Learning languages: Tips and Tricks
Languages give access to whole new worlds! You can speak with and understand many more people, have access to much more information and see things from new perspectives. The challenge is learning them! Get some ideas on how to learn languages in an efficient and fun way!
Warm up
Let’s start with a quiz! Do it together and… have fun!
Learn
It is impossible to learn all languages but certainly possible to learn some of them! You just need to follow some tips and tricks! Read them together and see if you already use some of them!
Dive in 1
Did you know any of these tips? Which ones would you like to keep in mind and try out?
Share your ideas with your buddy.
When you are done, tell each other what languages you know and which ones you want to learn or improve.
Do you want to learn the same language? Then think of ways you can support each other!
Do you want to learn/improve your proficiency in the language that your buddy speaks?
Become a tandem! That is: you meet regularly and you speak half an hour in one language and half an hour in the other.
Dive in 2
Decide on one language (one that none of you knows or one that one of you knows).
Now find a song in that language you would like to learn/teach to each other.
Either one of you teaches it to the other or you choose one on the Internet (typing for example “Finnish Reggae”, “Vietnamese Hardcore”...) and find its lyrics.
Have great fun singing it together!
If you prefer, you can look for poems, old proverbs, tongue twisters…
.png "Illustration: a rock band")
Create
Create a small visual dictionary in your target language(s).
How? Choose one or more topics which you both are interested in, e.g., means of transportation.
Depending on what is your proficiency level on the topic, you can:
1. Draw as many pictures as words you want to translate
(one with a car, one with a bike, one with a cargo bike, one with a donkey, one with an aeroplane…), placing the terms beside them.
2. Draw a detailed picture and connect its different parts to the different technical terms
(e.g., bike: pedal, saddle, handlebar…).
.png "Illustration: a girl drawing")
Reflect
In order to speak in another language, you need some courage and above all self-irony!
Who cares if you don’t pronounce it correctly or if the grammar is wrong! Let’s be happy that you are trying hard and let’s have fun laughing about the funny or absurd situations which might develop…
What do you think about this suggestion?
Discuss with your buddy and reflect on what hinders and helps your language learning process!
Finally: make your postcard on language learning and share it here!
Download the free KIDS4ALLL app and your wish comes true!
