Ace My Language

Our Squidoo Lens

2011-06-23T18:15:00.002-07:00

I have posted a Lens on Squidoo talking about our ACE program and our strategies to help students ACE the DLPT V. Feel free to visit it and take a look. If you have a Facebook account or a Twitter account feel free to like us or tweet about the page.

Opportunities for Arabic Speakers Rising According to Fortune Magazine

2011-02-17T08:35:00.001-07:00

According to this article in Fortune magazine a whole new world of opportunity is opening up for Arabic speakers.

Studies Confirm What I Have Been Preaching for 15 Years

2010-10-24T11:23:00.003-07:00

It is amazing what academia spends millions of dollars to confirm. Please read this article. Among the results is that language is learned in social interactions and that we as humans are wired to acquire language.

I have spent the last 15 years of my career working as an applied linguist, teaching language acquisition to others and help others acquire languages such as Arabic, Farsi and Pashto. Using the right strategies and methods I found out that you can help anyone, repeat anyone, acquire a new language starting at level 1 to level 3 (ILR-Interagency Language Roundtable) within a period ranging from 4 weeks (40 hrs/week) for level one to 24 weeks (600 hours) for level 3.

Despite of my proven bone fide results the unbelievers are plenty and the most common objection I hear is that aptitude matters and that some people just cannot do it. These fallacies are propagated by myth makers and academics who usually do not want to do the work needed to help their students acquire a new language. One big reason academics cannot do the work is that they excel at teaching 'about' a language rather than teaching the language. The key to my success is that I have put together a business process for language acquisition where you can turn ANY native speaker of the language into a very efficient language instructor and produces uniform results. These results are replicable across languages as long as the process is followed.

2010-02-01T14:31:00.001-07:00

http://tinyurl.com/ydnwpwj

Getting to an average ILR of 2+ Has Just Become Easier

2010-01-23T09:35:00.005-07:00

I would like to thank those of you who continue to subscribe or even visit this space despite my apparent lack of commitment to it. However, I write bearing good news, I just finished an exciting project in Florida with an exceptional group of Airmen. It was our usual MSA 24 weeks Arabic course which was supposed to be about 960 hours of instruction to achieve an average OPI ILR of 2+. The bad news is that we never got to 960 hours, not even close. This was a different program in the sense that we took all holidays and training days, plus, being in Florida during the Hurricane season there were some days when we did half days or none at all. That was a blessing in disguise though because it forced me to go into territories I never explored before and try things that are on the cutting edge of brain and education science. The results were astounding! We had five students and we ended up with barely 700 hours of class time. That is almost a 30% reduction in time. The scores were stunning. We had five students who were tested by ACTFL certified testers with ALTA and the scores were 3, 2+, 2, 2, 2.

Traditionally we needed 960 hours or a little more to achieve these results. In this Florida project there were no specific environmental factors that would have caused this surge. Instruction was the same and I would say motivation in class was the same. These results were truly the best Christmas present I could have gotten. I am still analyzing what happened and pouring over the data from the class and I will post my results here. We have several projects this year starting in a couple of weeks that will include Pashto, Chinese and Arabic. I will implement some of the lessons learned there and see if we can do it again in under 960 hours.

Finally, I just got around to doing blogging by SMS and email from my Blackberyy which will allow me to be more current with this blog so stay posted. I also started a GLS page on Facebook and a Twitter account for those of you who Tweet and FB. Please send me your feedback and ideas. I would love talking to you.

New Home for Our Blog

2009-03-19T09:41:00.002-07:00

Starting next week our blog will move to the following address

http://acemylanguage.blogspot.com

GLS Does It Again

2009-02-18T23:15:00.003-07:00

Just finished a 3 weeks Arabic refresher class in Georgia this past week. Students took the DLPT 5 yesterday. GLS Did it again. We had a class Average of 2+ with a passing rate of 75%. Two out of the 8 students actually scored 3/3 and we had a couple of students who went up on the test from 0+ to 2+ in reading.
These are great results but I will continue to work on a 100% success rate for the class with at least 2+/2+. Any standard test can be beaten after a reasonable preparation time (in this case 3-4 weeks). DoD is lowering the passing grade on the test soon and I cannot wait to see how students score after one of my refresher classes with the new adjustments to the passing score.

My ACE Program gets Mentioned in the Press

2008-09-25T17:13:00.003-07:00

Deseret News wrote the following article about our current program for the National Guard.

Students mastering Arabic in a flash
By Wendy Leonard
Deseret News
Published: September 25, 2008

DRAPER — Five volunteers from the U.S. military are enrolled in an intense, four-month course to learn one of the world's most in-demand foreign languages.
The language proficiencies and abilities of the 221st Military Intelligence Battalion from Fort Gillem, Ga., may astonish some, but instructor Jabra Ghneim — who helped translate the Book of Mormon into Arabic — expects such accomplishment and more, as thousands of hours have turned out hundreds of productively fluent speakers over the years.

"They learn it to do their jobs, to rise up in the ranks, and of course there is a monetary motivation to it all," he said.

Jabra developed the Ace My Language method, which is currently contracted by the U.S. government for rapid learning of foreign languages such as Arabic, Korean, Farsi and Chinese — all of which are growing in necessity. Other methods have proven less effective, he added.

"Everybody can pick up a language. The only difference is the method used to learn it," Jabra said, adding that for 90 percent of language learners, regular methods do not work.

The only other place in which methods similar to Jabra's are used is at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, which former Brigham Young University linguistics professor Robert Blair said is "an unusual achievement."

"Students like to have an experience of learning a language, an experience where they are speaking and listening full time," Jabra said.

"Students need to be in a language class whenever they start to learn a language, with native speakers. It doesn't work any other way."

After only 2 1/2 months in class, Jabra's students already are using conversational Arabic to communicate, able to discuss anything from what they had for lunch to global warming and politics, with their three native-speaking instructors. They arrive at a proficiency most would require more than a year to grasp, enough to achieve a level 2 rating on the Arabic Defense Language Proficiency Test administered by the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center.

"I knew three words in Arabic when this thing started," said David Fuchko, an Army specialist enrolled in Jabra's course. "Now we have conversations just about anything."

He has spent time with the military in Iraq and expects his new skill to come in handy if he's deployed again.

"It will really help being able to speak the language," Fuchko said. "It'd be nice to be aware of what's going on around you and be able to interact with the people there."

The Ace method does not require students to memorize grammar rules or words and phrases by rote repetition, but rather teaches by total immersion into the language.

"They learn as an infant would learn a language," said instructor Ehab Abunuwara. "It's a very relaxed, very natural process."

And it's a process that seems to agree with the students, most of whom have only high school experience with learning a foreign language.

Student Reisa Jackson said she hopes to use her newfound Arabic skills in her human resources job with the Army, but also counts the newfound ability as a personal accomplishment. She said she finds herself "thinking in Arabic first before even thinking in English."

Although she picked up little of the Spanish her father speaks in their home, Jackson has developed quite a proficiency in Arabic and is able to read and pronounce sounds with a near-authentic accent.

"In the very beginning, I had my doubts," she said, adding that she wondered if the instructors knew what they were talking about when they said the group would be able to communicate using Arabic in no time. "It all sounded the same to me, and the script is nothing like we've ever seen before."

Sure enough, however, all five have achieved "remarkable" ability, Blair said, communicating in the once-foreign language.

Jabra runs multiple language programs involving military personnel simultaneously and in different states, currently in Draper and at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. The service, he said, is becoming more popular as the need arises and as other programs fail to deliver desired results.

The learning is intense, five days each week with seven hours dedicated to various Arabic language activities and one hour of lecture-discussion on Middle Eastern culture. No homework is required, although students are encouraged to practice vocabulary using electronic flashcards on their own.

"I know what the MTC can do with missionaries in 12 weeks," Blair said. "But Jabra and his students are well on their way to making a world record in learning Arabic. It's extraordinary."

E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com

© 2008 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved

Will There Be A Waiver For FLPP Soldiers Who Took the MSA DLPT5?

2007-09-19T11:26:00.001-07:00

Will DoD work with students who aready took the Modern Standard Arabic DLPT 5 and have lost their FLPP pay due to lower results? I will try and stay tuned to what happens and see what they decide.

On the other hand, I strongly believe that DLI should look seriously at examining the Iraqi version of the DLPT test. From my observations over this past year, and according to feedback from students of mine who took it, it seems that the Iraqi test was fielded too early and has some serious problems. So far it has not managed to accurately reflect the true performance of students (including some who were native or heritage speakers of the dialect).

Hopefully DLI will use this discovery to strengthen its validation process for other Arabic versions of the DLPT and test thoroughly before releasing anything further in Arabic.

Having said all of the above, I have to say that validaing tests and putting out a solid standard test is a monumental task. They receive lots of whipping that they do not deserve. The current criticism of DLI is mainly a communications problem within DoD. Language requirements differ by the type of work a soldier or an intelligence element performs. What they have tried to do so far is make DLI a do-it-all organization with no flexibility, except for SOCOM (Special Operations Cmmand), in how language instruction is done. That resulted in bottlenecks, cookie-cutter solution for language training, and other problems. I'd rather see DLI play the following roles:

1. DLI should be training grounds for teachers of language rather than teaching students. DLI should focus on train-the-trainer solutions. Language teaching is an art and there is no one absolute way to teach language. A language teacher should be proficient or at least have knowledge of all teaching methods out there. DLI could specialize in providing such training. These trainers can be instructors who work at different JLCs or military educational organizations that train soldiers such as the Special Warfare School at Fort Brag, Air Force Academy and West Point among others. This way DLI would be a force multiplier rather than a bottleneck.

1.1 If you ask, who will teach students if DLI is out of the picture? my answer would be 'decentralization'. JLCs and other military academies and educational organizations plus private language schools should do the training. DLI becomes a certifying authority. If you want to get language training business from DoD then you have to have your instructors be certified by DLI which can include a course attended by instructors at their own expense plus a test taken every 4 years or something like that. This way you open the doors to the private market to take care of the increasing need for training language students and at the same time we know that the instruction received meets DoD standards.

2. DLI should develop curriculum, tests and teaching standards for all of DoD elements. Right now this lack of standards is causing all kinds of fragmentation in teaching, curriculum and not applying the right teaching methods in the right conditions. I have developed a 'Situational Language Teaching method' according to which I teach apply best practices in language teaching to different soldiers depending on where they are in the learning process. I am considering publishing the model here on my blog to get feedback.

DLI on the other hand has some organizational issues. From my personal observation and conversation with several people at DLI it seems to me (and I am open to correction) that there is not much information sharing among teachers, between teachers and students or between administration and faculty and teachers. Lack of a declared teaching methods and organizational memory which prevent study and evaluation as to what are the best practices for language education.

I remain an outsider to DLI and as I said, I am open to being corrected if my assesment is wrong. DLI has been a great resource over they years but I believe it is time for it to adjust its mission and focus on what it can be really good at.

DLI Suspends DLPT 5

2007-09-18T17:30:00.001-07:00

Why am I not surprised. The test was off-the-charts hard, according to many of my students who were 3/3 linguists in the past and scored 1+ on the new test. These were not ordinary students. They have years of experience working with Arabic material much harder than the DLPT and have very exceptional communicative ability.

I believe that DLI needs to do a more thorough job at validation. It has taken me 2 years so far to validate questions for my two upcoming books for Farsi and Iraqi Arabic, so I know how big of a challenge it is (each of my books contains over 400 questions while the DLPT has a total of 128 for both segments.).

Here is a link to the official memorandum suspending the test.

Send Me 12 State Department Employees And They Will Know Arabic At Level 1+ In 5 Weeks

2007-07-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

Just read the following article in the Washington Times and it amazes me that despite the desperate need for Arabic speakers the many institutes and colleges that teach Arabic in this country fail to turn out speakers of the language at the rate we need them. This is due, in my opinion to the failure of the methods used and has nothing to do with the difficulty of the language. I personally believe that Arabic is no different than any other language to study and I have the case studies to prove it. But I don't want to discuss that. In response to the State Department's need I am making the following challenge, send me 12 State Department employees, and regardless of their aptitude, I will have them learn MSA (Modern Standard Arabic), or any dialect of Arabic, at level 1+ in listening and speaking in one month of study. Level 1+ being defined as:

Speaking 1+ (Elementary Proficiency, Plus)

Can initiate and maintain predictable face-to-face conversations and satisfy limited social demands. He/she may, however, have little understanding of the social conventions of conversation. The interlocutor is generally required to strain and employ real-world knowledge to understand even some simple speech. The speaker at this level may hesitate and may have to change subjects due to lack of language resources. Range and control of the language are limited. Speech largely consists of a series of short, discrete utterances.

Examples: The individual is able to satisfy most travel and accommodation needs and a limited range of social demands beyond exchange of skeletal biographic information. Speaking ability may extend beyond immediate survival needs. Accuracy in basic grammatical relations is evident, although not consistent. May exhibit the more common forms of verb tenses, for example, but may make frequent errors in formation and selection. While some structures are established, errors occur in more complex patterns. The individual typically cannot sustain coherent structures in longer utterances or unfamiliar situations. Ability to describe and give precise information is limited. Person, space and time references are often used incorrectly. Pronunciation is understandable to natives used to dealing with foreigners. Can combine most significant sounds with reasonable comprehensibility, but has difficulty in producing certain sounds in certain positions or in certain combinations. Speech will usually be labored. Frequently has to repeat utterances to be understood by the general public. (Has been coded S-1+ in some nonautomated applications.)

I have been using my methods with great success with the US Navy, Army and Special Operations for the past 4 years now and I have done this, with relative ease many times.

So, if you are a State Department employee and want to take advantage of the jobs and opportunities offered by the department, call me and I will get you to speak Arabic in 5 weeks. You will get these promotions sooner than you ever thought was possible.

Article published Jun 8, 2007
State desperate for envoys to learn Arabic
June 8, 2007

By Nicholas Kralev
THE WASHINGTON TIMES - The State Department, in an unprecedented move highlighting its desperate need for Arabic speakers, is allowing U.S. diplomats to curtail their current assignments anywhere in the world and begin Arabic language training in September.

Foreign Service officers who are interested in learning Arabic or improving existing skills have until the end of July to apply for more than 100 positions in Arabic-speaking countries that will open in the next two years.

Asked why the program has been initiated only now — nearly six years after the September 11, 2001, attacks and more than four years into the Iraq war — department officials cited a lack of resources.

In a cable to all State Department employees worldwide on Wednesday, George M. Staples, director-general of the Foreign Service, urged them to seriously consider learning "one of the more difficult foreign languages for English speakers to master."

"We recognize that we must improve our ability to understand and influence an area of continuing importance to our nation's well-being," Mr. Staples wrote in the cable, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times.

The department "will consider breaking any tenured employee out of his/her current assignment for a September 2007 language start: for either the two-year program or one-year to improve or take existing Arabic language skills beyond your current level," he wrote.

Junior officers must get tenure within five years of joining in order to remain in the service. That benchmark is separate from the promotion process.

The State Department has about 270 employees with "general professional proficiency" in Arabic — or speaking and reading ability sufficient to do their jobs — according to department figures. Another 700 have limited knowledge.

The department, on which Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen P. Hughes has put a particular emphasis on improving the U.S. image in the Arab and Muslim world, has been criticized repeatedly since 2001 for its shortage of Arabic speakers.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in February that her agency is "putting a great effort into language development for our diplomats," and that "this country has been underinvested in the study of critical languages like Arabic, Farsi, even Chinese, for a very long time."

She noted, however, that "this is something that takes awhile to remedy," and officials yesterday could not explain why it took them years to make their latest decision, saying they try to do their best with the available resources.

A report by the bipartisan Foreign Affairs Council this week criticized Miss Rice for failing to request more funds for the department despite her influence with President Bush.

Mr. Staples' cable contained a list of the Arabic-language positions for which employees can bid. Those officers who require only a year of training can apply for jobs opening in 2008, and those who need two years for slots opening in 2009.

Out of the 48 positions next year, 27 are at the embassy in Baghdad. In the so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams, where State Department personnel work together with the military, Arabic is not required but is strongly encouraged.

Plucking dozens of diplomats out of their current assignments is not likely to be welcomed by the management of the "losing posts," officials said. They insist that there are important countries outside the Middle East and expressed concern that missions in other key areas could suffer from the early departure of some employees.

"The department understands that this initiative may well create some new vacancies at posts in addition to existing vacancies resulting from the deficit at the mid-ranks," said Mr. Staples, who is retiring at the end of July.

"While [we] will make every effort to find a qualified replacement for the losing post, at this time we do not foresee that existing resources will allow us to fill in behind every employee who curtails, nor do we anticipate having alternative-employment funding available to reimburse bureaus for costs resulting from these possible curtailments," he said.

Answers To Common Questions About Ace My language-Arabic Edition (aka Ace The DLPT-Arabic Edition)

2007-05-15T16:07:00.000-07:00

I receive so many inquiries about my book Ace My language-Arabic Edition (aka Ace The DLPT-Arabic Edition) and I have written so many people back that it makes sense to post some of my answers here.

What is Ace My Language-Arabic Edition? Did you stop publishing Ace The DLPT-Arabic Edition?

Well, both are actually the same book but here is the story. When I first published Ace The DLPT-Arabic Edition it was a great success with the students. After all, and realistically speaking, that is what every student wants. Two things happened though. The book was a success with Arabic language students outside the military circles and we received distribution deals in Europe and orders from several colleges around the US and Europe.

The second thing that happened was that I met with a friend of mine who is a major and works for DLI and he explained to me that while the success of the book has been established and while the students love it and can see great improvement in their scores after using it, the name of the book makes it sound like its only purpose is to help the students pass the test, which is not the case since our data shows that after using the book learners receive a long term boost in their language ability.

So our decision was, based on our expanded audience, and to clear any misunderstanding we decided to change the name of the brand to Ace My Language.

How does your book help me improve my Arabic?

My book is based on a simple philosophy which is that listening is the key to both learning (more about this in a minute) and maintaining a language. It contains 406 questions selected by a statistical model to guarantee maximum exposure to MSA (Modern Standard Arabic). Many of the book's users have been in the military taking the DLPT regularly over a 15 years period. A great percentage of them have reported that after using the book on their own by listening to the passages and reading the text they managed to score 3's in both the listening and reading parts of the DLPT for the first time in their career.

The book has significantly more listening material in it than any other book on the market. In addition to that it is listening material that is transcribed and you can refer to it in the book. Reading after listening helps a lot. The statistical research behind the book is aimed at increasing your level of Arabic by one level at least on any standard test such as the DLPT and it also increases your real-life performance in the language as it trains you on the highest frequency words and structures used in the language. What makes the book especially useful is that it is based on a massive corpus that contains over 100 million words which I have built, maintained and expanded on since 1994. A corpus is simply a database of articles in the target language. A great portion of my database is tagged and that is what allowed me to build a model that theoretically guarantees that your language performance will increase after using the book.

How do your results compare to Rosetta Stone and Auralog?

Both RS and Auralog are great programs. I actually use RS in my spare time as a part of curriculum I designed to teach myself Farsi. Auralog is a massive program that is also very useful in building your language. If you have the money to buy them or have access to them via the military do use them especially if your unit does not have the money to send you to class.

Results from using such programs actually vary widely. If you are a self-starter, have plenty of time, and a discipline for study plus a high aptitude for the language
learning then you will probably do well. Unfortunately, many people I meet with, especially in military circles, do not have the time to spend behind a computer learning a language. Not many people have access to a laptop they can carry around for those few moments they have to learn a language or maintain what they already know. Consequently, I believe that the best way to start learning a language is in a classroom with an instructor who will speak and apply the language in class over 90% of the time. For the great majority of people I work with RS and Auralog are not enough, on their own, to teach language. You need to start in a class (more in a minute about that). If you already know the language and desire to increase your score then you need a book that will offer you lots of listening material, preferably with that material in a transcribed form also so that you can read 'after' you've listened.

I have designed the Ace My language Series on that premise. The book is accompanied with a CD that has more listening material on it that any other product in the market including RS and Auralog. If you have already finished a class and you are at an ILR of 2 then AML-Arabic Edition will help you move faster to the next level than any other product I know in the market. If you are at an ILR of 0+-1+, and you have learned how to use the Hans Vehr Dictionary the book will definitely deliver results for you but it will be a slightly slower process than the people at an ILR of 2 or above.

Do you have Ace My Language books for other languages or dialects?

In June of 2007 I will publish three new books. One of them is AML-Iraqi Arabic Edition, which will be the first book of its kind with a DVD including hundreds of minutes of native Iraqi Arabic speakers in live, non-scripted conversations with DLPT-like questions attached to each conversation. This product will be far more useful than any other Iraqi product in the market for learning and improving your knowledge of Iraqi Arabic. We will also publish an AML-Farsi edition during the same month.

We also have plans for AML-Spanish in mid 2008, AML-Chinese and AML Korean by late 2008.

Is the value of the book diminished because of the new version of the DLPT ?

Absolutely not. All that changed in the new version is the length of the articles and the number of questions per test article. AML-Arabic Edition is designed statistically to make sure you acquire as much of the language as you can. If you do all 406 questions and give them a good try you will succeed in 'any' standard Arabic test regardless of how the format of the test changes.

Do You offer training classes?

I do indeed. Global Language Systems, a company I own and operate, has been in the business of Arabic language training for the past 4 years. I have taught classes from all branches of the US military including the US Navy, US Army, Rangers and National Guard. I teach classes for MSA Arabic, Iraqi Arabic, Levant Arabic and Egyptian Arabic. Like the books, I have developed a training methodology that enables me to teach students the language at an ILR of 1 (spoken and listening) in 160 hours of classroom interaction (one month, 5 days a week, 8 hours per day).The methodology has been tested with great success by the US Navy and the Army Rangers. My classes are based on the same methodology of the books where students are taught the high frequency words in the language then they are drilled daily in that language using that vocabulary until they can produce it spontaneously.

This is all I have for now. Hope it is useful. I will add more questions and answers as they come in.

Strategies For Language Learning

2007-01-31T22:03:00.000-07:00

This is a useful read. I believe in the motor-mouth style. People who actually practice what they learn. Here is my formula for you:

1. Get Pimsleur CDs if it is available for the language you are learning and get a phrase book with some tapes (the Teach Yourself series from McGraw Hill is fantastic and I highly recommend it).

2. Read the phrase book, listen to the tapes over and over and over. Forget about detailed grammar studies in the beginning just listen to those basic phrases and repeat them. learn them well.

3. Use 'every' opportunity to listen and learn. I listen to my tapes in the car, while I work out and sometimes even while I am visiting with family. Use every spare moment.

4. Realize you will not learn overnight but if you are persistent your efforts will start paying off within a year.

5. When you feel that you know the basic vocabulary well start reading websites written in your target language. Get a good dictionary and read, listen, listen, listen.

Learning Styles And Their Effect On Language Learning
by: Frank Gerace
LEER ES PODER!
Learning Spanish!

How can you best learn Spanish? It depends on your particular approach to learning. Take a look at the following approaches to learning Spanish. But if you already know where you are, you can skip the following reflections and go back to see what is available for your level ( beginning, intermediate, or advanced ) in Spanish, to sort and search for your specific needs, as well as to read reviews and summaries of the books that strike your interest.

DIFFERENT STYLES

Non-Virgins: Those who studied another language should use the skills they acquired with that language. They know what a conjugation is. They know that verbs are different from nouns. Their previous study gives them some mental hooks to help with their Spanish. They should not throw away their advantage by working on Spanish in a completely conversational manner. They should try to get an overview of some commonplaces in the language. They should get an "old fashioned" grammar and lean heavily on the tables to organize their thought. This type of learner should "invent" Spanish on the basis of what they know of the other language. They will remember a little of the structure of the other language. For example, what is the relation between adverbs and adjectives in Spanish? What is the most common way to express what happened yesterday (past tense)? If the other language is a Western language, they should observe the possible similarities. If the other language is non-Western!

, the very differences can be their starting point to learn the counterparts in Spanish. In short, they should study "the wrong way". This is not for everyone. The learner should know his or herself.

Okay. Your exquisite drive to research more would be rewarded further. Just keep on reading, there are other details to follow.

Brains: These folks will operate much like the Non-Virgins. They will progress better by concentrating on the little points that intrigue them such as the difference in usage between the prepositions "por" and "para" and the verbs "ser" and "estar". To master one or two of these elements so characteristic of Spanish will help the learn build on their conquests to go on to master other things. This analytical approach will be of great utility to the persons with the cerebral learning style.

Motor Mouths: The persons who are not afraid to try out their Spanish will progress very rapidly. These folks probably have a little genetic edge over the rest of us. However, we all should try to put together the pieces as we learn them. If there is no opportunity to talk with someone else, then we can tape our attempts. There are two parts to this early talking practice: confidence and pronunciation. The most important thing is to gain confidence or to be thick-skinned enough to speak your piece, knowing that the exercise will pay dividends. However, we should not put off working on our pronunciation until it is too late and we have given up on acquiring a valid accent. There are too many people who after living years in a Spanish speaking country are perfect in their grammar but who have a typical or even stereotypical English accent. There is no need for that. Spanish is perfectly regular in its phonetics. Motor mouths should also work on their accent!

People People: Anyone who likes being with people and who has a need to communicate will progress quickly in learning a language. Many outgoing, friendly people learn language in the "motor mouth" mode. However, other people without the gifts of the motor mouths can gain valuable exposure to the language by just following their social instincts. These folks, however, should not overlook the need to speak correctly. Although they are not interested in traditional grammar in the same way the "brains" are, they must work at speaking correctly. We all know people who learned English years ago, but still say things like, "I am interested to go with you". You don't want to spend your life in Spanish with a similar easily corrected error. Learn it right as soon as you can. The people people have to stay curious about the language.

Learn-while-doing People: I was told once that the only way to learn French was to sleep with a French woman. The idea behind this is that we learn the expressions and words for the activities we are interested in. People who learn like this try to get their Spanish-speaking friends to accompany them as they cook or fix their car. They find that they learn better when their whole body is involved in learning the new words and phrases. For example, the person who learns the word "serrucho" while sawing a board will remember it better than the person (see the "word collector") who just learns the vocabulary from a list.

Word Collectors: This person may be great at crossword puzzles (Crucigramas) in Spanish but rarely gets to speak it. If you find yourself learning words and not getting any further, break out of it! We once had a houseguest, a young man from Spain who came to learn English. There were times when our family would be talking Spanish, and he would echo all the Spanish words with their English equivalents. He had a great vocabulary but never got around to talking English. This kind of learner should alway make sure that they make up sentences to practice using the new words they learn. They can combine their ability with vocabulary with the "divide and conquer" tactic. They should not only invent sentences to use the new words; they should run through diferent grammatical constructions as the setting for their vocabulary.

Divide and Conquer People: Every learner of a foreign language has to learn to incorporate the learning style of dividing and conquering into their own style. If they are "brains" they should concentrate on one grammatical turn of phrase, such as conditions contrary to fact, (If my grandfather hadn't died, he'd be alive today!) until they can handle it.

The people people should repeat in the same conversation the new expression that they just heard. The same goes for all the others. The only way to learn a language is by following the "swiss cheese" method, nibble away at the things you don't know, and master them until they are all gone.

Lost Latinos: This person should try to remember the nursery rhymes that they might have learned in Spanish. They should run over the names of their cousins and uncles. All of this will loosen up their rusty language skills. They should listen to how others speak "spanglish" and try to figure out the proper way to say things. They should make a game of trying to spot the influence of English in the Spanish they hear at home or in the barrio. This detective work will make them more aware of correcting whatever bad habits they have picked up. However, don't think that these persons have all the advantages. The person learning from scratch will probably spell Spanish words better than those who know a little Spanish. I'm not sure why.

What works for EVERYONE… There are two activities that will help everyone, no matter what their learning style, move forward rapidly: They are: 1. Passive Listening, and 2. Pattern Response Drills.

1. Passive Listening. Everyone should keep the Spanish radio on as much as possible. Keep the radio or TV on while you doing other things. It has to be the sea of sound that you swim in while you are beginning your study of Spanish. You don't have to concentrate on it; you are not listening to try to understand. After a while you won't hear it but it will be affecting you. Little by little you will begin to anticipate the rhythm of the language, even before you understand everything. You will also begin to recognize certain words. You will begin to hear "beyond" the differences in pronunciation of different people and recognize the underlying word. Once you clearly hear a word or phrase, you can look it up and progressively expand your vocabulary.

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2. Pattern Response Drills. You have to run through all the permutations of the new expressions that you learn. For example, suppose you just learned to say. "Pedro tiene cuatro a os" rather than translating from the English incorrectly, "Pedro es cuatro". Now to make this new element of the language stick with you, you should go on substituting different ages and the names of different people. You have to be able to say comfortably, "Mar a tiene cuatro a os." "Juan tiene ocho a os." "Yo tengo treinta a os." " Cu ntos a os tienes t ?" "Nosotros tenemos cuarenta a os." This type of drill is necessary for all the different learning styles.

Prince Harry To Learn Arabic

2007-01-31T21:56:00.000-07:00

Prince Harry is joining his troops in Iraq to fight and is going to learn Arabic. That is very intriguing. He will probably be the first monarch to learn the language.

Britain's Prince Harry, the 22-year-old grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, will be sent to fight in Iraq, the British media reported Sunday. The prince is reported to be due to start special preparations with his regiment for combat in Iraq which is to include Arabic language training, according to the British tabloid newspaper, The News of the World.

The prince, the younger son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, joined the Blues and Royals elite regiment after completing his officer training at Sandhurst military academy last year.

Harry has himself said that he wants "to fight alongside" his men.

A spokesman for the palace confirmed that the prince was to take part in the training, but said that this did not mean he was going to Iraq, the newspaper reported.

The prince has always said he is determined to do battle with his 100-strong unit, A Squadron of the Blues and Royals, part of the Household Cavalry.

They begin a six-month tour of Iraq in the spring. Before that, they are expected to take part in war games and exhaustive preparations for conflict.

E-learning Curriculum For Your Mobile Device

2007-01-31T21:29:00.000-07:00

This is a new trend in the industry. I have been trying to use my iPAQ with my Farsi language PDFs for the past couple of months but it is not the comfortable. It is a great tool though for sound files and I enjoy listening to my Farsi sound files on it. I would be happy for now with a PDF reader that can read Farsi and display the files correctly.

Atlantic Link's ground breaking rapid e-learning authoring tools have taken a hugely significant leap forward. The software now allows courses to be designed specifically for the small screens of Windows Mobile devices. This means that courses are not only able to be run directly on Windows Mobile devices, but also look superb as all the functionality of the ground breaking authoring tools can be applied to small screen design.

UK (PRWeb) January 26, 2007 -- Atlantic Link's ground breaking rapid e-learning authoring tools have taken a hugely significant leap forward. The software now allows courses to be designed specifically for the small screens of Windows Mobile devices. This means that courses are not only able to be run directly on Windows Mobile devices, but also look superb as all the functionality of the ground breaking authoring tools can be applied to small screen design.

MD Mike Alcock explains, "The traditional problem with courses on mobile devices is that they've never been designed for the smaller screen and are essentially shrunken versions of courses designed for viewing on PC screens. To tackle this we have enabled our software to author at the native screen size of a Windows Mobile device. Because the output of Content Point is Flash, the courses still contain all of the high quality and interactivity of Atlantic Link's usual output, but with the benefit of small screen design. Quizzes, games, activities, audio, video and Flash animations are all supported and play back perfectly, giving users the richest possible course experience."

The courses can be deployed locally (from the hard drive of the phone) or from the Internet, giving users a true mobile learning experience. Authoring is undertaken with the same software that is already delivering the fastest e-learning authoring for major companies across the globe.

Mike Alcock continues, "The potential applications for this technology are huge and almost mind-boggling. Tourist guides, language training, product training and updates, maintenance guides and training, medical training, interactive museum guides, schools training, the list is almost endless. With the government focusing on 'personalised learning', we believe that we are at the forefront of the next wave of e-learning. Because our rapid e-learning software is so incredibly quick at producing courses, content producers now have a method for producing huge volumes of highly interactive content for mobile devices in hours instead of weeks. Needless to say we are enormously excited about the possibilities."

Atlantic Link are demonstrating the new software on Stand 14 at next week's Learning Technologies Exhibition at Olympia 2.

If you want to see a simulation of the course running on a mobile device, visit here.

If you have a Windows Mobile, view a sample of Atlantic Link's mobile e-learning here.

Atlantic Link Contact www.atlantic-link.co.uk
Mike Alcock, +44 (0)115 906 1375
Media Contact www.integracommunications.co.uk
Andrew Third, Integra Communications, +44 (0)115 906 1377

Using Skype And The Internet For Language Instruction

2007-01-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is a great article on using Web 2.0 technology for language learning. I have been aware of people using Skype for Korean and other languages for the past couple of years. The only requirement I think should be there is a set of curriculum and method of instruction that fits the medium and a way to measure progress otherwise it is a great medium to use for language learning.

Skype as a language-learning tool
Prerna Rao
Hatchet Reporter
Posted: 1/29/07
Most GW professors would rather hear nails scraped across a blackboard than allow their students to talk on the phone or connect to the Internet during class, but professor Richard M. Robin lets his students do just that.

Starting this week, students in Robin's Intensive Basic Russian, course will be making some long distance phone calls from the classroom using Skype, the free Internet phone service, to talk to Russian students on the other side of the world.

"In a classroom setting, a lot of the Russian that students hear will be from teacher-talk or student-to-student conversation, which is basically fake," said Robin, who began using Skype as a classroom tool almost two years ago. "This enables (students) to make their Russian communications and conversational skills better."

As the Russian Language Director at GW and the author of the best selling first- and second-year Russian textbook in the U.S., "Golosa," Robin takes Russian language education to a whole new level by using the free Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) during the spring semester of the academic year-long course.

"This only starts halfway through the year because only then they will be able to carry on a conversation beyond 'Hi, how are you?'" said Robin, who has been teaching at GW since 1981.

Robin said the free price tag of VoIP programs like Skype and ICQ Audio/Video is what makes all these real-time international conversations possible during class time. With a microphone, Web cam and Internet connection, Robin's students are practicing Russian with native speakers. Robin said he believes new technologies like Skype will play a key role in the future of foreign-language programs.

"Right now Skype is a very hot commodity, almost exotic, so a lot of (professors) don't use it. Twenty years from now when I retire, it won't be so exotic, so I'm sure it will be in use like this in many more classrooms," Robin said. "Foreign distance education will be a much more common thing."

This week, Robin's students will get to speak with a former Russian exchange student from the Plekhanov Institute of Economics in Moscow, who lived with Robin's family two years ago.

Senior Alexandre DeAguiar, who took Robin's intensive Russian course last year, said using free Internet phone programs to speak Russian with native speakers made learning the language a more realistic experience.

"When we're in a classroom environment, we're locked into grammar learning and things like that," he said. "But once we get to talk to someone, it becomes spontaneous and we get to hear and say things that we have never before."

"I feel that it actually makes our thinking and language skills much better," he added. "I remember how not-ready to talk I was, we all were, and after later conversations I was able to detect improvement in my ability to produce language."

Although Robin acknowledged that speaking to people in Russia won't give his students a "linguistic breakthrough" by itself, he calls the program "motivational."

"The kids like it way better than communicating (just) with each other," he said. "I find that they are more enthusiastic, and the conversation is just better."

In the past, Robin has set up international conversational exchanges using his contacts with Russian students, families and professionals.

"How I choose the people who will be talking to my students is that they are mostly personal connections, like friends I have in Russia or their families," he said. "I plan on keeping it at my own personal connections. There are also lots of little bureaucratic issues to deal with if I wanted to expand it, but what I'm doing now is effective."

Robin said that despite the program's advantages, the eight-hour time difference between D.C. and Russia "makes finding people in Russia willing to do this very difficult."

Broadband connectivity there is also an issue, he explained.

"There, the economic situation is reverse. Here (in America), students go to school and expect to get and receive awesome Internet connections through campus and in their dorms," he said. "There, it's the opposite. Russian schools want students to have the better connections at home."

DeAguiar said he appreciated the experimental nature of Robin's class, and recommends its usefulness to all foreign language students.

"Every other language should get involved in something like this," he said. "Professor Robin's class helped me more than anything else when I studied abroad last semester in St. Petersburg, Russia. He really likes what he's doing and is serious about it."

© Copyright 2007 GW Hatchet

The Problem Is In Human Resources Not The Military

2007-01-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

The situation of language training in the military is far more complex than this article suggests. The military has done lots of great things to train its soldiers in the different languages that are needed. The military produced hundreds of new curriculum , books, learning management systems, great content. The US Military today has all the tools that it needs to train.

The main problem that the US military has, and that any army would have for that matter, is a human resources one. There is a severe shortage of skilled language teachers , and I emphasize on teachers, who understand what the military wants and who understand how to utilize the tools that DoD has made available during the past 5 years. Academic linguists care about research more than teaching, and when they teach in a military setting they assume that you need 4 years of college to master the language. I mean, there are literally some Arabic classes out there where 3 months are spent learning the alphabet, script and a few basic words. That is a waste of time and resources!

Outside of academia there is a lack of language speakers educated in the target language country who have the skills to teach language.

So the problem in a nutshell, as I see it, is lack of skilled teachers, who are skilled in the different methods of language training, who are available to serve. that is why we see that companies like McNeill Language Services for example use native speakers whose profession was driving a cab. Nothing wrong with cab drivers, but that would be like me driving a cab (I know nothing about it).

That is why at Global Language Systems I have developed methods by which we train native speakers who were educated in the target language country (college education minimum, high scholl for some rare languages). We also use language training methods that are suitable for the needs of the military based on customizing courses down to the mission level and also make sure that they acquire the language within the shortest period of time possible. For example, it takes the US military right now about 400 hours of initial training to get a soldier to level 0+ or 1 in Iraqi Arabic. We do that within 120-160 hrs of classrom time, almost one-fourth the time the military needs.

One company like mine cannot solve the problem but what is really needed is for the DoD to start focusing on training their instructors and establish a base-line training methodology, or a template, that is applied throughout the military whether internally or by contractors. That template should focus on methods that have been proven to help students acquire language in a short amount of time. Such a template is lacking in the US military and its language schools. Teachers control the teaching methods and even the curriculum most of the time. Superb curriculum that has been developed by the DoD goes ignored.

Bottom line is, fix the human resources problem and you fix a great portion of the language training problem in the US military. I don't think that you can snp your fingers and get Arabic speakers (as Tony Snow said in his press briefing today) but I believe that the problem can be solved within a very short period if the human resources were steered in the right direction.

Silly Item Of The Day

2006-12-21T19:15:00.000-07:00

The Community College of Baltimore County has a new Arabic program but the following is unbelievably silly and such a waste of time

The majority of the course -- nearly two months -- is spent learning the Arabic alphabet and how to make sounds that go with it.

I spend 90 minutes on the Arabic Alphabet on the first day of class and then move on into the language. In two months, with the proper methods, you can take a language learner who is encountering the language for the first time to intermediate low or novice high levels congruent with ACTFL standards.

Auralog Releases It's Arabic Product

2006-12-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Auralog released their Arabic product and the description looks impressive but they provide no Iraqi or Levant which are crucial to learn for anyone trying to learn Arabic today. The focus seems to be completely on North African dialects. It is too expensive to buy for the regular student (almost 500 USD) which will guarantee that it is available only in labs of large educational institutions. I heard some good reviews though from some military folks who had access to it.

My Training Gets Mentioned In AP

2006-12-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

This is one of very few training classes I am allowed to talk about. The students were unscreened for language learning ability and ages ranged from 18 to 43. They took the new Iraqi DLPT 5 and scored 0+ , all in less than 100 hours of class time and in less than 30 days. I believe their skills were above 0+ (a solid 1) because the Iraqi DLPT 5 focused so much on geopolitical material rather than the practical usage of the language (which is what I was asked to train them for). Nevertheless, it was a success as it takes the military usually up to 400 hours to achieve these results. The article contains a little error about my biography. I learned the Iraqi dialect growing up in Kuwait and visiting Iraq frequently but I never lived in Iraq.

Here is a part of the full article:

Cultural, language skills part of Navy's new onshore role

By MELISSA NELSON, The Associated Press
Nov 24,:19 AM

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Boats and weapons are Lt. Joseph Michaels' priorities in getting his 53-man squadron ready to patrol Iraq's rivers. But a close second is something the Navy sailor hadn't given much thought to before now - Iraqi language and culture.

Michaels and the men of Riverine Group 1 will head to Iraq in January from their training base in Little Creek, Va. While preparing to deploy, they are among the first sailors learning about the day-to-day lives of Iraqis - everything from their more-limited sense of personal space to traditional Arabic greetings.

Their Jordanian-American instructor, who spent years in Iraq, taught squadron leaders by speaking to them only in Arabic. He also had them greet one another every morning according to the customs of a traditional Iraqi family.

"There is a lot more holding hands and touching cheeks. It's more touchy-feely over there and it was really uncomfortable the first few days," said Michaels, who will oversee a detachment of four river boats patrolling the country's dangerous inland waterways.

"He taught us about as much language as you could learn in 30 days. I thought my head would explode," he said.

And Michaels said he was surprised to learn that even making extended eye contact with an Iraqi woman could cause the woman to be punished.

"The Iraqi men look down on a woman even if she is just looked at by an American man," he said.

The Navy developed the training as part of its expanding onshore role in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its new Expeditionary Combat Command at Little Creek opened this year. The command oversees about 40,000 sailors who work inland, including the Riverine squadron, Navy construction crews known as Seabees and explosive ordnance technicians. There are about 4,300 sailors currently in Iraq and 1,300 in Afghanistan.

Language and Culture Training, a Military Tool

2006-08-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

Language and culture training for the military is not new and has been going on for a while. I think that in one month though you can do much more than just the basics of the language. I can actually put my students at 1+ or even 2 in that amount of time.

technorati tags:culture, language, training, military

Arabic Program At Middlebury Run Amock?!

2006-08-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

After reading this article, which is the second in a week, addressing the same issues, I can tell that there are lots of students who didn't have a very fulfilling experience at Middlebury's Arabic school this summer. Middlebury is the top school to go to if you want to immerse yourself in your language. I have heard nothing but good about it. Never before have I heard complaints about the Arabic program until a week ago when Frontpagemag.com published a similar article written by one of the students who was clearly as offended as Mr. Franck Salameh. The stories these writers tell sound very consistent and it seems to me that the teachers and their administration have gotten several things confused.

First of all, as a Christian Arab I always found it sort of offensive that when Western orientalists addressed Middle East issues they always ignored the Christian minorities as though they never exist. The Arab world has about 10-15 million Christians in it who come from all sects. Their cultural traditions, religion have survived through millenia despite repeated and continuing attempts to suppress them, and in some cases such as in the Sudan, genocidally eradicate them. There is no doubt that the Middle East is dominantly Muslim, and a healthy dose of exposure to Islamic traditions as a part of an Arabic immersion course is understandable and required, but to ignore the social and cultural traditions of Middle Eastern minorities in the way that the writers describe is just unforgivable and does more harm than good (as is obvious in this case where the students probably had a very bad experience). This ignorance by the administration at Middlebury needs to be remedied.

Second, it seems to me that the Arabic faculty not only overreached but have assumed that the anti-war, and sometimes anti-American rhetoric in Vermont lead them to believe that the students would share that same mindset or that it would be alright to reflect their political preferences into the curriculum and the classroom environment. Not celebrating the 4th of July, not acknowledging the reality of Israel (a country which either has peace accords or friendly relations with many Arab countries) are not acceptable. Not being friendly to members of the government and military, the people who brought freedom from oppression to millions of Arabs and Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq. Regardless of political preference and opinion, ALL students should have been awarded equal treatment. The Middlebury Arabic program was a dot on the map before the US military and government started to send all of their students there. Thus, the teachers and administration should be grateful and award members of the government and military the respect and equal opportunity for education that they deserve and need.

Finally, Middlebury's Arabic program can persist in doing what it does. Teachers can continue in the same attitude. But they should not be surprised if the money starts flowing in other directions. Teachers should not be surprised if they start getting sent home and lose their positions. Middlebury is a business after all and pleasing the client is what it should be about. It might be hard for the government to change contracts due to bureaucracy but given enough complaints they eventually will.

Middlebury's Arabic program has been such a great program so far and it would be a shame to see it go down in flames because of a narrow and rigid interpretations of history, politics and culture.

Arabic and Kurdish Divide

2006-08-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

Great article on the dichotomy between the Arabic and Kurdish languages in Iraq.

technorati tags:kurdish, arabic, language

Moroccan Arabic on August 12th

2006-08-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Great opportunity for learning Moroccan Arabic. If you live near Rockland, Maine this is an opportunity you shouldn't miss.

technorati tags:Arabic, Moroccan, language

Concordia Update

2006-08-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

Concordia language camp is operational. A lengthy update about concordia.

technorati tags:concordia, arabic, language

An Example of Name Analysis

2006-07-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

This article is a great example of using cultural, historical and linguistic knowledge in analytics. A good read.

technorati tags:analysis, language

Public Libraries as a Resource for Foreign Language Learning

2006-07-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

Public libraries in America are one of the best functioning and worth while public institutions. Making language resources available there is a wonderful idea. Language material is usually very expensive. Buying it through the public library system is a great idea. I have been learning Farsi for three years now using the resources of our great public library system here in the Salt lake City area. I also use it when I am designing curriculum or tests for other languages. Since we are now in a phase where we are trying to encourage the learning of critical foreign languages in this country I totally believe that public libraries should jump on board and use some of the available public funding to finance their purchases of foreign language learning material.

technorati tags:public, libraries, language, learning

Phenomenal Growth in Demand for the Arabic Language

2006-07-08T20:48:00.000-07:00

This is a great report on the demand for Arabic language instructors. A recommended read.

technorati tags:Arabic, instruction

Olive Tree Dictionary

2006-07-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

The Olive Tree Dictionary is one of the oldest Arabic English dictionaries. It was written to help people connect and communicate. This article features Yohanan Elihay the author of the dictionary. A good read. I have lost my OTD a while ago and now I want to go get one.

Language and Wealth

2006-07-07T14:48:00.000-07:00

This article wonders whether there is a relation between wealth and language. It also makes other good points. A great read.

technorati tags:language, arabic

New Immersion Course for Arabic

2006-07-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

Concordia Language Villages is adding Arabic to its successful language immersion programs. The article doesn't mention the audience for this program but historically they targeted youth. I believe that they should target adult learners also leveraging their experience in other immersion programs.
I don't have enough knowledge about their program and methodology or data about historical performance. Concordia historically used a mix of cultural and linguistic education. This style is usually the most successful. In general, a successful immersion program for Arabic that makes the language stick is harder to design and administer compared to other languages. Here in the United States we lack the skills and enough teachers who are experienced with this kind of teaching style, we lack the curriculum to make it successful and there is no effort that I am aware of for developing rapid acquisition-by-immersion curriculum. Having a group of students in a classroom or even living with a language speaker, and forcing them to speak the language has its advantages for sure but doing it for short periods of time (2 to 9 weeks) without the proper curriculum and methods rarely produces significant acquisition or reinforcement (personal opinion based on 15 years of experience). At any rate, good luck to Concordia. I will investigate the program and come back to you all with a better assessment of it or new information.

technorati tags:Arabic, training, immersion, dlpt

Explosion of Arabic Material on the Web

2006-07-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

With Western news operations expanding into the Arabic market there will be more and more opportunities for Arabic language learners. What I am hoping is that some of these organizations would actually provide dual materials that display both the Arabic and English side by side. This would be very useful not only for the Arabic reader but also for the English readers trying to learn Arabic. I also hope that these organizations would go into areas like podcasting and other kinds of audio-visual material.

"July 5, 2006
Western News Operations Expand Into Arabic Market
By DOREEN CARVAJAL

PARIS Â A media competition for minds and market share in the Middle East is evolving as a crowd of Western news organizations prepares to deliver headlines Â and geopolitical views Â in the language of the Koran.

Backed by government financing, Germany's public international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, is poised to beam as much as 24 hours of daily news programming in Arabic this autumn. France's yet-to-be-named CNN-style channel is in development for a year-end opening, along with a Web site in Arabic and later in 2007 an Arabic television version. And the state-owned Russia Today has similar plans for an Arabic Web site and television presence.

From the United States, CNN is watching the development of its Arabic Web site, which attracts more than 300,000 unique visitors monthly, before it decides whether to pursue television plans.

'I'm losing track,' said Jerry Timmins, head of the BBC World Service's operations in Africa and the Middle East. 'There's pretty much of an announcement a week.'

The BBC World Service itself is also in the fray, with Â£19 million, or $35 million, from the British government for"

A Piece of Advice for Minnesota

2006-06-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

This news from Minnesota is very encouraging. I just hope that this enthusiasm spells over to other states. It seems to me from this article that the people in charge are aware of the challenges, or at least most of them, namely:
1) Lack of qualified people to teach.
2) The need for training the teachers on modern teaching methods.
A third challenge I add here is that the students need to "learn how to learn". I am not aware of any current language program that takes this need into consideration. I am not talking here just about discipline and love for learning but more specifically about teaching student modern Psycholinguistic and memory techniques to help them memorize and understand. Pimsleur has the best approach in the field followed closely by the Rosetta Stone. These tools work directly with the student's memory and language control centers in the brain to aid the memorization experience.
Another problem I spot is that these classes might become to academic in their approach. The best experience a language student can have is to be able to communicate in class with peers and his/her teacher. Always communicate in class! Talk about anything and everything. Textbooks DO NOT have everything the students need to learn.
A final comment on the subject. My military students always complain that they have been taught the 'biggest words' like 'nuclear war' or 'conference' but in the meantime they don't know things like car parts' names and household tools, etc. Teachers should focus More on that during their in-class time.This could be done imply by using any of the 'commercial' material out there rather than academic Arabic text books. This commercial material is extremely valuable because its main focus is on the things that people 'must' know. Unfortunately, Academic teachers do not use such material in their in-class instruction and never take it seriously.

Success Story

2006-03-07T22:14:00.000-07:00

I am against self-promotion when blogging but I guess a teacher and an author gets revived when receiving praise for his work. My book Ace The DLPT-Arabic Edition has been a success story in the military circuits and I am very proud of it. I designed it using the latest techniques in computational linguistics to guarantee that when you read it, and do all 406 exercises, you will pass any standardized Arabic test in existence with flying colors. Since the book got published, many people who followed my instructions have proven that Ace The DLPT delivers on its promise. Chief L.B is just one example. Here is what he says (some details were omitted to preserve identity):

Just wanted to relay a little success story for you and your book.

As you recall after attending your class in *** I achieved the highest scores ever in the 13 years I had been taking the DLPT I was a 3/3 (raw scores were 50/52) after your excellent instruction in December of '03.
After returning to *** I studied a bit, but not as much as I could have. In January of '04 I attended a 4 week class at our JLC. The instruction was good, but not up to the Jabra standard. Despite the one extra week I came out of the class with lower DLPT scores, 2/3 (raw scores were 44/52) My lowest listening score in a very long time.

Since January of '04 I have been extremely busy. My work did not afford me the opportunity to attend a class. I knew that I would not be able focus only on language. In October I started using your book almost exclusively. I read each night (almost). I loaded your audio onto my MP3 player and listened as I folded clothes, did chores, drove to and from work.

On Friday 3 March I took my DLPT, a bit nervous. I felt good about the listening and breezed through the reading, finishing the 65 passages in just under an hour. I've been waiting on pins and needles since then.

Today I received my scores. Without any formal training throughout the year, only your fabulous book to guide me I scored the highest I've ever scored in my 16.5 years as a linguist, 3/3 (raw scores of 56/54, 60 being perfect).

Small Mindedness @ Princeton

2006-02-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

This article shows that small minded thinking can exist even at Princeton. For the good of this great country I only hope that Mr. Sheltzer is not a student of International business, Lawyer or, even worse, an International relations student. For one I am glad the PU has such intensive requirements for foreign language studies of all of its students. My personal belief , some of which has been confirmed by studies, is that when you study a foreign language you develop skills, as well as brain cells that you can use throughout your life. Have you ever tried to use your limited German, Arabic, Russian, or whatever to communicate with a native speaker? your listening skills are instantly magnified, your brain is thinking at rates much higher than it does usually. Trying to put those sentences together, using your memory. All of that and more happens also when you are studying a foreign language. Seeking to understand other cultures and being able to read, even gist, newspaper articles and news casts in other languages can provide you with real advantages in the real world. Princeton 'should' continue its language program especially now with the country scrounging for foreign language speakers and spending billions of dollars to produce them.

Helping Future Officers

2006-02-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

I totally agree with this article, ROTC is a great place to start preparing if ‎you intend to join the military as an army officer. Not only would it save the military ‎billions of dollars it will also supply them with soldiers who have no need to spend time ‎at DLI or other military language schools.‎

Say No To More Subsidized Academic Language Training

2006-02-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

This is the an article you must read. Aside from the politics involved, which I might address later, Mr. Kurtz, expresses very well a very important fact. Our security needs and Arabic language training needs are not going to be addressed through more programs financed by title VI subsidies. Those programs might have had value on university campuses but those same programs have NO or very little value in a military setting. It is time to try new things and more effective methods. It is also time to produce some programs and curriculum that addresses the practical needs of our soldiers. I just hope that the President doesn't give up the fight or yield to political pressures on this one.

Language Program Promises Culture and Linguistic Education

2006-02-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

‎The Concordia Language ‎Villages program promises not only to teach you the language in an immersion ‎setting, but also to work on the cultural background of the target language. I believe that ‎there is much need for this kind of approach. I know that this kind of approach would ‎make a huge difference. My main concern though is the time period assigned for such an ‎‎'immersion program'. I don't believe that two weeks would be enough to ideally achieve ‎what is needed. But I have to say here that I have no idea what the curriculum is like, ‎how the material is distributed or how it is weighed. It also depends on the knowledge ‎and level of the students the program accepts. My gut feeling says that two weeks are not ‎enough. From my experience, immersion programs need to be at least 8-10 weeks long to ‎have any impact (moving from one level to the next). Still, the concept is great and I wish ‎CLV the best of luck. If I have time I will try to get more information on the program. ‎You can click here to go to their website and I am adding it to the blogroll as well.‎

University of Oregon Adds Arabic & Korean

2006-02-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

New Arabic program announced at the University of Oregon. Looks like they also have a Korean resource.

Language Learning Software

2006-02-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Here is another article about the different tools out there that anybody from a beginner to an advanced student cn use to enhance their language learning process.

Rosetta Stone Review

2006-02-06T22:55:00.000-07:00

This is a good review of the Rosetta Stone program. It emphasizes what I wrote about earlier; RS and other programs are great but a curriculum need to be constructed to give balanced instruction that covers all aspects of learning. The reviewer emphasizes that RS doesn't include a very strong grammatical component which I agree with. I use both Pimsleur and Berlitz since I find that they give the learner both the grammatical and the vocabulary components at the same time.

A Great Opportunity

2006-02-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

making Arabic a part of a bushiness training program is a great idea. I pray though that the language portion of these programs at least would have some depth to them beyond teaching the basic alphabet soup and a few phrases. This will never accomplish what the military wants. Baylor University has a class that can serve as model for such education. Arabic language training in such a setting should include applications such as business negotiations, legal and business terminology, and extensive readings in business reports, etc. There is lots of opportunity here for an enlightened language trainer and an open-minded faculty.

Tech Gadgets Aid Language Teaching

2006-01-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

‎I love this article because it describes exactly the way I believe ‎language should be taught, or at least how to use some of the high tech gadgets out there ‎in language teaching. Eventhough I believe that the computer lab in a school environment ‎is great, I also believe that students should be able to carry their language learning tools ‎with them wherever they go. I have an HP iPaq on which I added a 1 GB SD memory ‎card. On the card I keep my audio lessons (Berlitz, Pimsleur etc.) I also keep my ‎vocabulary lists and some other stuff. I use Wikipedia to access Farsi articles and read blogs ‎to sharpen my knowledge of spoken Farsi and how it is expressed (much better and richer ‎than formal news sources). I also use a Walkman for some audio tapes that haven't been ‎digitized yet.‎
I talked about the Rosetta Stone program the other day and I love it but I don't think they ‎have it in MP3 format. Pimsleur on the other hand have converted their lessons to MP3 ‎format and they sell it along with an MP3 player. As I said before, I love both, but I ‎prefer the mobility of the MP3 format.‎

How To Find An Arabic Program That Meets Your Needs

2006-01-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

‎New Arabic Programs seem to be ‎everywhere. Universities hungry for federal funding or those that want to capitalize on ‎the interest. So how do you know what to choose? I would investigate first of all the ‎infrastructure provided by the university and how long this infrastructure has been there. ‎By that I mean: Is there a language lab? Does the program seem innovative enough? or in ‎other words what is unique about the program? does it offer more immersion, unique ‎curriculum, seasoned professors or all the above? I would look at the syllabus and try to ‎find the value proposition. There are many Arabic programs out there but extremely few ‎have any declared value propositions (or in other words the thing that makes them unique ‎and useful for the student). I they have a unique method or idea then by all means sign up ‎otherwise don't waste your time and keep looking. ‎

Chu Interview

2006-01-22T01:12:00.000-07:00

Media Roundtable with Dr. David Chu, Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness)
Interesting interview...

Learning Arabic Abroad

2006-01-22T01:09:00.000-07:00

Learning Arabic abroad is a good idea if you have lots of money and you know your way around. I happen to be from Jordan and I have known many people who went through the UOJ Arabic program and who told me later that they didn't get much out of it. But being in Jordan they ended up hiring private tutors (less than 7 dollars an hour) and built their own immersion course. Those courses abroad, according to the experience of many, still leave much to be desired despite their benefit of letting the student understand the culture better. It all depends on needs and what results are desired.

I like the Rosetta Stone But...

2006-01-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

Army offers foreign language training - Minnesota Daily

Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur, Berlitz and anything you can get your hands on in the initial stages of learning is great. I love all of it. I have been working on my Farsi and Dari for the past year and a half and I have used the Farsi curriculum from all the above and the results were amazing. But I am a linguist and a language teacher. I know how to motivate and guide myself and how to avoid the trappings of frustration when you're stuck. Online learning is a great idea but giving our soldiers and language learners in the armed forces the Rosetta Stone without any further instruction or interaction is not sufficient and will not produce the desired results. RS needs to be supplemented with classroom instruction and the human touch. Maybe the military is doing this already, I don't know because I don't have access. But what I know is that commercial grade language materials should be supplemented by things like online conferencing, Podcasting and voice enabled instant messaging. If you have some good feedback on the subject I would love to hear from you.

National Security language Initiative

2006-01-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

I still haven't had time to look at the text of the initiative, but for those of you who have the time to look here is this link and this link to the fact sheet.
I also found a good discussion of the initiative on this link. The writer has a unique idea but I am not sure he is familiar with the needs of the military and other agencies as far as languages are concerned. The military language student is a unique individual with extremely unique needs. Following a strict academic and scholastic approach to language teaching and learning with military and security students DOES NOT work. Following the strict academic and scholastic approach is slowing down the production of capable military intelligence students. I have proven that point several times. Most recently I did a 53 weeks project for the US Navy where we managed to get the students to graduate in 46 weeks (down from 72 currently at other institutions). I hae developed my methods now to where it can be done in 36 weeks. I also managed to raise the scores of a refresher class by one full point into the 2+ and 3 territory in 15 days. I will not go into the technical details of that but it is sufficient for me to say that things like that are doable by NOT following the academic approach.
The language trainer that is needed for projects like that is a unique breed and I doubt that they are bred in the Middle East either. For language instructors to produce results they must be familiar with a wide range of fields and skills including psychology, motivation, communications, computer science, curriculum planning and development, knowledge of the Internet and technologies that can be used in the class room and above all fluent, level 5, knowledge (and cultural awarenes) of the English language and English-speaking people so that they can communicate freely with their students. My advice is to spend some of that money the President is authorizing on developing such teachers and teacher-training networks. The worst thing that can happen is for the money to end up in the hands of teachers' unions who still cannot produce kids who can read English from our public schools.

GREAT NEWS!

2006-01-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

LINGUISTIC NEED: A step in the right direction. "Lost amid the debate over English as America's 'official language' is the fact that foreign language study in U.S. schools and universities has been on the decline.
Not only has a serious shortage of linguists resulted, but some experts contend it poses national security issues in the wake of 9/11.
The Bush administration is seeking $114 million to boost foreign language study in fiscal 2007. Although this isn't a lot of money by federal standards, it is a step in the right direction, one that also should include granting more visas for foreign students to attend American schools.

Different countries of the world, particularly those that don't agree on very much, need to learn more about what makes each other tick. Language skills and rubbing shoulders with one another can only improve the channels of communication."

Arabic Program At University of Jordan

2006-01-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

Not a bad program and it seems that many people like it. I have friends go through it and never heard any complaints but I remember not being very impressed with the curriculum.

School Officials Propose Adding Arabic and Chinese - News - Arlington Connection - Connection Newspapers

2006-01-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

School Officials Propose Adding Arabic and Chinese - News - Arlington Connection - Connection Newspapers: Not a bad idea. The challenge will be having proper curriculums and enough trained instructors. "This fall Arlington middle school and high school students will be able to enroll in Arabic and Mandarin Chinese courses, and earn college credits, if the School Board approves a proposal it is set to vote on next week.
The school staff is recommending the two languages be taught in a countywide after-school program, to be held at a Northern Virginia Community College facility in Arlington and conducted by the college’s professors. "

Unfortunate

2006-01-12T22:45:00.000-07:00

WTOP: U.S. suspending publication of Arabic language magazine
This is a really unfortunate piece of news. I think the content of the magazine as well as the name 'Hi' should be changed. Hi is a word used by people who are considered the aristocracy and is looked down on by the people we really need to be changing. Give the magazine a stronger name, give it more daring and thought provoking content and you got a winner.

Perfect Pairs

2006-01-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

Is English the world’s oyster?: The following quote is interesting. While the need is great now for the Arabic/English pair due to the war on terror, I totally believe that knowledge of a third language always increases your value and effectiveness. I can see the need for the Arabic/Chinese or Arabic/Farsi skill or even Arabic/Russian. As the world grows and commercial ties increase knowledge of two or three languages will be your greatest asset. Here is the quote or you can click above to go to the full article which is very interesting.
"Huang You Yi, vice-president of the Chinese Translators Association, stressed that the greatest need was not for more English-speaking, but for more Spanish-proficient Chinese, due to the rapidly expanding trade ties with South America. For the same reason, he added, Arabic language skill would soon become equally important. The national television organisation CCTV has recently complemented its established English-speaking channel with a new one operating in French and Spanish. In 2004 German joined English, Japanese and Korean as a specialisation at the huge college where I taught. French, in particular, is likely to gain a strong following since France and China have just shared a Year of Cultural Friendship and signed an extensive economic and trade agreement."

Military Triples Its Spending on Arabic Language Acquisition

2005-04-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

ReutersU.S.

military seeks linguists to fight terrorism
Fri April 8, 2005 2:05 AM GMT+05:30
By Caroline Drees, Security Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military needs a new corps of linguists for the war on terrorism who can catch hidden meanings in a mix of dialects, even over a crackling cell phone line, a senior Pentagon official said on Thursday.

The "Defense Language Transformation Roadmap" announced last week is seeking to forge such language skills as well as greater regional knowledge, along with more basic language abilities among a broader section of the military, said David Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

"The secretary (of defense Donald Rumsfeld) for some time has been concerned that the department's linguistic capacity is not what it used to be," said Chu, referring to the Cold War when the military felt it had the skills it needed.

Chu told a small group of reporters at the Pentagon that during the Cold War, the military generally needed to be able to translate or understand fairly straightforward "order-of-battle information," such as military documents or commands spoken in standard dialects.

"What we recognize in the war on terror ... is (that) at least for some of our linguists, that's not good enough," he said. "If you're dealing with people speaking on cell phones, who are deliberately camouflaging what they have to say ... boy, you've got to be at a different (skill) level."

"It's not just straightforward 'where is the power station' kind of stuff," he added.

The Pentagon, CIA and other agencies have often bemoaned a shortage of linguists in Arabic and other "exotic languages" and said there was a backlog of material obtained by satellites, bugging and spies that needed translation.

Memories are still fresh of two messages intercepted from suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network on Sept. 10, 2001, that said, "Tomorrow is zero hour," and "The match begins tomorrow." They were translated on Sept. 11 and only given to policy-makers on Sept. 12.

ARABIC SPEAKERS WANTED

The Cold War focus on Russian and other Eastern European languages has given way to a need for speakers of Arabic, Persian, Pashto and other languages spoken in countries linked to the war on terrorism. Chinese and Korean are also gaining prominence.

As part of its efforts to beef up language skills, the Pentagon increased the budget of its language school by about $50 million in fiscal 2005 to $153 million. The 2006 budget requests an additional $45 million, with a further increase of $330 million projected from 2007 to 2010.

The military is also planning to offer incentive pay of up to $12,000 a year for language skills, link those skills to promotion and make them a requirement for officers, Chu said.

Announcing the major shift in its language training and recruitment policy last Thursday, the military said languages were now being considered as important as weapons systems.

The military is seeking to recruit staff from immigrant communities within the United States that speak the needed languages, while hiring and training non-native speakers to reach greater proficiency.

Chu said an Army program had already recruited about 200 people from Arabic, Pashto and Dari-speaking communities in the United States over the past two years, adding that 50 of the recruits were already deployed in the field.

Arabic language is in demand

2005-03-25T05:37:00.000-07:00

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Special for USA TODAY

Purdue University sophomore Brent Forgues is chasing an academic dream that was a rarity on this West Lafayette, Ind., campus just four years ago: He's determined to be a strong speaker of Arabic.

Foreseeing a career in journalism, Forgues, 20, hopes expertise in what he calls an "obscure" language will boost his marketability in a competitive industry.

To get there, he's mastering a new alphabet and lots of unfamiliar sounds alongside similarly ambitious students, from South Asian Muslims to Indiana natives in ROTC who often come to class in fatigues. To meet the demand, Purdue's program has ballooned from just two courses to 12 since fall 2003.

"As long as Purdue keeps adding Arabic classes, I'll keep taking them," Forgues says. "Everybody who's in this (Arabic 102) class now has an exact purpose in why they're taking it and how it will apply to their careers."

Across the USA, a surge of student curiosity about Arabic after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is maturing into a demand for more courses, especially upper-level classes as novices resolve to master the language. A full 73% of 640 Arabic-language students surveyed at 37 institutions in 2004 said they were "determined to achieve a level of proficiency in Arabic that would allow me to function in it comfortably in my professional activities," according to the National Middle East Language Resource Center at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Only a minority of students reach proficiency. One in four first-year students in the best programs eventually reach the third-year level, says center director R. Kirk Belnap. In weaker programs, he says, the dropout rate is even higher.

To meet the demand, schools that already offer Arabic are expanding old programs, creating new ones and scrambling, sometimes in vain, to find qualified teachers. Purdue relies on six grad students to teach its courses. Vermont's Middlebury College recruits from Syria and Egypt to staff its summer language program. Yet even with extra efforts, various constraints are making it a challenge for schools to keep up.

"More students have begun to realize they have to study it for a number of years to be really proficient," says William Mayers, coordinator of the Arabic Language School at Middlebury College's Sunderland Language Center.

"We get enough good applicants from the really high-caliber schools — and these are straight-A students — and a lot of them we're turning down because of limited space."

The numbers help show how interest in Arabic keeps growing. Enrollment in Arabic courses nationwide jumped from 5,500 to 10,600, a 92% increase, from 1998 to 2002, according to the most recent data from the Modern Language Association. Only American Sign Language boosted enrollments by a larger percentage in that time period. Since 2002, enrollments have climbed again by an estimated 15% to 25%, the Middle East language center says.

To keep pace, some institutions are beefing up what they offer on an advanced level. The Center for Advanced Proficiency in Arabic, the nation's first intensive program offered for a full academic year, opens this fall at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Middlebury College is expanding its summer program by about 10% this year and is planning to start offering third-year Arabic during the academic year as soon as this fall.

Yet with fewer than 10% of U.S. colleges offering any Arabic courses, some fear that higher-learning institutions on the whole aren't doing enough to adjust.

"Demand is there, but they're not offering (courses) because of budgetary constraints or whatever," Belnap says. "These are very curious things in a time when your country is clamoring for more foreign-language expertise."

Though many people study Arabic to enhance careers in business or government, a good 20% are "heritage speakers" with a purely cultural or personal interest, says Mahmoud al-Batal, director of the Center for Arabic Study Abroad and an Arabic professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

As Muslim-Americans who pray and read their holy scriptures in Arabic, Batal says, they sometimes bring a sense of purpose that goes beyond any economic quest.

"They see themselves as a bridge to connect people and cultures of the Arab world with the American public," Batal says. "And they see the language piece as critical to achieve this goal."

Finally, My First Book Is Done!

2005-03-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

This book might as well be my baby! Nine full months of non-stop work, design, and a very hard labor. I realized last year while working for the Department of Defense that our military students of Arabic lack a real resource they can use to prepare for their Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT). Something that they can use when they have no access to the Internet or when they don't want to travel far for a refresher course or even when they don't have the resources to prepare for a refresher course. Many of our National Guard don't even have abundant resources to prepare for the test other than the six hours a month that their local unit provides, which is by no means sufficient to prepare. ACE The DLPT, Arabic Edition was created to fill that void. It is a book and a companion CD you can take with you wherever you go and use to conveniently prepare for the test. You can purchase the book at Global Language System's website and use this companion blog as a resource while you prepare for the test. On this blog I will have news relating to the Arabic Language, links to websites that I suggest students use while preparing for the test or working on their Arabic plus a multitude of other thing related to the language. I hope that you will enjoy the experience!