At the beginning of training sessions, some BLT students tell their teachers that it is more difficult for them to learn a second language than it is for children to learn a second language. This is a common misconception, but in fact it is easier for adults to learn a second language than children if the adults understand the real ingredients of language learning.
The truth is that, unlike children, adults are more likely to be afraid of making mistakes when learning a language. That fear of being embarrassed causes a lot of problems, the biggest problem being that learning sessions are not relaxed environments with the adult student learning without any interfering stress. Our first objective with a new student is to make the adult student understand that they don’t need to speak perfectly to be understood, and in fact, the only thing to be embarrassed about is not making an effort instead of making unimportant grammatical mistakes.
BLT never asks students to memorize rules of grammar or seldom used vocabulary words. Think about it—when you were a child learning your native language, you only were concerned with words and phrases that would allow you to communicate with your parents. You wanted your parents to know when you were hungry, tired, sick and your favorite foods to eat. Some of you wanted to make sure that your parents were aware that you were going to be a difficult child and even a more difficult teenager
All languages have common sentence structure. Learning those sentence structures will provide enough grammatical knowledge to become a fluent speaker in the language being learned without memorizing rules of grammar. BLT teachers make students aware of grammatical concepts, but those discussions are part of an interesting language lesson instead of sheer memorization. Grammar learning is the best example of why it is easier for a thoughtful adult becoming a second language fluent speaker because adults can analyze concepts like grammar while children cannot.
All BLT lessons use a state-of-the-art online video platform. All lessons are based upon topics that are interesting for the student. The BLT lessons library contains 300 articles about far-ranging topics. When designing each student’s curriculum, we are aware of the student’s specific interests and needs so that the student’s curriculum contains articles that will keep the student fully engaged during every lesson.
Lessons are given only using the language being learned unless there is a need to explain difficult concepts to the student in his or her native language. All lessons are given not only in the language being learned, but the lessons are conducted in the “environment” of the language being learned.
An essential component of language learning is for the student to have ongoing exposure to the language being learned even outside of lessons. BLT teachers suggest other ways for students to remain engaged in the language being learned through enjoyable and interesting activities. Suggested songs, film, sports, fashion and fashion shows in the language being learned are part of every student’s curriculum so that they will have specific interesting ways to continue improving the language being learned outside of lessons. Naturally, songs, film, sports, fashion shows and other topics that students can watch and listen to are all geared to the specific student’s language level and interests.
For 9 years BLT has been disproving the myth that children are better equipped to learn a second language than adults. We don’t know how many times a child needs to hear a new word before that word is imprinted on the child’s brain, but we do know through experience that it takes 10-15 times for an adult to hear a new word before that word is lodged in the adult’s brain. All parents are aware that children do not recognize a specific word the first time that word is used by the parent, but instead the child’s recognition of a specific word requires repetition which is no different than language learning by adults.
The probable truth is that adults have an easier time than children in learning a new language because adults are able to understand the learning process and can, therefore, more efficiently train to learn the vocabulary and grammatical concepts of a new language. Only through immersion can an adult quickly and enjoyably learn a new language. This is no different than the way a child learns to speak her or his native language.
We are asked quite often by students, “How long will it take for me to think in a foreign language?” The real answer is that it is up to the student and teacher as to how long it will take.
You will never be fluent in a foreign language until you are thinking in that language. Language and culture are intertwined so thinking in your target language is an essential part of being able to effectively communicate.
Immersion means, for example, those learning English must be reading about, and becoming familiar, with the cultures of English speaking countries. In fact, 80% of the articles used as lesson topics of conversation during describe events, politics, sports, cuisine and other areas that make up the culture of the UK, U.S. Australia and other native English-speaking countries.
Think about it this way. If someone is learning Italian as a second language, there is no language learning advantage studying cuisines of France or Germany. Instead, discussions and articles about cuisine need to be about Italian cuisine and the cultural practices of Italian families that center around Italian dishes, ingredients, and the role of food in family and social interaction.
While you are improving a foreign language, you need to mentally be in a foreign country through visualization. This is one of the reasons why BLT teachers are all native speakers in the language being taught. Having a native speaking teacher makes it easy for the student to “feel” that the conversation and interaction are occurring in a country where people speak the language being learned.
Our brains are pattern-matching machines and one of the major cues they draw upon is that of context. We see this when giving English lessons to native Italian speakers. We create a “context bubble” during lessons so that all of the context is in the language being learned. Naturally, our students eventually learn to create a “context bubble” by themselves outside of lessons so that they can continue to improve their second language skills in between lessons.
Thinking in a new language is a decision you can make. BLT teachers begin lessons in the target language to the extent students are able to understand. Students are never criticized for incorrect grammar or syntax. Only by the student making the decision that he or she will improve much more quickly if mistakes don’t matter will the student improve quickly.
During the early stages you may be using more of your native language than your target language, and that is fine. You will also probably be translating at first rather than “thinking fluently,” and that is fine, too. What is important is that you make a conscious effort to use the target language in your thoughts, not just in your conversations.
The biggest challenge with thinking in the language is the frustration that comes with not being able to fully express yourself inside your own head. Many beginning students need to be reminded that they will never be able to speak the target language at the same level they speak their native language. It is OK. Even though your BLT teacher will be fluent in the student’s native language and the teacher is a professional, the teacher will never speak Italian as well as he or she speaks English. We promise that soon after you begin taking English lessons, you will wake up from a dream and be pleasantly surprised that you dreamed in English!