Learn English Now: General Beginners, Songs, Conversations, Hotels, Retail Sales, Restaurants, Telephone
Learn Other Languages Now - Click here
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Think about Better Ways to Teach
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The best way to speak with a good accent is to learn from native speakers, especially at first, so you start with good habits. Beginners can learn cheaply from lessons recorded by native speakers. (Native speakers in person are good too, but most schools and beginners cannot afford to hire them.) Here are the courses, sorted by language.
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Most classroom language teachers, in most of the world, are not native speakers. While they are good for guidance and explanation, they are not the best at teaching accents. Many students learn poor accents which are a barrier to communication. Travelers (both pleasure and business) all over the world have trouble communicating, because they and/or the people they talk to have thick accents.
The barrier of incomprehensibility is especially sad when middle and lower income people around the world want to learn languages to work in tourism or trade. They study hard from teachers who do their best, but the teachers themselves lack a good accent.
Meanwhile some people want to learn rare languages in order to learn from the people who speak them, and have similar trouble getting understandable accents.
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Recordings by native speakers have an important role in teaching, and are widely available.
.
Sound Effects
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Sound effects can show the meaning of many foreign words recorded by native speakers. Quick sound effects allow most of the recording to be in the foreign language, and show students what the foreign words mean. While sound effects cannot teach all words, they teach a surprisingly large and varied vocabulary, helpful to beginners.
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The Lessons tab starts with teaching numbers by sound. These are easy for people to learn, since the recording plays 1 beep, 2 beeps, 3 beeps, and counts in the target language, 1, 2, 3...
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Recordings can also teach many words with widely known sounds: thunder, woman, baby, man, dog, trumpet, clanging steel, tearing paper, etc.
.
When sounds show the meaning of foreign words, beginners have a strong start, without distraction from their own language or from trying to read a foreign language.
.
The "Wordlist" has 400 words which can be taught entirely by sound, a decent start on comprehension. Most are in the lists of Voice of America's "Special English" and New General Service List, so they are a helpful step toward learning that larger vocabulary. Students can go on to listen to those broadcasts to expand their ability. Hear-Say has a few sound effects in a few languages.
.
If you were teaching a language by sound effects, lessons might go in the following order, for reasons explained in the individual descriptions. However the last three can also be approached in any order the learners like..
Songs
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Songs are a good way to learn, and there are many counting songs for practice (English, Arabic, Chinese, more in the Counting section). Too few recordings have clear adult voices.
If more sound effects and words were put into songs, they would be easier to repeat and learn. Please send any good lists of teaching songs, or put them in Comments below. Earworms helps learning in 13 languages just by playing rhythmic music in the background.
For intermediate students who know some words and the alphabet, YouTube shows the words of many songs in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Indonesian, Russian, Spanish, etc. However in some languages, searching for the local translation of "song lyrics" on YouTube just gives songs in English.
.
Existing Approaches to Teach Beginners
.
The most common approach for beginners has been to use two languages in a lesson, teaching the target language with explanations in the local language. However switching between two languages is slow, expensive, muddies a beginner's ear, and is not needed if we have sound effects.
.
Another alternative for beginners is to hear words entirely in the target language while seeing pictures or text on a TV, internet, or in printed materials to understand the spoken words. However many learners cannot afford the internet or printed materials, or the time to sit looking at pictures or text while they learn.
.
Native speakers teaching in person are fine too, though far too expensive for most middle and lower income people who want to work in tourism or trade. Also many learners are embarrassed to make mistakes in front of a teacher, and prefer recorded lessons which we replay often.
.
Recordings of native speakers may be better for beginners than in-person teaching by non-native teachers. Later lessons benefit from a teacher in person, after students learn accents and rhythms of the language from native speakers.
.
The main goal for some learners is to read a language (great books, newspapers, rules, contracts...). For them a good accent is less important than a large vocabulary and grammar, and they need written materials more than they need native speakers. A very thoughtful reviewer, Arguelles, makes this distinction; his priority is to read, and he acknowledges a weak accent in some of his languages. Even so, while learning he prefers audio in the target language only,
Schools and Training
.
Lessons recorded by native speakers on radio or MP3 can be used inside schools and training programs, or as supplements. In classes which have a local teacher who is not a native speaker, recordings give students a good accent, and the local teacher can explain, expand, and encourage progress. In schools with no language teacher present, students can learn language entirely from recordings, under simple direction by an older student or adult. Click for more detail.
.
In class and in any group of learners, students can repeat the words along with a radio or MP3 file. If there is no class or group, beginners must practice in a place where saying the words out loud does not bother others. They may be working in a field, walking on the road, or driving a car if they have one. Hallet points out that recording lessons from a radio broadcast lets learners repeat them as needed, and can be more useful than trying to learn directly from the radio.
.
Learners put huge effort into learning a second or third language. It is very important for them to start with good pronunciation from native speakers in the first lessons, which means radio or MP3 files. With good pronunciation learners will actually be understood when they speak. It is harder to correct mispronunciation later.
.
After beginning with native speakers in any form, learners can then learn other lessons from local teachers, from general conversation with other learners or travelers, from Voice of America Special English, BBC 6-Minute and Express English, and from movie dialog with subtitles.
.
The Reviews tab in the top menu covers 70 self-study programs, teaching 300 languages, and recommends which programs to use.
Radio
.
Lessons broadcast by radio would be another cheap way to learn from native speakers. Everyone can listen, People can record lessons and listen while on the go, making more time for learning. Radio has been teaching language since 1923 (Hallet).
It is striking and puzzling that beginning language lessons are not broadcast by any of the major international radio stations, whether in English (All India, BBC, VOA), Arabic, Chinese, French, German or Spanish.
China Central Television and Chinese Radio International have Chinese lessons and Deutsche Welle has German lessons for beginners on the web but they do not broadcast them. BBC's web site teaches several languages, but not English and none by radio. VOA and BBC do have radio programs and websites for intermediate learners who know more than 1,000 words.
Learn Other Languages Now - Click here
.
Think about Better Ways to Teach
.
The best way to speak with a good accent is to learn from native speakers, especially at first, so you start with good habits. Beginners can learn cheaply from lessons recorded by native speakers. (Native speakers in person are good too, but most schools and beginners cannot afford to hire them.) Here are the courses, sorted by language.
.
Most classroom language teachers, in most of the world, are not native speakers. While they are good for guidance and explanation, they are not the best at teaching accents. Many students learn poor accents which are a barrier to communication. Travelers (both pleasure and business) all over the world have trouble communicating, because they and/or the people they talk to have thick accents.
The barrier of incomprehensibility is especially sad when middle and lower income people around the world want to learn languages to work in tourism or trade. They study hard from teachers who do their best, but the teachers themselves lack a good accent.
Meanwhile some people want to learn rare languages in order to learn from the people who speak them, and have similar trouble getting understandable accents.
.
Recordings by native speakers have an important role in teaching, and are widely available.
.
Sound Effects
.
Sound effects can show the meaning of many foreign words recorded by native speakers. Quick sound effects allow most of the recording to be in the foreign language, and show students what the foreign words mean. While sound effects cannot teach all words, they teach a surprisingly large and varied vocabulary, helpful to beginners.
.
The Lessons tab starts with teaching numbers by sound. These are easy for people to learn, since the recording plays 1 beep, 2 beeps, 3 beeps, and counts in the target language, 1, 2, 3...
.
Recordings can also teach many words with widely known sounds: thunder, woman, baby, man, dog, trumpet, clanging steel, tearing paper, etc.
.
When sounds show the meaning of foreign words, beginners have a strong start, without distraction from their own language or from trying to read a foreign language.
.
The "Wordlist" has 400 words which can be taught entirely by sound, a decent start on comprehension. Most are in the lists of Voice of America's "Special English" and New General Service List, so they are a helpful step toward learning that larger vocabulary. Students can go on to listen to those broadcasts to expand their ability. Hear-Say has a few sound effects in a few languages.
.
If you were teaching a language by sound effects, lessons might go in the following order, for reasons explained in the individual descriptions. However the last three can also be approached in any order the learners like..
Songs
.
Songs are a good way to learn, and there are many counting songs for practice (English, Arabic, Chinese, more in the Counting section). Too few recordings have clear adult voices.
If more sound effects and words were put into songs, they would be easier to repeat and learn. Please send any good lists of teaching songs, or put them in Comments below. Earworms helps learning in 13 languages just by playing rhythmic music in the background.
For intermediate students who know some words and the alphabet, YouTube shows the words of many songs in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Indonesian, Russian, Spanish, etc. However in some languages, searching for the local translation of "song lyrics" on YouTube just gives songs in English.
.
Existing Approaches to Teach Beginners
.
The most common approach for beginners has been to use two languages in a lesson, teaching the target language with explanations in the local language. However switching between two languages is slow, expensive, muddies a beginner's ear, and is not needed if we have sound effects.
.
Another alternative for beginners is to hear words entirely in the target language while seeing pictures or text on a TV, internet, or in printed materials to understand the spoken words. However many learners cannot afford the internet or printed materials, or the time to sit looking at pictures or text while they learn.
.
Native speakers teaching in person are fine too, though far too expensive for most middle and lower income people who want to work in tourism or trade. Also many learners are embarrassed to make mistakes in front of a teacher, and prefer recorded lessons which we replay often.
.
Recordings of native speakers may be better for beginners than in-person teaching by non-native teachers. Later lessons benefit from a teacher in person, after students learn accents and rhythms of the language from native speakers.
.
The main goal for some learners is to read a language (great books, newspapers, rules, contracts...). For them a good accent is less important than a large vocabulary and grammar, and they need written materials more than they need native speakers. A very thoughtful reviewer, Arguelles, makes this distinction; his priority is to read, and he acknowledges a weak accent in some of his languages. Even so, while learning he prefers audio in the target language only,
- "... I much prefer to have target language only and just sort of switch my brain to that frequency rather than having a teaching language sort of make me go back and forth, back and forth..." (5:47)
Schools and Training
.
Lessons recorded by native speakers on radio or MP3 can be used inside schools and training programs, or as supplements. In classes which have a local teacher who is not a native speaker, recordings give students a good accent, and the local teacher can explain, expand, and encourage progress. In schools with no language teacher present, students can learn language entirely from recordings, under simple direction by an older student or adult. Click for more detail.
.
In class and in any group of learners, students can repeat the words along with a radio or MP3 file. If there is no class or group, beginners must practice in a place where saying the words out loud does not bother others. They may be working in a field, walking on the road, or driving a car if they have one. Hallet points out that recording lessons from a radio broadcast lets learners repeat them as needed, and can be more useful than trying to learn directly from the radio.
.
Learners put huge effort into learning a second or third language. It is very important for them to start with good pronunciation from native speakers in the first lessons, which means radio or MP3 files. With good pronunciation learners will actually be understood when they speak. It is harder to correct mispronunciation later.
.
After beginning with native speakers in any form, learners can then learn other lessons from local teachers, from general conversation with other learners or travelers, from Voice of America Special English, BBC 6-Minute and Express English, and from movie dialog with subtitles.
.
The Reviews tab in the top menu covers 70 self-study programs, teaching 300 languages, and recommends which programs to use.
Radio
.
Lessons broadcast by radio would be another cheap way to learn from native speakers. Everyone can listen, People can record lessons and listen while on the go, making more time for learning. Radio has been teaching language since 1923 (Hallet).
It is striking and puzzling that beginning language lessons are not broadcast by any of the major international radio stations, whether in English (All India, BBC, VOA), Arabic, Chinese, French, German or Spanish.
China Central Television and Chinese Radio International have Chinese lessons and Deutsche Welle has German lessons for beginners on the web but they do not broadcast them. BBC's web site teaches several languages, but not English and none by radio. VOA and BBC do have radio programs and websites for intermediate learners who know more than 1,000 words.