Welcome
to our school,
we
share with you the thrill of breaking linguistic barriers and sharing
our experiences with the rest of the world,
there's
nothing more challenging and enriching than getting to know other
cultures, their social and even working conditions.
We
only hope you students don't expect to learn a foreign language
just
by coming to class,
that'd
be totally unrealistic and immature!
In
a way, a language school's like a
music school,
you
NEED TO PRACTICE your instrument -that
is, your voice- outside so
Homework
is
essential to complete your learning process; otherwise, please
forget it, don't waste your time and ours.
READING
out loud and SPEAKING must be part of it, not for too long,
but at least five or ten minutes of your daily homework routine:
Read
the transcripts of any LISTENING activity while playing it;
then, tape your voice. Wait for a few days, and replay both your own
recording and the listening track. Can you recall most of the
message?
PLEASURE
& COMPANIONSHIP
are
usually the keys to keep up these challenges, so try to enjoy the
ride with someone else:
Read
lyrics, Listen to songs, Sing along and Learn them.
Read
movie transcripts and watch them, then memorize a few sentences, play
with pronunciation and entonation.
Review
the upcoming lesson beforehand, complete the new VOCABULARY
& GRAMMAR activities on your workbook and check it out
with the answer key. Then,
make a point of practicing the new stuff in the SPEAKING activities
of the next class.
Keep
in mind that we're all competent speakers of our mother tongue
without any grammar explanation whatsoever, and so are speakers from
other languages,
Which,
of course, doesn't release us teachers from the resposibility to
explain GRAMMAR or answer your doubts, but it gives you enough
autonomy to practice SPEAKING in the classroom with limited
supervision for
both
purposes: accuracy and
fluency.
Remember
that understanding, completing and checking any activity from the
student's book, workbook or grammar book is only half of your
assignment, the other extremely important half is to transform
those examples into personal statements with an emotional load and
the commitment to verbalize them right away.
Being
repeatedly exposed to the new code and using it is obviously the best
way to increase your active
vocabulary and language structures -particularly in advanced courses.
If
you follow these instructions, you can rest assured that your real
command of a foreign language and your self-esteem will increase
dramatically; were you visiting or working in another country, your
linguistic adaptation should be fast and smooth; otherwise, you might
pass a certificate exam, but you won't experience the deep
satisfaction of sharing your music, that is, using a language with
ease and fluency.
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