Parrot Time Magazine

The Thinking of Speaking
Issue #20 March / April 2016
Extras
A Medley of Virtual Languages

A Medley of Virtual Languages

by Kendal Knetemann
March / April 2016 |  asd

When I talk about LingoHut.com 3 questions are commonly asked which are:


• Why was LingoHut developed?
• What teaching method does LingoHut use?
And...
• Why is LingoHut offered free of charge?

Why was LingoHut developed?

To answer this question I begin with my own personal story of when I arrived in the United States displaced from my homeland Nicaragua and the difficulty I had assimilating into this new culture with virtually no language skills. Because of my experiences, my goal with LingoHut is to help people build confidence in communicating in a new language.

LingoHut is an international free website for people needing or desiring to learn a new language. Whether they are a student, teacher, professional, retired or a new immigrant assimilating to your new adoptive lands LingoHut is available to assist in this new endeavor.

To assure we reach a global audience we present our site in over 50 native languages, teaching basic conversational skills in English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and a few lessons in Polish. Let me give you an example, someone from Albania can learn from their native Albanian language any of the ten languages we teach today. Making learning a new language accessible and engaging to all students.


What teaching method does LingoHut use?

LingoHut’s unique platform focuses on basic conversational skills and word pronunciation. We do not focus on the fundamentals of language as there are many websites available that concentrate on this area.

During my teaching career I observed that the most effective technique of studying and learning a new language is by implementing the "drip-feed" approach. Imagine a dripping faucet; each drop collecting to form a puddle that continues to expand with each drip. Similarly, this method focuses on learning the language in small increments. Think of each word as a drop and phrases/sentences as small puddles which finally becomes the large pool of your new language mastery and success. Bit by bit, step by step, drop by drop the language is successfully integrated into your knowledge base!


For this reason, LingoHut created short interactive lessons and quick easy games to provide the student the drops needed to build a large pool of language wisdom. Allowing the student the opportunity to schedule a daily visit to take a lesson. The games and activities reinforce the vocabulary being taught and provide high levels of pronunciation success. LingoHut puts the student in the driver’s seat. The student controls how many times a word or phrase is recited. All you have to do is click to get the word or phrase repeated! Studies have shown that a student might need up to 60 repetitions of the word or phrase before he or she feels confident enough to use the word or phrase in a conversation.

Our unique platform allows the student to listen, see, and interact with the new vocabulary being learned. Our visual, auditory and kinesthetic program allows students to take lessons regardless of what learning style they prefer or works best for them. Professors and teachers know that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work when it comes to learning a new language. Not all students learn the same way. Not all students express themselves in the same way. And, not all students engage in language learning in the same way.

Why is LingoHut offered free of charge?

My personal experience as a newcomer to the US created a keen desire to provide LingoHut at no charge to others. When a person is getting "back on their feet" coming up with even a few dollars can prove challenging! And I think, no matter what your income, everyone should have the opportunity to improve themselves via education.

The website is itself founded, managed and developed by myself and my husband, of 30 years. Today LingoHut encounters worldwide traffic with thousands of lessons taken daily. When we first developed LingoHut we never expected this kind of response! It is satisfying to me to know that, with this technology, I can help hundreds of thousands of people a month, when in the past I could only help a few in a classroom! One has got to love technology!!

Getting Started

How to get started? Go to LingoHut.com and set the language you speak. From this point the lessons will be presented in your native language. Then, start having fun learning a new language!

Partnering


Gloria Macapagal Arroyo once said, "The power of one, if fearless and focused, is formidable, but the power of many working together is better" We agree! This attitude is why LingoHut likes to collaborate with others. Partnering with others helps us provide a more comprehensive service for our students. There are many other great resources available to help learners become confident with a new language along great blogs and articles to help the learner understand all there is to know about language learning. Some of our valued partners are Parrot Time magazine which provides comprehensive articles about language, culture and travel and Games for Languages which delivers fun games to interact with language learning. We believe when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.

There is still a lot of work to be done. You ask, what can I do? Share LingoHut with your friends and family and help them learn a language. If you are interested in partnering with us, we would love to hear from you! If you would like to donate funds to see a new language added to our catalog, we would love to hear from you! If you need a global stage to promote your organization, we would love to hear from you! If you have any ideas to help us aid others, we would love to hear from you! If you have a website link to us, we appreciate it!

Work with us to help others become confident communicating and speaking a new language.

Your feedback will help others. How did YOU learn a new language? What methods worked best for YOU? What online language resources work best for YOU?

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." Well said Helen Keller!!

Kendal Knetemann is the founder of LingoHut where free language lessons, activities and articles on making language learning uncomplicated. Communication is our thing!!!  Like us on our Facebook page.

A Medley of Virtual Languages
Writer: Kendal Knetemann
Images:
Petey: Globe (title); Language blocks; Foreign greetings; Chalkboard

All images are Copyright - CC BY-SA (Creative Commons Share Alike) by their respective owners, except for Petey, which is Public Domain (PD) or unless otherwise noted.

Searching for language resources?
Scriveremo Publishing, has lots of fun books and resource to help you learn a language. Click the link below to see our selection of books, availlable for over 30 langauges!
Parleremo Languages Basic Vocabulary Activities Hungarian - Volume 1



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