The Linguist On Language

This group will sit with me and talk in a corner. Students will have with them vocabulary lists printed out at home. They will try to use these words in discussion.

I will fol ow up the discussion with a Discussion Report, sent via LingQ, listing all the words and phrases that caused problems in our discussion, including some explanations of grammar and usage. These reports would be Imported and studied at LingQ.

Questions:

The last ten minutes of every class will be available for questions. Learners will ask questions about anything related to the language or the content they are listening to and reading. They may ask in their own language or the language being learned.

Learners can also ask questions via LingQ's forum for each lesson, in their own language or the target language, while working on the computer at home.

One class in five will be devoted entirely to questions, or as needed.

Al question periods will be fol owed by a report from me in the target language, to be imported and studied, consisting of words and phrases and examples related to the questions that came up.

Homework:

Homework will consist of the fol owing. (Homework may also be done during class time if computers are available and time permits.)

1) Create LingQs: 20 minutes daily.

2) Review LingQ Flash Cards received by email: 20 minutes daily or whenever received.

3) Submit writing assignments once a week: These are submitted through LingQ, and returned with LingQ writing report. 30 minutes, once a week

4) Spend time on the LingQ Forum: 10 minutes daily

Assessment:

I would fol ow the activity index of all learners. They would be able to see each other's level of activity on the Community. I would recognize the most active learners. I would stress activity over achievement.

LingQ in the classroom: Feedback Part 1

Thank you for all the feedback. I will comment here in a separate entry. There is a lot to say, so I will divide my comments into two blog posts, at least. Here goes.

First of all let me be clear. These are ideas. There may be levels or age groups for which this approach is better or not so suitable. That remains to be tested. In fact the whole concept needs to be tested out in real life. I hope some teachers give it a try

With regard to some of the issues raised:

1) Is reading and listening on an MP3 player a good use of classroom time? (raised in several comments)

a) I feel that many of the interpersonal, team learning, role playing, reading out loud, etc.

activities that are designed to use classroom time, are not all that efficient when it comes to acquiring the language. I do not want to hear 20 other learners reading or speaking and butchering the language. I prefer to read and listen to the language as spoken or written by a native speaker. That is my model. That is what I want to acquire. Language learning, especial y at first, is an individual voyage of discovery. The other learners are a distraction. Even the teacher can be a distraction if I get too much of him or her.

b) The main goal of the language classroom is not to provide interaction, social or otherwise, although that natural y takes place. The main goal should be, in my view, to inspire the learner, to encourage the learner, and to give him or her some learning habits that can be taken out of the classroom.

c) Many learners will not read or listen on their own. At least they can do so in the classroom.

2) Will kids read and listen on their own without supervision?

a) It is not without supervision. The teacher is speaking with another group, and can occasional y look over at what the class is doing. He/she should not be reading the newspaper, to refer to Friedemann's example.

b) If they choose content of interest, if they know that they will be reading, listening to,

"mining" words and phrases and eventual y talking about, the same content, I think kids will do it. That remains to be seen.

3) What about kids who do not have computers, MP3 players, printers etc?

Obviously the school or other resources have to make these things available, otherwise this approach will not work.

4) How to motivate kids? (Sebastian)

This is the big question. How motivated are they now?

I do think that it is not necessary to have native speaker teachers. LingQ and other resources can provide the listening material, and if online access is available, online native speakers can be made available.

The availability of native speaker teachers should not be an obstacle to language learning at a school.

LingQ in the classroom: Feedback Part 2 - Should education be free?

David objects to using LingQ because it means asking kids to pay out of their pockets, to use his words. In fact, kids seldom pay out of their pockets, but that does not mean that education is free. Usual y parents or tax-payers pay, and they pay a lot.