Posted by:
cuzx
(
)
Date: June 28, 2020 12:27PM
I was in the LTM (Language Training Mission) in the spring of 1975. Our district was selected to focus on Spanish language lessons, although it was a poorly designed curriculum, instead of memorizing the charlas (discussions). We only had to memorize charla C, the first vision, etc.
Once in Argentina, we continued these language lessons with our senior companions, about archaic and uninteresting topics, for about three months. Near the end of the training period, they did an evaluation and apparently dropped the experiment in its entirety. In fact, the discussions didn't come any easier and it still took me about three months before I really began to understand native speakers.
Learning Spanish and meeting Argentine people were the best parts of my mission. It definitely shaped my career path as I taught secondary Spanish and some English as a second language for thirty years in California and Utah. Between BYU and my teaching career, I also did a stint as an Army linguist in another language.
Before I retired, there was a major push in my school district to use TPRS (teaching proficiency through reading and story telling) as it had evolved from the earlier TPR (total physical response or using physical movement to react to verbal input). At that point, I was not a fan of completely abandoning the textbook, as hard core proponents of TPRS proposed.
I'm really curious what other folks here have experienced, whether successfully or otherwise with language learning programs, be it through the MTC, public education, online learning, etc.
Cuz X