Yup! And putting index cards with the word in the language you're trying to learn on the actual item all around the house helps with building vocab too!
Like you said, this way, you make the exact correlation with the item instead of translating it!
When I was taking a teaching a foreign language class, there was a really cool exercise that we learned to do with students to help them out... Say you're doing vocab for tea/coffee time... well, you get coffee, tea, a different drink, a mug, a tea cup, drinking glass, sugar, salt, honey, lemon... so, you have the student ask for coffee, so you give them the coffee (when they use the right word) and next they have to ask for the proper drinking vessel to drink coffee from... you hand them whatever it is for the word they use. If they get confused and ask for salt instead of sugar, have them taste it, so they understand... it uses LOTS of word repetition, and is hands on- which helps explain a lot! Its a llittle more complex then how I've explained it, but it helps them learn and quickly!
Siguiendo mi propio Camino de Santiago
Posts: 387 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 19 October 2002
That is sooo true. There are certain words I know in Canarian that I could not translate exactly into English, as I was shown the item rather than taught the words. I remember telling someone, in English, that they were not allowed to "plastificate" their residencia, and they didn�t understand me!!
________________________________________ Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional
Am I the only person who can't read Shiloh's comments? Judging from the topic lines, they'd would be of real interest to me (verbs, yuk!). Jer - help! :cheers: (and that was a Cheers to the help I know you'll give . . . and an excuse to use it)
Glory, glory to the hibees . . .
Posts: 217 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 19 April 2002
Hmmmmmmm, it must have been deleted by the original poster (Shiloh) for I did not delete it and the only people who can delete and/or edit posts are myself and the person who starts the thread.
Shiloh, can you clear this up?
If you deleted it, can you edit again and write it back in? Don't have to if you don't want to but it would be nice to see what you wrote and would avoid confusion on this thread.
Pretty much all I said was that instead of trying to memorize what one word means by repetition etc. like they teach in a lot of schools out of textbooks, I have found that it's more effective to associate an object with the Spanish or Catalan word instead of thinking what it means in english. I think that's why a lot of people have trouble learning languages, it's impossible to memorize all of that.
As far as clearing this up, I was thinking the other day that I would like to talk less and listen more, so I just for some reason decided to delete some posts. There's a lot more to it than that, but I don't want to write a book today.
Oderant dum Metuant
Posts: 109 | Location: Barcelona, Catalunya | Registered: 16 November 2002
Sorry for all the hassle, Shiloh. But your post is helpful as knowing that anybody else has trouble with the language is always a boost to me! I'm now at the stage where I'm trying not to translate to English as it hurts my brain too much to keep doing it!
Now I'll stop worrying about my eyes, and worry about my brain instead . . .
Glory, glory to the hibees . . .
Posts: 217 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 19 April 2002
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