Parrot Time Magazine

The Thinking of Speaking
Issue #3 May / June 2013
Language Learning Methods
Classes

Classes

by Erik Zidowecki
May / June 2013 |  asd

While in this column we have talked about methods of learning languages through self-study, the most popular means of learning is probably still by attending classes. Schools all over the world offer classes in at least one language to students. In many schools, taking such a class is even mandatory.

These kinds of classes are done with many other students learning together at the same time. A teacher presents the students with the material and helps them master the basics of the language. Textbooks are usually the primary source of the materials, but with the expansion of language media types, students can now make use of audio, videos, magazines and newspapers, and even computers.


A basic language lab for teaching English in the MiddleEast.

A version of this media usage isn't entirely new. Language labs have been used for over a century in some schools, the first appearing in the University of Grenoble, France in 1908. Essentially they are classrooms with each seat having direct access to media equipment to aid the students in learning. Some may even be so advanced as to be separate sound booths, closing out the noises of the other students. From the 1950s to the 1990s, these were mostly tape or cassette based systems, but they are more likely to be using multimedia computers now.

Taking classes means showing up regularly for a fixed amount of time to receive instructions from the teacher, review what was learned, and practise with other students. This is one of the few approaches that offers a regular direct, face-to-face interaction with other learners. This is a huge asset, as it allows the students to truly use the language to its fullest extent. They are able to practise speaking and listening in real time as well as formation and comprehension. This differs from the more passive methods of books and audio which only allow a person to utilize one means of input. Learning by audio can only truly improve your listening skills, while books can only improve your reading. You have no feedback from a person to help correct your progress. Even when using a more interactive approach, like posting or chatting online, some aspect is missing.

Of course, you hope that the teacher of the class is competent in the language. Sadly, this is not always the case.

Another major benefit of classes is that you can get clarification of the vocabulary and grammar as you learn from a person who is fully knowledgeable. When studying on your own, there is often not anyone to help clarify a point, so unless you have someone you can ask or another reference to help, you will find your understanding hitting a sudden wall. This may not be a major problem, but it disrupts your flow of studying.


A teacher explaining some grammar details to a class

Along with the direct feedback, a student in a larger class also gets the social interaction with others sharing the desire to master the language. This might sound trivial, but to anyone that has tried learning a language on their own, this can make all the difference. You are no longer struggling alone. You have a group of peers that are learning and practising right along with you. Since you are all beginners, this can also greatly ease the fear of making mistakes. When you study alone then try to practise with someone more advanced or even a native, you are likely to be very afraid of saying something wrong. This can be almost completely wiped away when everyone else is at the same level as you. You can relax and enjoy the shared learning experience.

Of course, you hope that the teacher of the class is competent in the language. Sadly, this is not always the case. The teacher may have learned the language as a second language themselves and therefore their abilities will depend greatly upon their own education as well as their experience. For example, a German who learned Spanish in a German school and goes on to become a Spanish teacher themselves will probably not speak it as well as a teacher that learned it by living in Spain for a few years. A student's ability with the new language will therefore be majorly impacted by their teachers own abilities.

These brings us to the second problem of this method. While the students are learning the language with several other people at the same time, this can lead to a what I call a closed system situation. What that means is that everyone is repeating what they have learned from the teacher, books, and whatever other media they are using. The less influence they have outside the classroom, the more restricted their education becomes.


Students practising their language skills during class

Think about only ever eating at a single Italian restaurant all your life. You might try every dish, memorize the entire menu, and always feel firm in your knowledge of Italian food because of this. However, what if one day you eat at another Italian restaurant which has a different way of preparing the dishes you know, or even offers ones you have never heard of. You will realize that you have a great deal more to learn. You might even find out that what you were eating in your restaurant wasn't correct. It would be like thinking you were eating real Italian food all your life because you ate at the Olive Garden, only to travel to Italy and visit a restaurant there. Everything you thought you knew might suddenly be proven wrong.

This can happen in the classroom as well. If what you have learned there is incorrect, yet everyone repeats it constantly, it become ingrained. Then when a student tries to converse with a true native, or perhaps even a student of the same language from a different class, they may find themselves lost. This is likely to happen with any system of learning, of course, and how bad the damage is will depend on how incorrect the original source or teacher was.

A real world example of this is when I traveled to Italy for the first time. I had met an Italian exchange student named Lucio when he attended my school one year and so I visited him the next year in his country. While in his home town, we went to his English class briefly and there I met his English teacher. The teacher, while able to make himself clear to me, was certainly not fluent and made a few basic mistakes while talking to me. I diplomatically did not point these out, but I did realize that Lucio's English was much better than his teacher's from having had spent a year in the United States. If he hadn't done the exchange program, I wonder how much his English could have improved with this teacher.

Advanced Interaction Methods


Classroom with computers to use more learning technologies

With the increase of technology and the internet, many classes can now supplement the learning experience by allowing students to talk to other learners and native speakers via the internet. Going back to our fictional German learning Spanish, he could be studying in the class while also having a chance to talk to a native Spanish speaker by using a voice-chat like Skype. This advanced interaction can help decrease the closed system effect as well as infusing the entire class with greater enthusiasm. Rather than just speaking with fellow classmates and parroting what they have learned, they can practise with natives and quickly refine both their listening and speaking skills. This then becomes a hybrid of classes and internet learning methods.

Setting the Pace


A large class which can leave slower students behind or drag on faster students.

While working with a class gives you the benefits of having someone who can (hopefully) answer your questions as well as direct interaction with other learners, it does have the related problem of acquisition speed. A class is meant to make sure everyone learns the language, which means the class can only progress as fast as the slowest learner. If a student isn't grasping the material as swiftly as the others, the teacher may end up spending more of the class time attempting to assist that one student, leaving the other students waiting and perhaps eventually resenting the slower student. This can quickly lead to bad feelings in the class as well as boredom. The alternative is that the teacher continues at a regular pace and any students that can not keep up are left struggling. Meanwhile, there are going to be some students that pick up the material much faster than the others and they will become bored and frustrated with the class as well. This is a problem with classes in any subject. The larger the class, the bigger the problem is likely to be because there will probably be more students that are either slower or faster than the rest. For this reason, many people prefer individual study in which they can work at their own pace.

Immersion


The University of Da Nang's Foreign Languages School

Classes may also use more of the immersion technique, as pioneered by the Berlitz schools. Immersion is when the learner is put into a situation in which they can only speak the language they are learning. They are also only spoken to in that language. This forces them to use the language in a real-world setting they might not otherwise get a chance to experience. A class can simulate this by having the teacher constantly speaking in the new language and insisting the students only use that language as well in response or when talking to others. Of course, this can only be maintained during the class time. Some more expensive classes may involve having students actually traveling to another country and being immersed in the language full time for a period of a few weeks or months. Immersion is considered one of the best ways to learn, and we will discuss it further in another article.

I did find myself attending a French immersion class while I was in my university. The teacher would enter the class and start speaking in French, first greeting us then telling us what we would be covering for that class. The only problem with this was the it was a French history class, and the only person that understood any French in the class was the French exchange student. After a week of this, we finally asked him to stop speaking French, since we were there for the history, not the language.

Costs

A major drawback to taking classes is the cost. If the language class is part of your normal school criteria, then the cost is no more than whatever your normal tuition is (if any, since public schools are usually paid for by the government). However, if you are not in school, then taking classes may become expensive. You are paying for the teacher, the use of the facilities (wherever the class is being held), and any textbooks you will be expected to purchase.

In New York, USA, a Berlitz immersion course can cost $250 per month for 90-minute classes while another course may cost $210 to $285 for ten hour long classes. At the University of California, Los Angeles, a traditional, three-month language class costs $480. These are relatively inexpensive. By comparison, as an immersion course in another country, KCP International offers classes in Japanese in Japan, with a cost of $2900 per semester for just the course itself. Add a few thousand dollars more depending on where you live during that time.

Time Spent


Language school in Delhi

Depending on the nature of the class, whether it is part of your daily school activity, a few nights a week at a local university or course center, or an extensive immersion school, you are likely to be spending a great deal of time NOT involved in the actual learning. If you need to travel regularly to the location of the class, that time is wasted. And during a class, whenever the teacher needs to assist any student who is having a problem with the material, including you, that is time you aren't actually practising and learning. This might make you think then that a full immersion course like the Japanese one is the most efficient. That might be true, yet consider that you are actually dedicating several months to learning the language. How much are you sacrificing when you can't be doing the stuff you might normally be doing back in your own country? No matter what format the classes take, you have to attend them according to their time schedules, not yours.

Tutoring

A related means of learning is taking classes with a private tutor. This has many of the same benefits as a class, but also some further drawbacks. With a tutor, a student will be able to get all the help they need and work at their own pace. However, the amount of social interaction will be severely limited, since the only other person they are likely to be speaking with is the tutor. The quality of their education will also be directly tied to the abilities of the tutor. A native speaker might be ideal as a tutor, but it is also likely the teacher may have simply learned the language in a class they attended a few years before. Private tutors are also likely to be far more expensive than a group class, because the single student is paying for the entire salary of the tutor, rather than having that cost split among many others.

There are many benefits with learning through classes, and they will probably always be a major method of language acquisition. As newer technologies evolve and become integrated, the classroom can actually expand its capabilities rather than having to compete with these alternative means. For example, with software becoming more advanced and the introduction of internet facilities, a classroom has more resources and interactive means. Even more important, a student has a greater chance to practise and expand their learning outside the classroom, either on their own or as assigned by the teacher. This has already led to a hybrid of distance learning, in which a person can attend a class in real time, with full visual and audio, in a class that is hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Imagine sitting on your computer at home in France and being able to attend a Spanish language class being held in Germany. You instantly eliminate the travel time or cost of living there while still benefit from group learning experience.


Classroom of the future?

Classes will not be the best choice for everyone, of course. Those who can't afford them or find them locally will be unable to participate while those that don't learn at the same pace as others are likely to prefer self-study or private tutoring. Still, they should certainly be considered for anyone wanting to pick up another language or three.

We hope you enjoyed this third article in this series of language learning methods. Previous articles have discussed the methods of audio learning and books. We would like your thoughts and comments on the article and your experiences with classes. Please write to us at parrottime@parleremo.org.

Language Learning Methods - Classes
Writer: Erik Zidowecki
Images:
Vmenkov: Lnxia Foreign Languages School
Kubaru: English Language Lab
The LEAF Project: FLCC Classes @ Canandaigua Campus
Shane Global: General English Class
Rbok: Japanese High school Language Lab
HBS1908: Inside a classroom
Dragfyre: The University of Da Nang's Foreign Languages School.
Subhashish Panigrahi: School of languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Niepr: State-of-the-art Collaborative Classroom

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.

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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 Word Search Puzzles Norwegian - Volume 1



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