1. Introduction to Learning Languages the Natural Way
* "The soul never thinks without a picture." -Aristotle
* "A man who is ignorant of foreign languages is also ignorant of his own language." -Goethe
2. Experience
While teaching foreign languages, we, at Thayne, Prestwich and Associates, have come to the conclusion that learning a second or third language is best done in the natural way.
3. The Natural Way
By the natural way we refer to listening and learning to speak and understand just one phrase or thought at a time, as a child does.
4. Individualized Learning
One aspect of the natural way is individualized learning. Students listen attentively, and repeat what they see and hear. There is no need to sit politely in a classroom of 30 or 40 students waiting for your turn to say something.
5. Small World
There is often a big problem with the world becoming smaller as children and adults travel it: The problem is Communications!
The education solution is a customized, individualized language program.
6. The Problem:
What does a teacher do with students from outside the country entering into his or her classroom for the first time?
Often the teacher does not know even a word of the student's language. In our area there are more than 82 languages spoken.
7. The Teachers' Solution
The solution is to connect the student to our program, with more than 15,000 stimulating sentences in the student's own language and the new language to be learned.
This way, the student becomes totally and enthusiastically emerged in learning the new and exciting language.
8. Grammar
No one sits with children to explain nouns, verbs, etc., and yet the children invent their own grammar. It is a case of making generalizations from specific sounds or sentences as they did when learning their first language.
9. Children
Most of the time small children can speak a language better than someone who has only studied the grammar, and they understand it better.
10. Adults
Two advantages that literate adults have with our program are: the meaning part of the sentence is given to them in their native language and adults can more quickly interpret the drawings and pictures.
11. The Powerful Right Brain
The natural approach uses the right side of the brain almost exclusively as a person does while learning his or her first language.
12. Difficulties in Language Learning
Some languages are said to be more difficult to learn than others.
Not true! Learning a language in the natural way is no more difficult for a Russian or Arabic child than for a Spanish child. And how they learn them!
13. Random Discovery
There is no specific order in which children hear and learn things.
Normally there is little control over what sounds children hear first, and sometimes we hear children repeating things that we wish they hadn't learned.
14. Categories of Things
Children normally do not learn categories of things in specific groups. We do not use the boring process of learning all the words at the train station or at the supermarket, etc.
15. Variety Makes it Fun
From these random words and sentences, we get variety. It is the variety that entertains the learners and keeps them excited about learning. They never know what is coming next, and they surge along with great anticipation.
16. Fun in Learning
There is no boredom for children who are really learning. Each new thought and the way it is presented stimulates the child like a shot of adrenalin.
17. Hearing Repetitions
Children constantly interpret everything they see and hear. In our program children can click on the same word or sentence as many times as they want. At the same time they are instructed to do oral repetitions aloud.
18. Boring Left Brain Activities
As we have indicated, grammar concepts such as conjugation of verbs and declensions of nouns are unknown to children as they speak, but their minds create a kind of grammar for them including verb patterns. As evidence, most adults do not know the formal grammar of their native language, yet we communicate very well. Most grammar rules fall into the left-brain area.
19. Boring Left Brain Activities Continued
Here are a couple of Russian rules of grammar chosen at random to illustrate:
1. The Instrumental Case: The instrumental case is used in the adjective or noun which expresses the manner in which somebody or something is viewed by another person.
2. If a date is merely identified, this is done by using the neuter form of the adjective numeral, with the month in the genitive.
WOW! Imagine teaching these rules to children!
20. How we Teach Russian: Although Russian is accused of being one of the most difficult languages, little children all over Russia speak it fluently. We teach it the way little children learn it.
21. See your Own Language
Using our program to learn a second language as a literate person, we are able to read the language in our first language, as well as in the new language, while we hear it and see it, one thought at a time.
22. Speaking Repetitions
Repeating words and phrases is definitely the device used by tiny children around the world.
Adults may be too self-conscious to speak the words aloud when they read and hear them.
It is very important that we try to overcome this reluctance because the muscles of the mouth and tongue need the training.
23. Our Magic
Our system puts the written words and sentences together with the sound files and picture files in one operation. This program was invented to combine thousands of words and sentences and their sounds and pictures automatically by language.
24. Many Languages Coming:
Our first goal is to complete at least 1,000 languages and or dialects.
25. New Languages
Because we are using digital technology, we will be able to add a new language each month, beginning with English and Spanish for demonstration. Some of the next new European Languages we will be adding are:
26. Languages coming soon:
Portuguese
Russian
Italian
Polish
Chinese (Mandarin)
French
German
Dutch
Norwegian,
and more
27. Local Languages
As we have said, in our local area there are at least 82 languages being spoken in homes today. We will include them all.
28. What else?
As well as new languages to be added, new additions or modules will continually be added to the program.
In addition to the modules included in the basic program, we will have modules in all languages teaching geography, history, mathematics, computers, etc. Tune into our new system!
29. Textbooks?
One of the best aspects of our program is that schools will be furnished with disks to make as many books as they need, with their own cover sheets.
30. DVD's and CD's
Schools will also be able to copy the digital media as they need them for students to study.
(Each student will be able to take home a copy at just a few pennies per copy.)
31. The Future is Here!
We believe that this Super Individualized world wide cyberspace type, digital language program will be the best language program in the world.
Because we are using digital technology, we will be adding a new language each month, beginning with English and Spanish for demonstration.
32. See the lessons on: www.goodmonkeys.com.
"Where one language now often makes a wall, two can make a gate." -Walter V. Kaulfers