xpost: "How to Learn any Language" by Barry Farber, and homeschooling

[Sara R]

I've been looking for ways to supplement my son's Spanish learning at home. He's enrolled in a dual language program at school. As part of that he reads Spanish books and studies Spanish for about 1/2 hour per day, but he still hasn't learned how to conjugate, and he could use extra drill to learn the vocab he's introduced to. So he could use a little direct grammar instruction at home.

 

I picked up Barry Farber's "How to Learn any Language" as a way of getting ideas. (That book has been recommended on this board before by Dee in MI.) He describes his history in learning many languages through self-study, and then describes his method: study the first 5 chapters in a grammar book, get a newspaper and start reading it, translating as you go along. Make a flash card for any word you don't know, and carry it around until you learn it. Also use audio materials and a phrase book. He even has suggestions to create your own audio material that is customized to what you want to learn, which would be easier to do now with mp3 players and digital recorders.

 

He thinks it's actually more effective to study a language on your own as opposed to a classroom. I was curious about this, because the common consensus among homeschoolers is that foreign languages is one of the most difficult things to learn at home. Even die-hard homeschoolers will outsource foreign language, or learn Latin so they don't have to deal with the oral component.

 

I looked into this some more, and there is a whole community of "polyglots" online. They have a forum: how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/. One expert polyglot there has a series of Youtube videos that review different home study foreign language courses. There are teenagers who post there.

 

I think this information is adaptable for homeschoolers. A teenager could take on this method with an hour or so of daily study. I'm not quite sure how to adapt this for younger students. If you have a little background in the language, you could do Nan in Mass.'s method. She spoke French to her child over the summer (with help from the dictionary and Kid Stuff French, a family-oriented phrase book). They checked out French books from the library and read them together.

 

Without a background in the language, I suppose you could teach yourself, and then pass it along to the kids. If your kids are old enough to understand grammar, you could take on Farber's methods as a group project. For younger children you might need to go more slowly with the grammar, and incorporate more drill. Someday someone will make a homeschool curriculum for modern languages that imitates the successful homeschool Latin courses.

[cathmom]

I've been using this as a basis to work on Swedish with my DD10. Except we are translating an ABBA song that she already knows how to sing in Swedish!

[nmoira]

I found Farber's book to be inspiring.

 

I looked into this some more, and there is a whole community of "polyglots" online. They have a forum: how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/. One expert polyglot there has a series of Youtube videos that review different home study foreign language courses. There are teenagers who post there.

Thanks so much for this link.

 

If your kids are old enough to understand grammar, you could take on Farber's methods as a group project.

We're doing this, but with an initial (i.e. first few years) emphasis on using a variety of programs. We're using the Learnables as our main program, but have also finished Level 1 of Visual Link Spanish (an excellent program for jump starting speaking), and we'll start SYRWTLS simultaneously with Learnabes Level 3. I skimmed through the latter last weekend and was very pleased by how much seemed familiar already -- though I've gone through Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish and DD has not. We watch Spanish language DVD's and YouTube, are working through the Magic Tree House series in Spanish, read signs all over town, at the zoo, museums, etc. There's a local English/Spanish bilingual newspaper. My goal is to be able to converse reasonably well and to be able to read Spanish language literature; hopefully my DD's will be able to go further.

 

We're a bit shy about conversing with relative strangers, so haven't put that aspect of Farber's system into play as much as we should. At some point, I will be hiring a tutor... not for lessons, at least initially, but rather for practice with conversational Spanish.

[Nan in Mass]

Shyness has been a problem for us, too.

[Nan in Mass]

I read this book. I really liked it. This is the only way I can tackle a language and make it stick. It has to be sort of an all the time project, seive-brained as I am. I think this method works because it forces the language-learning part of your brain to kick in and help. (How is that for an unscientific observation GRIN?)

[Joan in GE]

I picked up Barry Farber's "How to Learn any Language" as a way of getting ideas. (That book has been recommended on this board before by Dee in MI.) He describes his history in learning many languages through self-study, and then describes his method: study the first 5 chapters in a grammar book, get a newspaper and start reading it, translating as you go along. Make a flash card for any word you don't know, and carry it around until you learn it. Also use audio materials and a phrase book. He even has suggestions to create your own audio material that is customized to what you want to learn, which would be easier to do now with mp3 players and digital recorders.

 

 

I am wondering about his system if it makes it even harder to pronounce words correctly?.... When you start reading a foreign language without any prior help with pronunciation, normally you tend to pronounce the phonograms in the same way that you pronounce them in your maternal tongue....I looked at the polyglot site but there are so many threads that it did not look like an easy job to find the answer to that type of question....Have you read anything about it?

 

Thanks,

Joan

[Sara R]

Good question. I know most of the grammar books I've looked at have a pronunciation chapter at the beginning, but often a written description isn't enough to make you understand a sound.

 

I do think it's important to get a basic understanding of grammar early on, though maybe not first thing. My son has been in the dual language Spanish class at his school for over 1 1/2 years now and they have only barely been introduced to the idea of conjugation. That's too long IMO, even for elementary aged kids. Until you know what to do with a verb, you can't make your own sentences.

[nmoira]

 

I am wondering about his system if it makes it even harder to pronounce words correctly?....

He is a big fan of Pimsleur, so presumably this or a similar program would help with pronunciation. The Learnables serves this purpose for us.

[Nan in Mass]

I think he recommends doing some sort of conversational tapes right at the beginning. What I wonder about is different alphabets.

[Friederike in Persia]

 

I do think it's important to get a basic understanding of grammar early on, though maybe not first thing. My son has been in the dual language Spanish class at his school for over 1 1/2 years now and they have only barely been introduced to the idea of conjugation. That's too long IMO, even for elementary aged kids. Until you know what to do with a verb, you can't make your own sentences.

 

I fully agree with you! My dds have had Russian in Tajik school for 3 and 2 years and the older one is just starting to get some grammar now. It means that she's got a good vocab base, but can't talk, it's so frustrating!

[Guest vnvnvn2000]

Having said this I wish I had bought this book before I started learning Bengali. I wasted a lot of time trying to learn without any method or plan. You can get a lot of ideas from Farber and then use his suggestions or modify them to suit yourself.

[fivekiwis]

Thanks for the tip on the website! Just wanted to second the thought that independent language study is a perfectly respectable way to go. Homeschoolers should not feel at a disadvantage if doing foreign languages at home. Exposure to native speakers is important but not THE most important aspect, and it can be gotten through media as well as people. No, you can't have a conversation with a video or newspaper, but again that aspect tends to be overemphasized.

And while I'm going against conventional wisdom, it's not so important to start a foreign language early either. The brain will adjust well to the new language later in life too. Dr. Ben Carson, the renowned pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital holds this view of the brain -- see his interview on Charlie Rose where he specifically is asked and answers the question about the importance of learning a second language early in life. Of course there are other reasons one might want to do foreign language study early, but the usual argument about brain malleability is suspect.

[Beth in SW WA]

Great thread! I'll track down a copy of the book by Farber.

 

I have been reading Madrigal's on my own and I'm enjoying it. It is great to hear that this "old brain" has the potential to learn a new language. I'll try and find the interview w/ Charlie Rose.

 

Either way, we are loving Spanish here. The older kids are speaking to each other often in Spanish. They can read in Spanish -- and comprehend. They are convinced the Orberg method of Latin has prepared them for reading & comprehending Spanish so soon.

 

My little girls are enjoying Muzzy videos from the library. I secretly can't wait until I return Muzzy to the library. It's all they want to watch these day! But they are learning a ton.