Time

Teaching Time in a Foreign Language by Sound Alone

This lesson would build on the "Counting" and "Basic" lessons. After learners really know 7, 12, "are" and "is" from those lessons, they will understand the meaning of:

• "12 months are January, ..., December" (After learning the months, practice with songs: French, Spanish)
• "12 months are 1 year"
• "1 January, 2012 was Sunday"
• "7 days are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday" (After learning the days, practice with songs, rap, French)
• "1 January, 2013 will be Tuesday"
• 7 days are a week
  
• 1 day has 24 hours
• 1 hour has 60 minutes
• 1 minute has 60 seconds
• 12 in the middle of the day is noon
• 12 at the end of the day is midnight
  
• Morning is before noon
• Afternoon is after noon
• Evening is after 6 and after afternoon
  
• Daytime is from about 6 in the morning to about 6 in the evening
• Night is from about 6 in the evening to about 6 in the morning
• Midnight is 12 in the middle of the night
  

If the course designer finds that beginners have trouble with the sentences above, another order may be easier. Here is one alternate sequence to teach the same words and a few more:

• 2010 was a year
• 2011 was a year
• 2012 is a year
• 2013 will be a year
• A year has 12 months
• 2011 had 12 months
• 2012 has 12 months
• 2013 will have 12 months
  
• 12 months are January, ..., December
• A month has 4 weeks
• A week has 7 days
• 1 January, 2012 was Sunday
• 7 days are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
• ... continue as above

People with shorter or longer weeks, like Balinese, are still familiar with the international 7-day week. Different areas list the 7 days starting with Saturday, Sunday or Monday, and the ambiguity is resolved by sentences like "1 January, 2012 was Sunday."

Remaining lessons can be done in any order. "Sounds" would interest many people, or "Geography" could help people start listening to world news