is in the middle…the fact is a good part of people are not constants in studying and
focused, tools altough are advanced systems, they are not complete and customized, teachers
sometimes are not really well prepared (or should I say they are more concentrated on the content,
by sacrificing the quality?). So what to do?
Online tools, if well used, are a valid support and an effective way to learn, but it is unrealistic
thinking to adopt it as the only option. In my opinion, nowadays it is also improbable using
textbooks (I hardly ever use them), considering all the stimulus and intellectual dynamism we are
subject to, as well as the multitude of materials featured online.
A teacher is still a guarantee, please note I am barely biased…XD, for the capability to take his/her
own personal experiences in teaching activities and contextualize it along the learning path and, to
not underestimate, for the opportunity to actively interact with learners.
The best advice I could give out would be “go abroad and settle down for a while in the country
which you want to learn the language of”. I perfectly know that this is not always accessible, then
you should find the way to be exposed to the language as much as possible.
Here are some tips:
1. Watch movies/TV shows/videos moving gradually from your mother tongue subtitles, towards to
original language’s ones up to no subtitles at all.
2. Listen to the music, preferably choosing a favourite singer or band and focus a lot on catching
words and sentences time by time.
3. Look for a penpal or a remote friend to chat via Skype with and converse on a regular basis to
train the speaking skill.
4. Find a good teacher who can lead you through the whole process, and who ideally is technology
supportive. The right tools into the right hands are very powerful!
5. Travel as much as you can.
As a kind of “revolutionary” teacher, I strongly believe that in general only a little bit of grammar is
needed, especially in the beginning, and lessons should be more topic based.
And whilst it is true that students lose concentration really fast, it is equally true that fun is the key
to go through each lesson easily and successfully, both with young and adult learners.
Teachers, unless it is a Business English or any certification courses, keep casual and have fun
together with your students.
Learners, bear in mind that constancy is essential and your effort is indispensable, as well as in class
and out.
Regarding this last one, I want to highlight how IELTS examiners have declared that on a constant
studying basis there is a language knowledge improvement of 0.5 point every 6 months.
So do not quit and keep going!