secrets of language learning success

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“Secrets of Language-learning Success” - by Daniel Stephens & Stefania Zamagni

This e-book was downloaded from: www.madrelinguaitaliano.com

Secrets of Language-Learning Success

Daniel Stephens





Secrets of Language-learning Success - Contents

About the Authors...............................................................................................................3Welcome language learner!................................................................................................4

Secret no.1.............................................................................................................................5

Secret no. 2............................................................................................................................6

Secret no.3.............................................................................................................................7

Secret no.4.............................................................................................................................9

Practical suggestions.......................................................................................................9

Would a study holiday in Bologna help your learning?...............................................11

Secret no.5...........................................................................................................................13QUALITY LANGUAGE TEACHING.........................................................................13

"METHOD" SCHOOLS: A MARKETING MANAGER'S DREAM!.............................13

TEACHERS ARE LIKE COPS AND DENTISTS........................................................14

Secret no.6...........................................................................................................................15

THE THEORY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING...............................................................15

TIPS FOR CHOOSING A LANGUAGE SCHOOL....................................................17

Secret no. 7..........................................................................................................................19

Secret no.8...........................................................................................................................21

The REAL value of studying Italian in Italy...................................................................22

Secret no.9...........................................................................................................................23

How to organise your studies..........................................................................................24

Secret no.10.........................................................................................................................26

Secret no. 11........................................................................................................................27

Summary: The 10 Secrets of language learning success!..............................................29

Can't get started?...............................................................................................................32





About the Authors

In 2005 Daniel Stephens and Stefania Zamagni started their own language school,Madrelingua, in Bologna Italy. Madrelingua means "native speaker" or "mother

tongue" in Italian, and the name was chosen because of the belief in the advantages

of having a native-speaker teacher.

Daniel has been in the language teaching business since 1990, when he first worked

as a language teacher (of English) in Ankara, capital of Turkey. There followed jobs

in Britain (teaching Japanese children), Poland, where he was Director of Studies,

and then Britain again, in some of the best London language schools. On his

travels, he learnt Turkish to intermediate level, plus bits of Japanese and Polish (all

sadly forgotten).

Stefi was a linguist from birth, with a Swedish mother and an Italian father. She

learnt English and German at School, then Japanese at university. In 1996 she

decided to spend a year in the UK, and once there decided to do a course to become

an English teacher, which was were she met her future husband, who was one of

the trainers on her teacher-training course.

A year later, tired of London, and in search of adventure, Stefi and Daniel moved to

Bologna, where Daniel began work as a teacher at the British Council, the city's

most prestigious language school, and Stefi gave birth to the first of their three

children. In 2005, on the closure of the British Council, they started their own

school, which is now recognised as one of the most professional and well-equipped

language schools in the city, and employs more than 10 teachers.





Welcome language learner!

Welcome language learner, successful or not! We know how you feel, because weare both learners and teachers of foreign languages, and we meet hundreds of

people every week with the same desire as you : to learn to speak a foreign

language.

Misconceptions abound when it comes to language learning, and unfortunately

"success", however it is defined, seems less common than "failure", so this e-mail

series is intended to clarify, encourage and support you in your journey to learn

Italian.

Do you feel that learning a foreign language could be beyond you? Would you say

you are too old, too slow, or simply not "good at languages"? Take heart! Things

may not be as bad as you think...





Secret no.1

I have been teaching foreign languages to adults (and children) for nearly twentyyears (see biography on the right) and in that time I have met precisely TWO

people with an exceptional talent for language learning (both teenage girls,

surprisingly), and maybe a dozen or so who were really incapable. Virtually

everyone, therefore, fell into the "can do it given time and effort" category, so that

means you too!

My own French teacher at secondary school rated me "incapable" of learning a

foreign language, but I have successfully learnt to communicate first in French, thenTurkish and now Italian, the latter to a level when I run my business completely in

the language.

So, I am well placed to tell you secret no. 1 of language learning success:

LANGUAGE LEARNING SUCCESS TAKES TIME!

Lower your expectations - in a week or two, nothing much changes in your brain,

except your attitude and motivation levels. Think medium-long term, and you willget results. You may not speak and understand Italian this week, next week, or next

month, but if you keep at it and manage to keep interested, one day you will amaze

your friends with your fluency. We promise!





Secret no. 2

Secret no. 2 is a rather obvious one, but often overlooked.

Have you ever signed up for a fitness club membership in January, only to have

given up going by March? (In fact, the fitness club industry bases its entire business

model on the expectation that you will do just that - they sell many more

memberships in the new year than they actually have space for, knowing that you

will lose interest fairly soon!)

Motivation, then, is the key. If you have a REASON TO LEARN, your chances ofmastering the Italian language are much higher. Italy is full of Polish cleaning

ladies, Filipino maids, North-African drug dealers and Russian domestic assistants

(apologies to anyone offended by these stereotypes), who all speak Italian fluently

because it is essential to earning a living, and who probably never attended a

private language course.

Actually, language learning is a NATURAL human talent, and seems to happen

almost "by magic" when we NEED to do it. Think of people who live in countries

which have many languages in common use. African or Indian citizens with nomore than a primary education, but who speak the language of their tribe or

community, plus the language of the country, and maybe an international language

(English, French) as well. If they can do it, so can you!

What does this mean for me?

First, you CAN learn Italian. Second, BE PATIENT, it's going to take a while! Third,

if you don't have an obvious motivation (like being married to an Italian), FINDREASONS TO NEED THE LANGUAGE.





Secret no.3

Secret no.3 is one of the really important lessons, but sadly one that manylanguage-learners often fail to learn (and some teachers too!).

One of the most natural things to do when starting something that you're not really

sure how to do, like learning a foreign language, is to think back to previous

experiences you might have had. Do you remember studying a foreign language at

school? Perhaps in your school there was a syllabus based around a progressive

study of the grammar of the language you were learning? It's likely you remember

some of the tenses of the language you studied, even if you are now unable tospeak or understand a word.

So, when starting afresh with a new language, or picking up again with one that

you've previously studied, many students reach straight for the grammar book.

Teachers like grammar too, partly because they know their students like it, but also

because it's very "measurable". Unlike the vocabulary of the language, which can be

almost limitless in quantity and changes rapidly, there is a finite quantity of

grammar to teach, so it's possible to organise lessons in a coherent way and give

participants a sense of progress. You can measure the results easily too, unlike saywith more communicative activities. A quick test, and hey presto! Learning is

demonstrated to have happened, and all are satisfied!

However, as anyone who has ever worked on the reception desk of a language

school can tell you, virtually everyone in the market to buy a language course has

studied the grammar before but failed to reach their goal to speak and understand.

Potential clients arrive at our school saying that they studied the grammar at

school, at home, with a private teacher, using a computer programme, or whatever, but admitting that they can't really manage to speak or understand the language.

Often, they will specifically ask for a course in which they will be able to study the

grammar again, on the assumption that the problem is simply that they don't

remember what they studied well enough. Their assumption is that:

KNOWLEDGE OF GRAMMAR = ABILITY TO SPEAK / UNDERSTAND

And Secret no. 3? The above assumption is not true at all!





THERE'S A LOT MORE TO LANGUAGE THAN GRAMMAR.

In fact, it's probably possible to get by very well in a language without ever

studying it at all! Think of the pre-school age children you know. They may not

write or read much, but they can certainly speak and understand! Foreign language

learning has parallels with the way that children learn their first language (see also

Secret no. 1 - language learning takes time - do small children learn to speak

immediately?)

Conclusion? Any course based primarily on grammar will be poor in opportunitiesto develop essential language skills such as speaking and listening. You need to

practise these skills, they don't just come naturally when you've memorised all the

tenses. So, do yourself a favour, put away your grammar book and do something

more useful!





Secret no.4

Secret no. 4 follows on from Secret no. 3 It's simply expressed: If you want todevelop a good understanding of a foreign language, YOU NEED TO READ A

LOT. Here are some reasons why:

-Reading is free, or cheap

-There is a limitless supply of texts available

-Texts in Italian are full of vocabulary and grammar in a context which will help

you to learn both

-You can get them free or cheap on the internet- Reading is motivating, interesting, and can enhance your life

-Reading is a "natural" way to learn

-Reading can "simulate" the experience of "being there". In fact, if you read enough,

you may as well be there!

Honestly, if you do nothing else, you should read! It must be the cheapest, most

practical, and most effective way to "grow the Italian in your head".

Personally, I learnt Italian almost exclusively by reading (which explains my

horrible accent!). I was working as an English teacher in Italy and therefore duty- bound to interact with my clients in English. But I knew from experience how

isolating this can be in the long term, and was determined to learn to read Italian so

I would not be "trapped" in the world of ex-expatriate English speakers. I vowed

never to buy an English book or newspaper while l lived in Italy, and (with some

exceptions) I have more or less stuck to my decision. The result? Without studying

the language formally, I reached advanced level and became confident with texts of

every type!

"But that's because you live there!", you say. Ah, but my students of English live in

Italy too, and I give them the same advice I'm giving you. Get some of the language

you want to learn into your daily life, and soon you'll find you are improving

naturally. You really DON'T need to live there.

Practical suggestions

Here's a list of things you can do RIGHT NOW to improve your Italian:





1. Lock your grammar book in a drawer for a week. Find other ways to study.

2. Find websites in Italian which interest you (shopping, travel, news, etc.) and

spend 10-15 minutes a day on them.3. Set your "homepage" to your favourite Italian-language website, that way

reading it will become a habit!

4. Buy a simplified book with audio CDs. Search for "graded readers" at

www.italianbookshop.co.uk

We recommend: listen and read first (quickly), re-read at your leisure, listen again

in your car or on the bus (as many times as you wish). Then share the book with

your friends who are learning Italian!





Would a study holiday in Bologna help your learning?

Have you considered taking a few weeks out of your busy life to study Italian in

Italy? Many thousands of people, of all ages, visit language schools in this country

each year. Could it work for you too?

WHY BOLOGNA?

Actually, you really SHOULDN'T go to Bologna. You'll learn much more Italian if

you go to Florence or Rome, where you can hear English spoken everywhere andthere are thousands of people from your own country to make friends with! Only

joking, of course. Studying in a city which has lots to do, but is not one of the top

two or three tourist destinations will give you the chance to experience what life is

really like in Italy. And you'll need to speak Italian whenever you order a coffee,

buy something in a shop, or whatever, because life in the city does not revolve

around tourists.

Want to know what the Bolognese think of their city? "Si sta bene, a Bologna" ("You

live well in Bologna"). Why would anyone want to go anywhere else?

WHAT SORT OF COURSE WOULD I DO?

Group? Intensive? Individual? It's up to you, really. Look at some course

descriptions to get some ideas.

The ADVANTAGES

- you'll be exposed to Italian all day, so lots of chance to speak, listen, read andgenerally interact with the language

- you'll be spending at least part of the day in the "controlled environment" of a

language school, with professionals to help and support you

The DISADVANTAGES

- you'll be exposed to Italian all day, so lots of chance to speak, listen, read and

generally interact with the language (this can be more stressful than you would





imagine!)

- cost, being away from your family and friends, having to adapt to being a student

again. There are so many reasons NOT to make the decision. But how will youknow, if you don't try?

WHAT DID OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF IT?

To read about the experiences of other students, visit our

"Student's comments" page





Secret no.5

Many learners will leave the decisions about what they study, and when they studyit, to their teacher, or to the writer who prepared the course they are following. As

you will read below, this could be a big mistake!

QUALITY LANGUAGE TEACHING

"50% of language teachers are below average. 50% of language schools too"

At the time of writing I am owner of one of the many language schools in Bologna,

Italy. There are around twenty private companies teaching English to adults in thiscity of 300,000 people, plus the six or seven schools teaching Italian. Three or four

(including my school) operate in both markets.

Of these (let's say 25) schools, 3 are associate members of AISLI, the national

association for English schools, and two are members of ASILS, which is the

association for schools teaching the Italian language. Madrelingua is a member of

both organisations (you can check on their sites!), so the total number of

"recognised" schools is 4/25.

What does recognition mean? Recognised schools adhere to "minimum" standards

of quality, their teachers have some sort of contract, there will be facilities and

guarantees for the clients. Yet these basic requisites for quality are too much for

four fifths of the schools in the market!

Moral: choose your language school well, it's all too easy to end up in an

unregulated institution where quality will be left to the individual teacher.

"METHOD" SCHOOLS: A MARKETING MANAGER'S DREAM!

Some of the strongest players in the language learning market are the "method"

schools. Psychology discredited in the 1950's still serves as the basis of the syllabus

in many of these schools, but more importantly, is at the core of their marketing.

How much easier to sell a "magic method", "guaranteed to work or your money

back", "just sign here", than to offer a service in which success, to a large extent,

depends on the client!





So avoid any school claiming to have a faster, more effective solution. Language-

learning, like many things in life, takes time and effort; there there are no magic

solutions, and any "proper" school will tell you that at the outset. (If you areinterested in the theory of language learning, read on to Secret no. 6, below!)

TEACHERS ARE LIKE COPS AND DENTISTS

There are good cops and bad cops, lazy cops and hard-working cops, some who are

just starting out and therefore lack the wisdom which comes from years on the job,

others who are marking time before their pension. Anyone who watches American

movies or reads detective fiction knows this is true!

So why should the same not also apply to other professions, such as language

teachers? Many of us are mediocre, unimaginative, lazy, de-motivated, or just busy

thinking about something much more interesting than you and your grammar

problems.

Does it matter? Well yes! You're paying good money for your course. You don't

want to be fobbed off with a time-server or an incompetent! You deserve a "proper"

teacher, a professional, someone who will teach you the way you need to be taughtto bring out the best in you.

These people exist, and guess where you're going to find them? That's right, in the

pricier schools, which pay reasonable salaries and offer stability and longer-term

prospects. The schools who don't try to fool you with magic methods, but sell the

services of experienced staff, in a nice environment, with good materials and

facilities.

So do yourself a favour! You wouldn't choose the cheapest dentist in town. Why go

for the cheapest language school?

Secret no. 5, in a few words: LET THE BUYER BEWARE!





Secret no.6

THE THEORY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

Why should you care about the theory of language learning? You want to get out

there and talk to people in bars, right?

Well.. ever had the experience of taking your car to the mechanic, but not knowing

how to evaluate the mechanic's advice? Should you agree to pay €2000 for these

extra parts, or is the mechanic inflating the bill unnecessarily? You'd wish you

knew more about cars, wouldn't you?And unlike getting your car repaired, not only do you have to pay for your

language course, you also have to spend hundreds of hours of your precious time

on it!

How do people learn languages? What works best? Well, actually this is a lot more

complicated an area than you might imagine. A colleague of mine, who spent two

years studying for a master's in Applied Linguistics (yes we DO have GREAT

teachers at Madrelingua!), seems to think that it isn't actually very clear how we

learn languages, but that there are general principles which can help us do it better.

Wikipedia can explain this much better than me, so if you have time for some

"serious reading", follow this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_language_acquisition

Or, if you want something much SHORTER and EASIER TO UNDERSTAND, try

reading Stephen Krashen's ideas. There's a summary here:

http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html

So, Secret no. 6 is: SAVE TIME AND MONEY. GET WISE! LEARN HOW WE

LEARN, AND USE YOUR NEW KNOWLEDGE TO PLAN YOUR STUDIES

Why choose a "recognised" language school?

Life is too short and our budgets too limited to waste time on study holidays which





don't deliver.

But how to choose wisely? What factors will guarantee your language-learning

success?

Unfortunately, even the best school in the world cannot guarantee absolutely, 100%

that in any particular week, every student will have a perfect experience.

What they can do is to try and eliminate as many of the quality issues as possible,

and offer a service which predictably gives value for money.

Well trained staff, with experience, are the most important factor. Keeping thosewell-trained staff with experience happy and motivated in the medium to long term

is also critical if the teachers are to pass their experience and enthusiasm on to their

clients.

Transparency, credibility, honesty, professionalism, commitment, experience: there

are many qualities necessary to running a top-quality language school, as for any

service business.

Can you know for sure, in advance, that you're making the right choice?

Not absolutely, because in part your happiness will depend on you and your own

preferences. But you CAN minimise your chances of wasting your time and energy.

Check out the association of language schools ASILS - do they inspect for quality?

Do they have a charter, which members must adhere to?

Who are members? Look at a few of the web sites to see if you get an impression of

quality.

Draw up a short-list of "recognised" schools in the areas where you would like to

study. Sure, compare the prices, but be sure to read the small print to see what is

and is not included.

Choose a school which gives a damn what you think. Choose a school which has a

reputation to lose. Don't choose a school which bases its appeal on offering the

lowest price to the largest number of people.





TIPS FOR CHOOSING A LANGUAGE SCHOOL

I've worked in lots, and there's nothing like an insider's advice to learn how an

industry operates...

1. Write an e-mail. Ask LOTS of questions. Do you get an answer? From a real

person? Are the answers credible?

2. Visit if you can, or call, if you can't visit. Ask to observe a lesson, or talk to a

teacher (and ask more questions!)

3. Ask about the methodology used. The correct answer should be: "Our teachers

are experienced professionals who are trusted to employ whatever method is best

suited to the needs of their clients", or something like that!

4. Read the small print. Does it seem reasonable and fair???

5. Trust your "gut feeling". If you don't feel good about a school, there's probably a

reason!

What REALLY helps in language learning?

What's the right balance between classroom learning and other learning activities?

Obviously, some form of formal study, whether done alone or with a teacher, will

be very helpful in providing you with the basics and in guiding your learning.

However, many learners over-estimate the importance of the classroom work (or

the grammar book) and underestimate the importance of the "out-of-class"activities.

Are you learning to live, or living to learn? Your new foreign language will only

have meaning in your life if you DO something with it (learning in order to live):

work, have conversations, read books, have a love affair, whatever.

There's no need to wait until you have a "complete" understanding of the language

before you begin to put it to good use. In fact, many experts would argue that there





is no such thing as a "complete" knowledge of a foreign language (or even of your

own language!).

So, don't wait! Start speaking, listening to, reading or writing now, and as a

consequence you will create a "virtuous circle", which will continuously improve

your language skills and increase your "level", as if by magic!





Secret no. 7

You don't need to be told how many words you don't know in Italian. In fact, youmay often feel that the words you don't know far out-number the ones you DO

know, and at the beginning with a new foreign language it really is like this.

Clearly, knowledge of lexis is a fundamental element of language-learning success.

But how do you increase your vocabulary?

Learning new words is not as simple as it sounds, for two reasons:

1. WHICH WORDS?There are so many unknown words, where do you start? Take any topic, "Driving a

car", for example, and think of all the words you know in your own language

which are associated with this topic: parts of a car, verbs for driving, the Highway

Code, mechanical problems, verbs for things that cars do, etc.

You could easily come up with a very long list of words which may be considered

"basic" to any theme or topic. Where do you start? Driving a car? Cooking?

Economics? Health? Most course-books and language courses will introduce the

words gradually and link them to situations in which you can practise thelanguage, and to important grammar structures.

2. WHAT DOES "LEARN" MEAN?

Well, it's obvious what "learning a word" means, isn't it? You just need to know

what it means... No, actually, it can be a lot more complex than that. You need to

know its grammatical function, or functions (It's a verb!), plus the grammatical

form, or forms (how to conjugate the new verb), the pronunciation (usually

straightforward in Italian), the spelling (ditto), any homonyms (different meaningsof the same word). And that's just to start! There are also the synonyms (other

words with the same meaning), idiomatic uses ("Why do people say "What a

cabbage!" in Italian?), register (level of formality), whether the word is specific to a

certain region, profession, or generation, and so on. In fact, some words are so

complex that you can spend a life-time and not know all of the meanings or uses.

DON'T WORRY! THERE IS A SOLUTION





Given the above, it's hard to avoid rushing to the conclusion that learning a

language is a hopeless task, but no! Stop! There IS a simple solution, and that lies

with the concept of CONTEXT. Instead of basing your learning entirely on the ideaof studying words which you "might need one day", what you need to do is include

exposure to lots of "real" language which will act as a context to the vocabulary

items contained in it.

What do I mean? Like this. Imagine you're reading a recipe for "ragù" (Bolognese

sauce, served with tagliatelle), and you get through the list of ingredients (onions,

carrots, celery, etc.) with no problem. Then you get to the phrase:

"XXXX the onions and carrots and XXX them in hot olive oil for several minutes".Oh! My teacher didn't tell me any cooking verbs. Panic! What shall I do?

And therein lies the solution to the problems described above: the context provides

you with much of the information you need (it's a verb) and, more importantly, it

will tell you which words you REALLY need to know (the ones you see all of the

time in the stuff you read, whatever it is). Moreover, it gives you enough clues so

that you can begin to work out the meaning on your own, without a dictionary.

Simply by repeated exposure to the same items in the same and in different

contexts, your understanding of the word will grow and grow.

So, secret no. 7 is: GUESS UNKNOWN WORDS FROM CONTEXT.

Did you know, researchers have identified that one of the most important

characteristics of a successful language learner is that they are "tolerant to

ambiguity" (they don't freak out when they don't understand something). Instead

they might just smile and nod (advice I often give to students!), and so the

conversation or reading proceeds, and in due course other examples of theunknown word present themselves, or the concept is explained in other ways.

Sooner or later, the problem goes away!

Conclusion: you really don't have to understand every word when you read or

listen. Be tolerant of ambiguity. Focus on what you can understand, not on what

you can't, and you will create a virtuous circle (the more you read, the more you

understand, the more you understand, the more you read), which will personalise

and accelerate your learning.





Secret no.8

Secret no. 8: MULTI-TASKING. Women are supposed to be excellent at it! Use time

when you're busy doing other things to expose your brain to the context which will

help it make the connections and "grow" it's understanding of the language you are

learning.

How? Got a computer with an internet connection? Got an Ipod? Then you can

listen to the radio in Italian, or listen to a podcast.

Ladies! Do the ironing (or cooking) while listening to the radio in Italian.

Gentlemen! Listen to podcasts or stories in Italian on the commute to work.

And if you don't understand? (It's VERY likely, so be prepared). Just "smile and

nod", you will understand one day.





The REAL value of studying Italian in Italy

When you decide that your Italian studies need a boost, and that the only thing thatcan give you that boost is to get on a plane or train and come immediately to

Bologna to do a course at Madrelingua (!), what do you think the real value of the

course will be?

1. Making friends, with whom the "lingua franca" will be Italian

2. Exposure to the sounds and smells of the language

3. Forming "speech habits"

4. Building confidence

5. Finding sources of motivation

6. Exploring other interests, with added language practice!

So, don't forget.. Your Italian course should not just be about studying thegrammar. You can do that at home!

Make the most of the social-program your school offers, and always, always speak

to the other students in Italian, right from the first day!!





Secret no.9

Secret no. 9 is BE THE ONE WITH A PLAN

If you've ever seen the movie "The Shawshank Redemption", you'll know what I'm

talking about. The Tim Robbins character, falsely sentenced to life imprisonment

for a crime he didn't commit, makes a plan to break out of his cell, in the full

knowledge that it will take him a very long time. Twenty years or so later, he

succeeds.

Why have a plan?- it's motivating (as long as it's realistic)

- regular, brief study periods are easier to get done

- to balance the different types of useful study activities (listening to the radio,

reading a book, revising, studying the dreaded GRAMMAR, etc.) so that one of

them doesn't dominate

- you can focus on medium-term goals, rather than looking only at the short term

- as long as you follow your study plan, you can watch TV and eat potato chips for

the rest of the week with a clear conscience!

This sounds like such a banal idea that almost no-one bothers to do it. Shame really,

because it really works!





How to organise your studies

Here's a sample weekly study plan, based on the assumption that the student can

do 30 minutes a day, except Fridays, when she has her Italian class, and an hour a

day at weekends.

Remember, your study plan needs to work for YOUR life, so you should organise it

in a way that it will make life easier, not harder!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++ITALIAN STUDY PLAN

MON - 30 minutes before preparing dinner - revise grammar studied on Saturday

TUE - 30 minutes before bed - read/listen to simplified book

WED - 30 minutes at lunchtime

Read Italian newspaper on internet, Do exercises on internet

THURS - 30 minutes before bed - finish read/listen simplified book started on TUE

FRI - ITALIAN CLASS!

SAT - 60 mins - study 1 chapter from the dreaded grammar book! Do homework for

Italian course.

SUN -Re-read (slowly) simplified book done on TUE and THUR, listen againwithout text

OTHER: during commute to work, listen on Ipod to simplified books previously

read

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

The key to a successful study plan is that IT MUST NOT BE BORING, and that IT





MUST BE ACHIEVABLE.

So, better to plan less and do more, than plan more but do less.

And aim for a balance of different activities, not just grammar!!





Secret no.10

Secret no. 10 is MOTIVATION! In my 20 years as a teacher, I have met preciselyTWO people who had an exceptional language-learning ability (both teenage girls,

strangely enough) and a grand total of ZERO people who were not capable of

learning a foreign language at all.

However, and most unfortunately, I would have to admit that MANY of the people

I have taught or otherwise worked with have failed to achieve their language-

learning goals. Why? Simple: the greatest danger to language-learning success is

simply that you will stop trying!

Keeping your motivation high means:

- being realistic in your goals (take your time, don't expect too much)

- get used to failure (you will NEVER know Italian as well as you know your own

native language)

- measure progress by what you CAN do, not what you CAN'T do

- don't beat yourself up. Trust me, there's nothing different about your brain. People

who have succeeded at doing what you are trying to do have simply being doing it

longer and/or have had better opportunities.

Look at someone who has successfully learned a language. There's always an

OBVIOUS reason why they succeeded where you seem to be failing ("But you were

in a Chinese jail for 20 years. Of COURSE you speak fluent Chinese!"). Keep that in

mind - there are (virtually) no miracles in language-learning, just people who get

there in the end if they have good reasons to keep trying!

And a bonus..





Secret no. 11

Secret no. 11 (the extra one!) is a good place to end our series on language learningstrategies: DON'T BE AFRAID OF MAKING MISTAKES.

You may have heard that making mistakes is "bad". In the 1950's, Behaviourist

learning theorists (if you've heard of Pavlov and his salivating dogs, that's what

Behaviourism is) maintained that learning was the result of a process of action +

reward/punishment which eventually led to the creation of correct (or wrong)

habits. So, for example, if your child does something wrong, and you reward him

with an ice-cream, he will repeat his bad behaviour, but if you punish him he will

be less likely to do so. Conversely, rewarding correct behaviour will "reinforce" theaction and thus result in learning. This would be more or less most people's idea of

how to train a dog, but many of us would believe that children (and language-

learners) are more complex, because aspects such as motivation are also present.

Behaviourists would advise correcting mistakes immediately, so as to avoid the

creation of "bad habits". In fact, the whole idea of "free" speaking practice would

have been suspect, because of the danger that other students in the class would

inadvertently learn bad habits from mistakes made by their fellows. Only

"controlled" speech would have been acceptable, and any mistakes correctedimmediately.

Things have moved on a bit since the 1950's, first with the notion that language

learning was not simply learned behaviour, but actually the result of an innate

mechanism in the human brain which was programmed to acquire language

(Chomsky). Subsequent approaches to language teaching and learning emphasised

that "communicative" methodologies were the best way to stimulate language

acquisition. Communicative situations, by definition, are less controlled, so the"danger" of making mistakes no longer seems like such a threat.

In fact, researchers looking at how children learn their first language have

identified that children go through stages of using "wrong" grammar, which are

consistent with their age and developmental level. Children's grammar, and the

mistakes which are associated with it, is an example of a "meta stage" in the

development of our knowledge of a language. Mistakes then, rather than being

something to be avoided at all cost, are simply a natural result of the fact that your





"current" knowledge of the language is still at an intermediate stage on the learning

curve.

From a practical point of view, it can also be argued that learners who are reluctant

to make mistakes don't take risks with the language, and so are less likely to be

involved in conversations and situations which "push the envelope" of their

knowledge and as a consequence result in their language capabilities (NOT just the

knowledge of grammar, don't forget!) improving.

Conclusion? Get out there and make mistakes! Get used to the idea that you'll never

be perfect, and the chances of approaching perfection become greater. Counter-intuitive, but true!





Summary: The 10 Secrets of language learning success!

Just to make sure you don't forget, here is a complete list of the Secrets ofLanguage-learning success. We hope you found them useful!

Secret no. 1

1. LANGUAGE-LEARNING SUCCESS TAKES TIME

Lots of time. Your ability to communicate with words, and to understand the words

of others, was developed over years or decades. Think a few hours of classes will

enable you to do the same in a foreign language? Think again.!

Secret no. 2

2. YOU NEED A REASON TO LEARN

Sustaining any effort over a long period needs a constant stimulus to action. We get

lots of opera singers studying Italian at Madrelingua - lots of operas in Italian. Go

figure.

Secret no. 3

3. THERE'S MORE TO LANGUAGE THAN GRAMMAR

Grammar is easy to teach, easy to learn, but doesn't result in fluent speech or easy

understanding. The neural networks that do those things are somewhere else in

your brain, and they need nourishing too.

Secret no. 44. YOU NEED TO READ A LOT!

Where do you think you learnt all those words in your native language? Not from

your Mom, or your elementary school teacher, that's for sure. Your decades of

reading have shaped your knowledge and understanding of your native language.

If you want to be a knowledgeable user of Italian, there's no way around it. You

have to start reading a lot in Italian too.





Secret no. 5

5. LET THE BUYER BEWARE

We're lousy salespeople at Madrelingua. We tell you up-front how hard it will beand how long it will take. Beware of anyone who tries to tell you otherwise.!

Secret no. 6

6. LEARN HOW WE LEARN

You wouldn't buy a car, just because the salesman told you to, would you? Do your

own research on language-learning methodology. It won't take you more than a few

hours, and you'll be able to put your teacher on the spot when you want to give hera hard time!

Secret no. 7

7. GUESS UNKNOWN WORDS FROM CONTEXT

Dictionaries are great, in their place. But when you're reading, or listening, you

need a way of dealing with unknown words which is quicker and doesn't obstruct

the interaction. "Hang on! I'll just look that up in my dictionary!" will soon get old.

If in doubt, "Smile and nod"!

Secret no. 8

8. MULTI-TASKING

Find time to learn Italian by combining "learning rich opportunities" with other

daily tasks. Listen to Italian books on your daily commute, for example. Or read

Italian websites on your lunch break.

Secret no. 9

9. BE THE ONE WITH A PLAN

Spending a little time organising your study time will pay benefits - you will find

time to study, without making great sacrifices, and also achieve a more efficient

balance between input (grammar, vocabulary) and skills activities (reading,

listening, writing, speaking). Result? A more sustainable, more effective learning

experience.





Secret no. 1010. MOTIVATION

Recognise that this is your "Achilles heel". You lose your motivation, you fail to

learn Italian. So spend more time on things which really interest you, than on the

irregular verbs, which you WILL eventually pick up, if you don't lose interest in the

language. Nurture your motivation, boredom is the enemy!!

Bonus: secret no. 11

11. DON'T BE AFRAID OF MAKING MISTAKES

And finally.. if you want to learn to speak a language, you have to speak! Given that

you don't know how to do it, it's inevitable you're going to make mistakes and feel

embarrassed, but if that weren't the case, you wouldn't be trying to learn, would

you?

If you have something interesting to say (or if you're pretty), people will interact

with you, grammar mistakes and all. As a consequence, you'll improve. If, on the

other hand, your priority is grammatical purity, you'll not be much fun to chat with,and will have fewer chances of practising your Italian.

End note:

Nearly twenty years of living in foreign countries, teaching foreign languages, have

taught me that what YOU think about language learning is NORMAL! Its normal

to feel that you'll never get there, that it's an impossible task, that you're not clever

enough. But it's not true! You can learn Italian. We hope this advice will help you!





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- normally 2 hours of "input" (grammar and vocabulary)

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- back to the school for the "practice" part of the lesson (speaking, listening, reading,

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-lunch

-(optional) two hours of homework, with a teacher to help you, if you wish

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