Posts Tagged ‘language course’
Having Fun On A Language Course
The best way to learn a foreign language is to live amongst those who speak it as a native language. But the downside is that one needs to make sure that they are happy in that environment, otherwise their learning might suffer and then it becomes a pointless exercise.
Based on this, many people choose to go on language courses in the country of their chosen language for an extended trip. It’s often the everyday tasks that we undertake that give rise to the best opportunities to practice speaking a new language, such as going to the shops to buy something, or catching public transport.
If a student was to be given some language study, or left for themselves to work out which areas of the language they should study, they will probably not choose the most difficult and complicated parts – thus stunting their learning. But conversely, if their main focus is simply on getting some sort of task completed (for example – catching public transport or buying something from a store) their main focus is on getting the task done, therefore they will deal with whatever language challenges are put in front of them – and therefore they will learn more, a lot more quickly. If you are going to travel overseas for a language course it’s just as well to make sure that you retain as much as possible!
One more reason is that the student is not just going through a book and trying to force the brain to retain the knowledge. It’s reasonably obvious that if the brain is engaged in completing a seperate task, the learning process is not so daunting and cumbersome. Also, they may find themselves getting drawn into conversation, which again, is one of the best ways to learn. If the student has to vacate a bus or leave a shop without buying what they entered for, then the potential embarassment will probably ensure that they muddle their way through – hence, learning more vital language components.
Also, to be surrounded continually by other people speaking the language that you are trying to learn has many benefits that are not always so obvious. A lot of information can be absorbed while the learner is busy doing other things, if they happen to be in hearing distance of a conversation occurring in the language that they are learning. This is particularly helpful in terms of identifying intonations and emphasis used in the language.
It’s clear that by distracting the mind from focusing on the fact that you are trying to force it to learn, more knowledge is likely to be retained. For example, if the student was to get bored then they will feel more tired and will do anything to avoid the pain of continuing with the boring task. Trying to learn a new language, like the English language for example, should be enjoyable, not a chore.
The ideal solution for this problem is to combine study sessions with other activities that are relaxing, exciting and fun. The double benefit of this is that not only will the student get less bored and retain more knowledge during the learning phase, but they will also have a more enjoyable time overall during their language course. These activities can be organised in order that they offer character building benefits, as well as also placing them in a situation where will be exposed to native speakers of the language, and can be required to converse with them as well.
Especially if the student is quite young, they can also gain further from these activities. They can get involved in character and team building exercises for example. This will develop their communication skills, their boldness and confidence, plus it can help to develop initiative. These things will all contribute to the learner’s future success, and helps to ensure that they not only learn about and experience languages, but also many other things as well. This way, they will not feel that the whole course has been one long study session, but in reality they will have picked up language skills throughout the time spent. Many English language course students will be pleased to hear this – you learn more when you’re having lots of fun!