Andrea,
 

>> I don't know if I

> told you--it was her  

> idea to come to the US, her family wanted her to

> stay closer to  

> home.  She is a forward thinker.<<


What makes her a forward thinker? Her wanting to come
to the US? Her saying no to her family? Her wanting to
learn English? Just curious, because "forward" and
"backward" are such charged words... and very
culturally defined.

Regards
Ujwala



> 

> Andrea :)

> 

> On Oct 23, 2008, at 3:47 PM, Steve Kaufmann wrote:

> 

> > Andrea,

> >

> > Your Thai student is highly educated.

> Unfortunately, if she has  

> > been at English for a long time, she has probably

> had a lot of  

> > explanation and correction and they may not help

> her break old  

> > habits and form new habits.

> >

> > I suggest she continue her intensive listening

> activities using her  

> > mp3 player wherever she goes.

> >

> > She should also listen to short paragraphs and

> read them to herself  

> > at the same time. Then she should try to read

> those short  

> > paragraphs out loud, imitating the intonation,

> even if she gets a  

> > few words wrong. In other words focus on

> intonation as a means of  

> > getting more in  tune with the language. She can

> even try this for  

> > short phrases. She should work on intonation as a

> priority.

> >

> > She need not play back her sound, nor should you

> correct her too  

> > much. She needs to get used to hearing the sounds

> and intonation  

> > better. The key is to get her to observe and

> notice the language  

> > better.

> >

> > Her attitude is crucial. She should think that she

> is doing fine.  

> > She needs to feel that she can do it, that she can

> train her brain  

> > to pronounce more accurately as long as she is

> determined enough  

> > and believes in herself.

> >

> > I have another suggestion that she may not agree

> with but which I  

> > think would help. She should try to learn another

> language, say  

> > Spanish. Please read my recent blog post on the

> power of language  

> > cross training. If you go to this link you can see

> the large degree  

> > of agreement that I received in the comments

> section. A little  

> > effort at Spanish may open up her language

> learning mind. It is a  

> > new language and a new challenge. It may seem like

> a distraction  

> > but could help her achieve her goals.

> > ......................

> > I have taken a few days break from Russian to work

> on Italian and  

> > German in preparation for my trip. After a two day

> break, now when  

> > I go back to Russian I hear it more clearly, I

> notice words and  

> > endings better. I am better at it, or at least so

> it seems. I have  

> > noticed this tendency before.

> >

> > I think that language cross training works. I

> think everyone at  

> > LingQ should spend 10- 20% of their time on a

> minor language in  

> > order to get better results at their major

> language.I believe that  

> > it stretches the brain, refreshes it, challenges

> it, and make the  

> > brain better fit and more eager to engage the

> major target language  

> > again.

> >

> > Any thoughts on language cross training? Has

> anyone had similar  

> > experiences?

> >

> >

> >

> > Steve

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

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> >

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