Stefanie B.'s Blog at WyzAnt.com

Ben Franklin’s Language-Learning Secret

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Stefanie B.

In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin described a technique he frequently used to improve his writing and language skills:

Whenever Franklin came across a piece of writing that he felt was extremely well-crafted, he would read the passage repeatedly until he could write down word-for-word—from memory—what he read on a separate piece of paper. He then would compare what he wrote to the original passage he read, would make whatever corrections he needed to, and would repeat the whole exercise several days later.

If there’s some aspect of your language skills you’d like to improve (writing, speaking, or listening, etc.), give Benjamin Franklin’s exercise a try:

Improve your listening skills by writing down the words you hear in a foreign language movie or song.

Watch your favorite foreign-language TV show, and try to imitate your favorite character’s accent or vocabulary.

Or, if you want to work on you foreign-language writing and expression skills, buy a translated version of your favorite book (or translated poems by your favorite poet), and try to copy 1-2 sentences of your favorite passage(s).

Semi-brute-force memorization techniques often are thought of as being old-fashioned and clumsy. I prefer to think of them as time-tested: not only is memorization a necessary part of learning a language, but if you use techniques like Benjamin Franklin’s, you can make memorization pretty interesting by shaping it to your tastes, needs, and interests.

How to Build Your Language Skills Painlessly by Keeping a Diary

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Stefanie B.

One thing I found helpful when I was initially getting the hang of Russian was to keep a language diary for a few weeks.

My diary started when, in an effort not to get rusty at Russian during the summer between semesters, I started reading some Russian poetry and parts of short stories in the original.

The diary wasn’t anything fancy. I simply wanted some more Russian-language practice and to practice expressing my thoughts in writing (no matter how simple the thoughts were). I did this by typing my entries in Russian into a Word document. I usually wrote about 2 things:

1) what I remembered about the poem/story’s plot

2) what I thought about the poem/story

I’d also bold and put into red coloring new phrases and vocabulary that I’d learned, found useful, and wanted to remember.

Your diary can serve whatever function you’d like. You can write about your day, or some little event that happened one day. Or you can keep track of useful phrases or words you learned recently, write out your schedule for the upcoming week, etc. The possibilities are endless!

A few of my personal tips for when you start your language diary:

- Don’t make your diary a chore. Just do it when you feel like it. Of course, you’ll at least want to avoid forgetting that you have a diary, so consider keeping it in a place where you’ll notice it daily.

- The entries don’t have to be long or detailed. Entries should be the amount you feel like writing at the time when you’re writing. An entry can be simple, like “I went to the store today,” or even a one- or two-word chore you want to remember, like “Go shopping” (hey, shopping can be hard work!). Some days you’ll feel like writing a lot, some days less—and that’s OK.

- Your diary doesn’t need to be fancy. What I mean is you don’t need to go out and buy an expensive Moleskine diary and fountain pen or peacock quill. A composition notebook or Word document should do. But if an extra-nice diary and pen make your diary more fun to keep up with, then by all means go ahead and knock yourself out.

So if you’d like to get some extra language practice, or are looking for a painless way to help your students make steady improvement in the language you’re helping them learn, give a foreign-language diary a try.

The Value of Flashcards

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Stefanie B.

I remember that there was once a time when I underestimated the power of flashcards as a learning tool, and now I they’re all I use to memorize new language vocabulary and sometimes grammar concepts.

Though they can be tedious and boring to write out for a large vocabulary list, flashcards have been worth the extra effort that I’ve put into making them.

Here are some of the pros (listed in no particular order) that I’ve found in using flashcards:

- You can easily make them—and on your own time. I love printed lists, but I noticed that they take me more time and effort to make than flashcards. I find that I get too particular and too hung up over small details—the words need to be a certain font, I like for the English side to be a certain color, etc. Also by the time I’m even done making up a list to print, I usually have to wait for a computer at the library to print my vocab list, and then end up waiting behind someone who has 7 print jobs.

Flashcards, one the other hand, are wonderful because you can sit down and make them whenever you want, and you can use them IMMEDIATELY when you’re done making them. Making them can also be a nice break from other more unpleasant work that demands your attention. Anyway, flashcards don’t need to be fancy (I’ve made many plenty of flashcards just out of notebook paper with a ballpoint pen), and they can be finished whenever you want or need for them to be finished by—that means no waiting in line to print anything. Everything is done by your own hand on your own time.

- You can reuse and save them. That’s one of the things I love about flashcards—even when you’re done using them, you can simply dig them back up and repurpose them. I can’t think of all the times that I’ve had a test that covers a lot of old vocabulary, and I’ve gone to my flashcard stash to review. Also, if you’re a language tutor and just don’t need your old flashcards, you can use them during 1-on-1 time, or give them to your students for them to keep.

- You can make separate piles of the concepts/words you know stone-cold vs. the ones you need more practice with. Another great quality of flashcards! I know that I’m less stressed when I divide vocabulary into two piles. They show me which areas I need to devote more of my attention to, and allow me to come up with a more focused study plan.

- You can mix up the flashcards’ order, which is harder to do with a printed list. I used printed vocab lists a lot, and though they’re also a great way to learn new vocab, I noticed that I’d sometimes get too comfortable with the order in which I learned the words. It was also harder for me to remember words when someone would quiz me from my lists at random. So, if you really want to be sure that you know your stuff, mixing up your flashcards is a good way to keep yourself on your toes. It’s also easy to shuffle them!

- The overall amount of vocabulary to learn seems less overwhelming with flashcards. When you see a list of vocabulary with ALL of the words that you need to learn right in front of you, it can feel really stressful and frustrating to see all the work that lies ahead. At least with flashcards, you can clearly divide what you know from what you don’t know, and you can focus on one word at a time versus a list in its entirety.

- You can bring them with you wherever you go. If you find you have some time to kill on the bus or in line at Starbucks, you can always whip out your flashcards for a quick review. I know I’m guilty of doing this! Not only can you quickly quiz yourself in a different and noisier environment, which should also keep you on your toes, but it will help you to learn the vocabulary that much faster. And you’ll look smart!

So if you’re used to studying vocabulary a different way and want to try a new approach, see how well flashcards work for you! Maybe you’ll become my next convert!