Exposure and Enjoyment are Keys to Learning a Language
I was listening to some Steve Kaufman second language acquisition (SLA) videos. A lot could be encapsulated in saying that you need to be exposed a lot to a language and use the language (intake can include use), and these activities should be enjoyable to you because many different methods work. But you’ll be more effective and consistent with an enjoyable activity. You’ll not do it as much if you don’t enjoy it, and this is a long term process. You can easily get demotivated if you are doing it just for the end result instead of enjoying the process. And as the Art of Practice says you need to be in the moment and have your concentration on the process.
What is that in contrast to? A person could flip through Anki cards just to do the activity. I enjoy using Anki cards, but the activity needs to be done right — with enjoyment and purpose, not something to just do. If a person just tries to cram words into their head, it won’t be effective or consistent. Even though there is spaced-repetition to put it in long-term memory, there can be a more effective method that uses the language authentically and puts it into a larger framework. For instance, I mark down the words I missed, and I put those words in a story. You are learning with purpose and authentically and in an enjoyable way. I enjoy creating stories, but I don’t have a lot of pressure to create a good story because the main goal is to use my new Russian words. And then I can use these stories as conversation starters and practice with my language exchange friends.
Another contrast would be doing grammar exercises and traditional classroom exercises. I did a lot of grammar activities starting out in Russian. It took a lot of energy, and I had to keep going over the grammar because I kept forgetting. I’d say I need to remember this, but I wouldn’t remember it. So that is an example of putting the learning into your short term memory but not your long term memory. You’re not using the language. You’re doing worksheets and trying to remember, and you’re not being exposed to the language much either. That’s in contrast to me watching a movie in Russian with the Russian script and then I put the new words with their sentences for context into my flashcards, and then I create a story with the new Russian words.
How can I translate this to teaching ESL? I think the good examples I presented show what I enjoyed, but maybe someone else would not enjoy writing stories with new words. Steve Kaufmann enjoys reading and reading history in a foreign language. Connecting back to ESL, you have to know your students and what they enjoy and also what you as a teacher enjoy since students feed off the teacher’s enthusiasm. Maybe at the end of a quarter or semester that is a good time for reflection. The teacher can ask the students what they enjoyed and did not enjoy. With that feedback the teacher can emphasize or de-emphasized certain parts of the class with the given feedback. This doesn’t just help the kids have a more enjoyable time, but it actually helps their English learning.
Another point we can draw is that there are many different methods for learning a language, so it is important to be aware of all of these methods because there could be a method that you are not aware of that could be very effective and enjoyable for you. For instance, I did not know about AnkiApp before or the story writing method before and combining the two. (I also kind of invented this system on my own with the combination.) I didn’t know about News in Slow Russian, which is a website that helped me learn Russian. And there might be other methods out there that would be effective.