Have you always wanted to learn a new language? If you’re thinking about traveling abroad in the near future, consider immersing yourself in new words and phrases.
The summer months are a perfect time to get together with your neighbors to learn a new language or polish up some French or Spanish that you learned way back when.
First, choose what language you and your neighbors will study. Then, decide at whose home you will meet for your foreign language study. You may decide to meet at different friends’ houses every week, and include lunch or dinner as part of your foreign language study sessions. During the summer, you can meet indoors or get together on a neighbor’s patio for weekly lessons.
Keep your group small
It’s a good idea to keep your study group small, says Sadry Assouad, director of operations for the Northeast Region of the Berlitz Corporation, which offers group lessons in homes for a minimum of four students. “A small group of four to six students is ideal,” Assouad notes. “And for an instructor, if you work with a small group, you can really personalize the lesson.”
Hire an instructor
There is probably a high school in your neighborhood that has a foreign language department and teachers who would like to earn some extra money during the summer. Call the school and ask if there is a foreign language teacher who can come to your neighborhood during the summer and give lessons to you and your neighbors on a weekly basis.
Or perhaps there is a foreign language school close to where you and your neighbors live. Whomever you hire, ask about rates, availability, and qualifications. It’s a good idea to interview potential teachers and make certain that you will enjoy working with a particular instructor on a regular basis.
Adult advantages
Children have a natural advantage in achieving native-like fluency in a second language. However, whether you’re just brushing up on skills or learning a brand new language, learning a foreign language as an adult also has its advantages.
“Adults stay focused on a task longer than children, and their long-term memory improves as they get older,” says Assouad. “And because they’ve learned a language already, it becomes easier for their brain to learn a new language.”
Benefits of foreign language
For whatever reason you and your neighbors get together to study a foreign language, there’s no doubt it offers many benefits, which can include:
Making new friends
The opportunity to serve new business customers
Earning a promotion at work
The ability to converse more easily with others while traveling abroad
“I think the main benefit of learning a new language is that you learn to think differently, and it gives you an utterly new world view,” says Danielle Schultz of Evanston, Illinois, and author of First Start French, Book I & II, a teacher guide and student workbook that offers an introduction to the French language. “By studying a foreign language, you come to understand how language shapes the way we describe and understand the world.”
Learn a new language? Oui!
By Karen Schwartz
Have you always wanted to learn a new language? If you’re thinking about traveling abroad in the near future, consider immersing yourself in new words and phrases.
The summer months are a perfect time to get together with your neighbors to learn a new language or polish up some French or Spanish that you learned way back when.
First, choose what language you and your neighbors will study. Then, decide at whose home you will meet for your foreign language study. You may decide to meet at different friends’ houses every week, and include lunch or dinner as part of your foreign language study sessions. During the summer, you can meet indoors or get together on a neighbor’s patio for weekly lessons.
Keep your group small
It’s a good idea to keep your study group small, says Sadry Assouad, director of operations for the Northeast Region of the Berlitz Corporation, which offers group lessons in homes for a minimum of four students. “A small group of four to six students is ideal,” Assouad notes. “And for an instructor, if you work with a small group, you can really personalize the lesson.”
Hire an instructor
There is probably a high school in your neighborhood that has a foreign language department and teachers who would like to earn some extra money during the summer. Call the school and ask if there is a foreign language teacher who can come to your neighborhood during the summer and give lessons to you and your neighbors on a weekly basis.
Or perhaps there is a foreign language school close to where you and your neighbors live. Whomever you hire, ask about rates, availability, and qualifications. It’s a good idea to interview potential teachers and make certain that you will enjoy working with a particular instructor on a regular basis.
Adult advantages
Children have a natural advantage in achieving native-like fluency in a second language. However, whether you’re just brushing up on skills or learning a brand new language, learning a foreign language as an adult also has its advantages.
“Adults stay focused on a task longer than children, and their long-term memory improves as they get older,” says Assouad. “And because they’ve learned a language already, it becomes easier for their brain to learn a new language.”
Benefits of foreign language
For whatever reason you and your neighbors get together to study a foreign language, there’s no doubt it offers many benefits, which can include:
“I think the main benefit of learning a new language is that you learn to think differently, and it gives you an utterly new world view,” says Danielle Schultz of Evanston, Illinois, and author of First Start French, Book I & II, a teacher guide and student workbook that offers an introduction to the French language. “By studying a foreign language, you come to understand how language shapes the way we describe and understand the world.”