What's the word?

Okay, if this is you, raise your figurative hand.

·         You love bookstores, and are rarely seen without a book in your hands.

·         You adore word play, word games, and puns, and relish word puzzles.

·         You are a big fan of tongue twisters, riddles, idioms and phrasal verbs.

·         You enjoy flicking through dictionaries, encyclopedias and atlases of all sorts.

·         You tend to be philosophical and learn easily by discussing big and little concepts with friends, often learning as much from what you say as what you hear.

·         You are a terrific speller and are often told that you use words that are too big or too complicated.

If these apply to you, then welcome to the club of the linguistic learner. Learning languages is not work for you; it is fun. You enjoy parsing sentences and working with words both aurally and in a written form. To sharpen your language skills you can...

·         Find lectures or debates in your community. Check at the embassies where your target language is spoken. Ask about events (which are often free).

·         Attend any type of group lecture or discussion in your target language. 

·         Enjoy finding books, written plays, poetry, and short stories. I recommend starting with easier literature, like children’s stories. However, many traditional fairytales or myths can use a less accessible language structure, or one that is different from the day-to-day structure of the spoken language. Don’t forget to read out loud to work on rhythm and intonation. Audio books are also a terrific resource for the linguistic learner.

·         There are several applications for smart phones that easily allow you to record your own readings. Take the time to do so, and then be sure to listen to your own words during those down times (such as riding on public transport or while sitting in traffic on the way to work).

·         Play word games, and find word puzzles in your target language.

For example: Foreign language Scrabble – http://www.gtoal.com/scrabble/details/ or http://thepixiepit.co.uk/scrabble/

While it isn’t a word game in the strict sense of the term, https://www.duolingo.com/ is a terrific site to practice a number of foreign languages free. It involves writing, reading and listening. There is a speaking component in the aps for smart phones, but I have found the voice recognition  to be quite inaccurate.

·         Keep a journal in your target language.

The linguistic learner was made for learning languages. This is not to say that if you don’t lean heavily toward this type of intelligence, you are not good at learning languages. Rather, it is important that you develop these skills. Remember that we all have many ways of learning. The linguistic learner is more apt to expose herself to word play and reading and listening to lectures in a foreign language.

Of all the forms of intelligence that we are discussing, this type of learner actually finds it fun to learn new languages. So, go out and have fun.

Keep learning –

Tim


Check out our book “The GO Method” on Amazon.

May I Have This Dance?

Imagine how far humankind would have come if we didn’t pass on knowledge to others; if we didn’t learn from one another. Would societies exist if each of us had to learn to make fires independently? Would we have any means of communication if we had to develop language on our own? From infancy through to our deaths, we learn from a constant interweaving of personal relationships. We learn the steps of the dance of our lives from those we encounter every day.

Of all the methods of learning, interpersonal learning appears to be the most common form of assimilating information. Our arts, books, schools, universities, family units, societies, governments, states, cultures and languages stem from, and support, the idea that we pass on information through human connection.

The most common form of learning, interpersonal learners are marked by the following characteristics:

• These learners have trouble concentrating on subjects when working alone, and don’t enjoy spending time alone.
• They relish the classroom setting, often learning the most from witnessing the successes and failures of colleagues.
• They enjoy joining in on social activities of any sort such as clubs, organizations, and committees.
• They enjoy taking part in competitive group sports and academic activities such as debate, drama, and model governments.
• Interpersonal learners often ask to share their ideas with others, and are really skilled at taking and offering criticism.
• They are often very good at modifying the ideas of others, instead of inventing their own.

For the interpersonal learner, the classroom is an ideal situation for language development if group and pair work are accentuated over individual work. They certainly benefit the least from constant lecturing or note taking. Some tips for language learning for the predominantly interpersonal learner.

·         Attend classes and request more interpersonal work from your instructors.

·         Work with dialog and script writing in your target language; find people to perform with you.  

·         If you live in a university town (anywhere in the world), look to see if there are clubs or organizations that speak in your target language, and whether you can attend their meetings.

·         Teachers of interpersonal/social learners should encourage dialogs and interviews, written and performed in the target language.

·         Ask to teach a section of a class or give a presentation in the target language.  

·         If you find that you are limited as to social situations where you can learn interpersonally, use your imagination instead. Put yourself in the place of different people who use your target language and imagine what they would need to, say buy groceries, get a driver’s license, sign up for a university, etc.   

·         As with the kinesthetic learners, find scripts (there are several places online with free scripts of films) in your target language and act them out.

·         Visit restaurants where your target language might be spoken, attempt to use the target language only.

·         Volunteer with immigrants who speak your target language. Make an agreement to help with your language in turn for discussions with your target language.

Interpersonal learners are truly “people” oriented. Use your natural inclinations to strike up conversations, and don’t be shy about your accent, pronunciation or the fact that you WILL make mistakes. Ask someone to dance in a foreign language.

Keep learning –

Tim 


Check out our book “The GO Method” on Amazon.