Following interest in Michel Thomas' work on Twitter, here is my Guardian article of 1997 Download Mtscan
The BBC programme is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0w_uYPAQic
Applying Michel's techniques in school is not possible without considerable adaptations, some of which he specifically rejected. An attempt has been made with Spanish, and has had some success, but it really was not a direct replication of what we see in his lessons. Unlike the adults we hear on his disks, children are still in the intermediate stages of learning their own language. It helps them engage all areas of their brain if they write as well as talk, and Michel specifically excludes writing - though see his response when I showed him Clicker. Michel's lessons are individual, and children are taught in classes. My approach, in the ppt Eliminating Failure in Language Learning, was developed along similar lines in work with children assessed as dyslexic, some years before I met Michel, and published by U Strasbourg in 1995. It was highly successful in Hackney primary schools, and was the foundation of the current national curriculum for languages.
For evidence on the closee proximity and shared areas of the brain used in processing written and spoken language, see Dr Matt Davis, Brain Systems for Language Learning, Languages Today, 13, Spring 2013. For evidence on the operation of the brain as it learns, see Stanislas Dehaine,Collège de France, Apprendre, reviewed here
Updates, A note on Greek,(Hara Garoufalia Middle and Howard Middle) relevant to teachers of German.
I've long been interested in Michel Thomas' approach to languages and have started Greek. Its relevance to teaching German is that the teacher (not MT, who knew no Greek) starts by demonstrating and having students make very simple positive and negative sentences with neuter nouns - I want/dont want a sandwich/ouzo/glass of wine. The term neuter is not introduced at this stage. Only after this has been practised a lot, with a small number of verbs, does he introduce a feminine (beer, salad). Neuter and Feminine are explained at this point, and only after that has been practised several times does the teacher introduce a masculine. It strikes me that this could apply equally to German - first the idea of using German words instead of English when that is the only thing to think about, then Feminine, which of course does not change in the accusative, but has die instead of das, and only then masculine. Produces a measured and accessible cognitive load, and could well avoid a lot of confusion. Thoughts appreciated, particularly if anyone is interested in trying this with a new class.
Half-way through the fourth disk of this course, I'm finding that the sentence structures, positive and negative, are clear, and that an additional finding in Matt Davis' paper cited above, that words that are shared or nearly shared between languages are easier to learn, is consistently true. Using transiliteration, periodico, periodical, is very easy, as is sandrwitch. Sichna, usually took me three days to recall. I have had similar problems with unfamiliar English words. We have a painting of hellebores by the artist Kay Elliott. It took me several months to learn and remember the name. As soon as I'd learned it, I'd forget it, much to my wife's amusement. This is another of Kay's pictures (not hellebores). We have over 20 of them.
Intlo 5th CD, I'm finding that continuous use of the same small selection of words to build sentences, with no more than one or two new words per session, forces me to use them in context, with correct endings, and takes away much of the stress of trying to remember vocab. Each session is 8-9 mins hard work - I really have to concentrate hard each time, but am begiinning to operate more quickly and confidently. All verbs in singualar so far, with neg and present and future tenses. Want, wait, understand, know, to be, have, arrive, leave, eat, drink, watch, read, go, hurt. Where there is no link with English, a mnemonic is used. Any link doesn't have to be similar meaning - eg in Greek, panda means always. So there is always a hook to hang something on, even if there are few cognates.
CD7. A teaching technique. Before introducing a new element, T throws out some very easy qs, which P answers confidently and without effort. Then just one new thing at a time, grafted onto this prior knowledge, explained and practised, with a mnemonic if needed. Anticipates cognitive load theory, memory devpt, and consistent with Dehaene's idea of modifying hypotheses.Brilliant. Put student completely at ease, then just add a little. Over time, it works. Example - T. How dos you say I am? P. (transliteration) Imé. T: I was is imun. Imun. How would you say I was in the park? P. Imun sto parco. Michl can fairly be said to be a man before his time.
CD8. Mostly practice with accusative case, future and simple constructions, incl word order. Then intro to alphabet.
Overall, this course builds confidence that a person can learn and express simple positive and negative thoughts in Greek, and succeed in learning the language. First-class work by the authors and further evidence that this approach works with languages that MT did not himself speak. I've had simlar experiences with Mandarin and Arabic, as well as using his Spanish in 2005, when I needed to learn the language quickly in order to use it in Hackney primary schools. Highly recommended.
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