Language learning and play

I have always disliked teacher induced games and play as a part of language learning. I have always felt these were artificial processes and not a natural part of communication. However, I do feel that language learning is itself a kind of game and requires “the seriousness of the child at play”, to paraphrase Heraclitus.

Language learning consists of two parallel processes. One involves getting used to the language, to the feel and sound of the language, to the internal logic of the language. To do this you need to create the conditions where you can experience “flow” as described byMihaly Csikszentmihalyi. You need to be absorbed. You need to listen and read, often, both intensively (repeating the same content) and extensively (reading and listening to a broader range of content.) It is up to the learning program (school or The Linguist) to make sure that material of interest is available at the right level of difficulty so that you feel that the challenge is not too difficult or too easy. In a way this is the emotional side of language learning that engages more of your brain in the learning process. Possibly it fires your "mirror neurons".

You need to be curious, motivated, open to the new language, and willing to imitate it. I remember one of our learners at The Linguist saying that she was afraid she would lose her cultural identity by learning English. She is obviously not experiencing “flow”. She is resisting the language subconsciously. She will not improve. I never had that feeling in learning other languages. On the contrary I was prepared to abandon my identity, if only temporarily.

The second learning process consists of a deliberate focus on certain details of the language. In the case of learning Chinese you cannot avoid focusing on learning how to write the characters. In English, attention needs to be spent on spelling. Learners are often concerned about points of grammar. But in my case the focus is always on words. If I focus on words, the rest comes naturally.

I have always focused on words, what they mean, how they relate to other words, how they are used in combination with other words, how they sound, how they are spelled (or written in Chinese). I make my own connections between words and the different sentences where they occur. I connect words with other words that are similar in appearance or meaning or sound. At first many words sound or look the same and are hard to distinguish and learn. Eventually these difficulties are overcome. Here the deliberate study of lists and flash cards is a big help, as long as the words and phrases are related to the listening and reading of the first process above.

So my advice is to take the whole of language learning as a game and try to enjoy it for its own sake, and approch it “with the seriousness of the child at play.”

Comments

[johanne]

I do follow your advice daily but I never put these words on.Good thoughts! Johanne

[Beijing Girl]

Are you learning Chinese? How long time do you learn Chinese and mandarin? Do you want to know your current level and achievement? I suggest you spend 5 minutes to know your Chinese level through watching a video on http://hello-mandarin.blogspot.com