Language acquisition through conversation: enjoy learning!
What renders Charisma Communication’s professional development program unique with respect to other language courses is its approach. With Charisma Communication, language lessons are entirely based on conversation. Each session has the feeling of an informal meeting rather than an academic exercise.
This is how it works: a basic linguistic principle is presented, allowing for its assimilation through a conversation which is guided by the instructor. Through their engagement in the conversation, the participants absorb the linguistic rules within their own mental schemas. Indeed, it’s way that we learned our native language as children: by playing. Best of all, you begin to see results after a relatively short period of time.
Learning language with pleasure
Research has shown that the more pleasure one finds in performing a task, the less resistant the mind is towards learning it. The subject matter then freely penetrates into the deepest layers of the subconscious mind.
Our language lessons are entirely based on conversation, giving each session the feeling of an informal meeting rather than an academic exercise. In each lesson a basic linguistic principle is presented, allowing for its assimilation through a guided conversation. Individuals engage in the conversation and develop their own styles of expression, absorbing the given rules within their own mental schemas through the process.
How the language instruction unfolds
The pupil listens, speaks, reads, writes and holds a conversation within a two hour lesson.
Objectives: the pupil uses the language of study to:
- Listen and understand the content of the lesson topic
- Speak using the vocabulary selected for the lesson
- Write using the selected vocabulary and applying the new grammatical rules taught on the basis of the spoken language
- Read out loud, revise and improve the written language
- Hold a conversation with various individuals using colloquial language
I. Formal Instrucion: (about 60 min.)
Pupils receive a 5 page study packet which they will insert in a three ring binder subsequently building their own study book. The first page contains the topic question which constitutes the theme of the lesson and of the dialogue. The topic question will be used to solicit a response from each pupil present.
The first page also contains the vocabulary list selected for the lesson with translations in Italian. Pupils will listen to spoken examples of the vocabulary with the native language pronunciation and will respond by using the same vocabulary. The use of the vocabulary will be integrated with the grammatical objectives to be studied. They are elaborated upon on pages 2 and 3 of the packet. During this period the pupils can ask the teacher questions, in English or in Italian. Afterwards, the teacher will do a read aloud of the text found on page n. 4 in order to demonstrate how the vocabulary and the grammatical objectives are used colloquially in the written language.
II. Collaborative Work – Conversation: (about 60 min.)
The pupils conduct guided conversations with one another in arranged groups during this period. This comprises the heart of the lesson: pupils conduct a conversation using the topic question, the related vocabulary and the grammar studied during the same lesson. At the end of each conversation, each individual will write a summary of what was discussed. In the meantime the teacher will check each individual’s work.
The pupils will read their work out loud to recap the contents of the lesson and in order to have any further questions clarified. Finally, they will then listen to a popular song while following the song’s text on page no. 5, familiarizing themselves even further with the colloquial language treated in the lesson topic. They will also be able to see the video and study the language at home by using the discussion forum.
III. The Online Discussion Forum
Further analysis of the song’s text and video will be part of the online meeting which pupils will conduct on the Charisma Communication Discussion Forum. The students will write a summary of the video as well as a brief recap of what they discussed in class in English on the same discussion page. The forum allows students to post their work and to exchange ideas based on the topic studied. The teacher will also moderate and respond to the comments made on the forum while aiming to enhance learning for the whole group.
