cook (verb)
death
drug (noun)
eye (noun)
cool (adjective)
December
dry
face (noun)
copper
deep
dust (noun)
fall (season)
corn
diamond
ear
fall (verb)
corner (noun)
die (verb)
Earth
family
count (verb)
dig (verb)
east
famous
country (United States, Spain)
dinner
eat (verb)
fan (electric)
court
direction
edge
fan (sport)
cow
dirty
egg
farm (noun)
crowd (noun)
disease
eight
fast
cry (verb)
doctor
eighteen
father
cup
dog
eighty
February
curved
dollar
election
feed (verb)
cut (verb)
door
electronics
female
dance (verb)
dot
eleven
fifteen
fifth (5th)
fourteen
grow (verb)
horse
fifty
fourth (4th)
gun
hospital
fight (verb)
Friday
hair
hot
find (verb)
friend
half
hotel
finger
front
hand
hour
fire (noun)
game
hang (verb)
house
first (1st)
garden
happy
human
fish (noun)
gasoline
hard
hundred
five
gift
hat
husband
flat (adjective)
girl
he
I
floor
glass
head
ice
flower
go (verb)
healthy
image
fly (verb)
God
hear (a sound)
inch
follow (verb)
gold
heart
injury
food
good
heat (noun)
inside
foot (body part)
grandfather
heaven
instrument (musical)
foot (measurement)
grandmother
heavy
island
forest
grass
hell
it
fork
gray
high
January
forty
green
hill
job
four
ground
hole
juice
APPENDIX 6:
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK WITH YOUR CLASSROOM LANGUAGE
COURSE
My goal throughout this book is to show you how to learn a language on your own. But what if you’re
already enrolled in a language class? Many of my recommendations are at odds with standard
classroom fare: I’m not a big fan of translation exercises, and I don’t think that endless grammar drills
are a great use of your time. So should you quit? Sit in the back and secretly make flash cards? Hand
your teacher this book and demand that they redesign their class accordingly?
Or is there something to be gained from standard classroom language courses?
In the first chapter of this book, I made a claim: no one can give you a language; you have to take it
for yourself. I stand by that claim. No language course will teach you a language on its own, nor will
any
grammar book, tutor, girlfriend, or computer program. Every language-learning
resource is just
that: a resource. In the end,
you have to take those resources, wrap your brain around them, and turn
them into a living language.
So, while I think that there are some things that can be
improved in typical classroom courses, I
think the exact same thing about typical grammar books and dictionaries and phrase books. Hell, there
are a few things that could be improved in Google Images and Anki, for that matter.
What About “Bad” Classes?
If you
don’t particularly like your teacher or your class, then there’s no reason to stay in it (unless it’s required, in which case you
can probably pass out of it on your own). Just keep one thing in mind: you may discover that you enjoy language classes
much
more once you start using flash cards to remember everything anyone says. Try that out, and if you still dislike your class, then
drop it and study on your own.
But I’ve never told you to
throw away your grammar book, and I’m not going to tell you to quit
your language class.
23
Quite
the opposite, in fact: as long as your teacher is any good and you’re
enjoying yourself, your class is a
wonderful resource. Stay in it. It’s like a walking, talking grammar
book. Every time you show up, you’re exposed to a bunch of new
grammar rules and example
sentences, you hear words and sentences spoken aloud and acted out, you get to try out new patterns
in spoken and written exercises, and you even get corrected homework assignments and tests (both of
which are
pure grammatical gold, from my perspective).
When you’re in a class, your primary goal should be to take the information you receive and stick it
into your own head. Use illustrated flash cards. If you encounter a new grammar rule, get some
example sentences (if need be, ask your teacher) and create flash cards accordingly, so that you never
forget the rules. If you get corrections on your homework assignments, turn
those into flash cards, so
that you don’t make the same mistakes ever again.
If you do this, and if you review those flash cards on a daily basis, you’ll find that you progress
much faster than your peers. Your class is going to get very easy, and as a result, you’ll have more
time to devote to your own, personal language goals—learning vocabulary, reading books, watching
TV, and so on—while your language class continues to spoon feed you information.
Whenever I’m taking a class and there’s a wireless Internet connection handy (for accessing
Google Images), I’ll often take my notes directly into Anki. I’ll make flash
cards for everything we
discuss, and within a few weeks, I’ll have memorized basically every word the teacher has ever said.
This strategy makes you feel
really, really clever, and it’s a great way to use your classroom time
efficiently. When you know how to teach yourself a language, a good language class is a true luxury;
savor every minute of it.
23.
To be fair, I suppose I
did tell you to throw away your grammar book, but only if it used
bawn-JURE-style pronunciation entries.