Who will succeed in language learning? (my observation)

If you are reading this passage, I appreciate your eagerness to learn, learning a second language or your mother tongue (for BBC, ABC)

Please bear with me on my English writing, it may be full of mistakes. The main idea is to get people know about how to learn a language out of my observation on my students or on myself.

This is an ongoing essay, so if you have any suggestions, corrections or advice, please contact me at carine@chinese-tutors.online

Some may feel confused with too many material (maybe they seems not useful to you or you don’t know how to make good use of it), some have the motivation but have no time, cannot repeat the consolidation of vocabulary, and some may not have chance to speak to native and felt frustrated. Are you one of them?

Let me simply list out who will achieve after 1 month of learning Cantonese / other languages (after 4 lessons, still remembering the content of the first lesson),

** Because you are not in Cantonese speaking places, your language input will be mainly through reading romanisation or “not very natural” audio (but still useful if you are willing to stick to it)

Golden rule : Succeed or not = Student input / commitment is the key

Key : consolidation, ENDLESS review what you learnt [no consolidation, no language speaking]

+++++++Student who succeed+++++

1. Intensive Input with note taking

Read / listen whatever it is as long as it is Cantonese learning material) and take notes, helps consolidation !) — > read the notes again and again –> or even rewrite it

2. Consistency / Persistence

Simple Maths, (7 words per day [remember the week after = 100% memorized], 1 months, 210 words, one year, two thousand words = upper intermediate level)

If you want to succeed, you have the mental power to do it, stick them on the mirror and read them while you brush your teeth (which is one of my way to deal with conjugation and tense of french)

3. A teacher – seek professional advice

He/she teaches you and monitors your study through checking, correcting, guiding, pushing you to achieve more etc.! Talk with them before the real class, an experienced teachers (normally with high tuition fee) will give your professional idea, after some time, frequently discuss what your progress can be improved, prepare to ask plenty of questions during the class.

+— Student who fail (let’s say everybody has the same IQ score) —-+

1. Forget to jot notes (have difficulty studying the same content again)
2. No time to memorize / consolidate what they learnt
3. Memorized, but do not use the language, e.g. speak the language
4. No one check/correct/test what you have learnt
5. Do not have a clear target or do not know how to increase the motivation to be able to talk with people

YHL 2018

This is an ongoing essay, so if you have any suggestions, corrections or advice, please contact me at carine@chinese-tutors.online