Source: “A Guide for Instruction in Modern Foreign Language.” Dept. of Education, St. Paul, 1965 [Adapted by I. Konyndyk, 2001]
We want you to learn your French as efficiently and as thoroughly as possible. Learning a second language is not difficult. It is easy if you go about it the right way; but you must be willing to do some steady work each day. The following study hints are offered to help you make this easy work and fun. You undoubtedly come up with your own ideas of what works for you. Please share your ideas in your journals!
A language is a set of habits. Our own native language is a set of habits which we acquired and mastered about the age of five or six. We listened to other people ever since our birth and, in order to communicate, we copied or imitated what the people around us said. You need to do the same with French.
1. You must learn to listen and imitate.
We are no better than children at this stage. In fact, in some ways we are worse, since our English habits keep getting in the way. Be sure to imitate the musical tone patterns, as well as the vowels and consonants.
2. You must memorize.
To learn this set of new French habits you must practice, practice, practice, until all they become automatic responses. It’s as simple — and as hard — as that!
3. Study out loud.
You double your efficiency when you add auditory memory to visual memory. You triple your efficiency when you add motor / kinesthetic memory. Your friends will think you are crazy when they see you mumbling to yourself, or doing body motions, but don’t pay any attention to them. They don’t know any better. 🙂
4. Divide your material into small units for memorization. Then string them together.
Divide your study time into small units of 20-25 minutes. Do some other work. Then go back to another 20 minutes of work. [You should be doing a total of 2 hours of outside-of-class work for each hour of class time.] Or try doing your French study just before you go to bed. When you are dressing in the morning try to remember and repeat what you learned the night before. You’ll be surprised at the results.
5. Make full use of each class period.
Wise students pack 50 minutes of practice time into each class hour. When someone is reciting, they are doing it right along with that person. Students who do this, and are always alert, can be assured that they are learning as much as possible in each class period. [That’s really ‘getting your money’s worth’ – getting the most out of your tuition dollar!]
6. You cannot cram in a Foreign Language class.
Foreign language study is steady, day-by-day work. You cannot cram for a swimming test. You do not learn habits and skills that way. Language learning is a cumulative process; you build on top of what you did the day before.
7. You need to think and analyze.
Because you are more mature than when you were a child learning your own language, you have the advantage of being able to analyze the materials you are learning. You will discover, for example, the way the French language changes endings. You will see patterns and start making your own observations and internal rules accordingly. This will also allow you to learn French much more efficiently than you learned your own native language. Think how many hours a day you had at your disposal to learn English (24/7)! You won’t have or need that for French.
8. When you are learning to read French, you need to dare to guess intelligently
If you are ever going to read quickly, and for context, then you need to figure out what a word must mean because of the context in which it is used. Never look up a word in the dictionary until you have read the context in which it occurs
Foreign language study boils down to a constant process of learning, forgetting a bit, relearning, forgetting a little less, and then relearning again and again, until the language becomes a habit. If you learn this way, you will not forget the language, even if you don’t use it for a considerable length of time.
