|
Study abroad and learn a new language faster
If someone ever suggested that you take a boat or plane as your first step in studying a new language, you would probably feel a little bemused at their advice. If you give the idea a second look, however, you will find that there is a lot of truth in this little piece of wisdom; all thanks to something called language learning in total immersion. A total immersion situation is one in which the learner spends time in an environment that operates completely in the language he or she is trying to learn (i.e. the target language). This method, which was thought of as unorthodox only a decade or so ago, has proven to be highly successful for catapulting the learners' abilities to deal with and communicate exclusively in the target language. As if this were not enough, most immersion programs have shown to be an excellent way to develop fluency in the language - something that is very rare without extensive exposure to it.
Immersion programs have the student learning the language in its natural environment, and in doing so, the student has the rare opportunity to absorb all the cultural details that form the background of the language; things which are usually so hard to teach in a regular classroom environment. Thus, a person is not only able to start learning words and phrases, but see how they are used in the context of daily situations by a variety of people with different accents, mannerisms and purposes.
Brain Hacking
Learning a language abroad has other benefits: some of the most potent ones are related to the way our brain works. A foreign setting where our target language is the native tongue can engage the brain in a way that promotes faster and more thorough learning. Our brain is poorly equipped for dealing with classic rote memorisation and lineal analysis, or exposition of the language. What the brain does best is dealing with the connections which each piece of information has with one another. Thus, the brain has a natural ability natural ability to work with and pick up patterns which are then connected to a myriad of situations, problems, and locales for easy recovery. Our brain automatically starts looking for ways to adapt to all of this new information as a defence mechanism, and thus uses most of its processing power to give us the tools to navigate our new environment.
You certainly don't need to enrol in the best boarding school UK has to offer to reap the benefits of language immersion, but it is also true that many people who have gone to a boarding school abroad have reported amazing learning speeds for the local language
.
|
|
|
|
© Copyright 2010 You Learn Online | All Rights Reserved
|
If you found this site informative, why not
TELL A FRIEND
|
