Your life just got a whole lot easier...
After the 500 most frequent words, conjunctions, determiners, and interjections occur rarely (1 to 2 times per 250 words). After the first 750, prepositions and pronouns both appear less frequently (5 or less times per 250 words). And after the first 1250, all parts of speech occur rarely EXCEPT for nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. In other words, when you are a beginner in English, you deal with all parts of speech and master articles. As an intermediate student, you master 3 parts of speech and deepen your understanding of 6. And as a proficient student, you are mainly dealing with common vocabulary made up of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. New languages always seem hardest at the start, but once you get past the 500 most frequent words in English, the weirder parts of speech go away -- besides the occasional preposition...
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So I "got" the language, at least the part I was studying. But there was an oral final exam. How did I prepare for this and how has my Twi fared since?
Once you feel confident with the language, don't study in the same way as when you were first learning the language. With enough practice, your mind has internalized the material. Now, it is about accessing and remembering it. "Once you see what helps you learn, you can act on it." Then, what does it mean to be an active language learner?
What makes something feel new? Well, first of all, "new" isn't a feeling. It's more of a description. "New", in this context, means unfamiliar and refreshing. "New" means different and clarifying. One reason why new experiences are good is that they give us a chance to see ourselves in a new light...
What can language learning be? That's kind of like asking how to make math class more fun. No matter what, you're going to learn addition, multiplication, equations with two variables, but how you learn it and what the teacher is like makes a difference.
So here's what I suggest: make language learning an experience. Yes, it will take time, discipline, and support, but look at how your world changes as you learn a new language. Keep track of why you decided to learn this language and whether the reasons change or manifest over time. Now, what is the language learning experience? Class is about speaking, and an oval table encourages this. Windows, if possible, are also good for natural light. You'll need a blackboard or whiteboard for teaching.
I discourage use of technology because the more resources you put into teaching, the less it becomes about the language and the more it becomes about the technology. If you can use technology to enhance the class in a way you otherwise could not, go ahead. However, you will not always have access to technology when teaching, so I recommend mastering teaching without technology before tastefully incorporating it into your lessons. Also, notice the lack of distractions or clutter in the pictured classroom. The more organized and less busy your classroom, the easier it will be for students to pay attention. Another skill is board management: writing neatly and legibly, not cramming the board, making sure your students write down what they are supposed to, etc. You often do not get to pick your classroom, but you can always put the chairs in an oval, keep the room neat, and have everything prepared in advance (or as) your students arrive. The bottom line is have an image of what you want your classroom to look like, and then do as much as you can to make the actual classroom resemble your ideal. So far we've covered verbs and nouns. Adjectives are easier because you know them when you see them and they are generally descriptive. As a result, you can use some of the same strategies for teaching adjectives as for nouns. In addition, "big" is a concept that's easy to get. So instead of covering what you already know or can figure out, let's get to the challenging parts: prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, determiners, and articles...
How long does it take to learn English? According to a longitudinal study (summary) from 1982 to 1996 by Wayne Thomas and Virginia Collier (full study), it depends on how much education you've received in your native language. This holds regardless of your native language, place of birth, or socioeconomic status.
So, why don't your students talk in class? Do you actually need to spend a half-hour a day to learn a language? No, but it's easier...
Figure 1: The Ebbinghaus Curve To learn a language, you need three things: a curriculum; recordings; and another speaker.
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