A few weeks ago, we have been talking about reading & listening. Today we will discover how to learn to speak Italian & Italian writing! Are you ready?
SOME SCIENTIFIC INFO
There are three things that you have to know. There is a so-called ‘period of silence’: a period, usually at the very beginning of language acquisition, during which the learner does not even attempt to speak. There is a hypothesis of “monitor”: if you are a monitor over-user you probably are too concerned and focused on correctness that you can’t speak with any real fluency. And a “forgetting hypothesis” (similar to the “flow experience”): the moment when students forget that they are studying in another language.
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LEARN TO SPEAK ITALIAN
After defining the theoretical framework, we move on to practice! First of all, when you start to think in Italian, you are ready to speak “fluently”; when you see an object and you remember only the Italian form for it, it means you are “ripe” enough to speak Italian pretty fluently. I can hear you telling: “But how, how???”. I know, let me explain : ) You need to practice. Practice with a language learning buddy, talk to a native speaker, hearing music, movies, TV, people; imitate the native speaker; participate to conversations that deeply involve you; get to know as many people as possible; listen to things you know very well; record yourself and listen to it.
ITALIAN WRITING
It is generally a disaster trying to motivate my students to write. It was very difficult and disheartening. So I studied some strategies to make writing motivating. Pictures, patterns, games were the props on which I built the “house” of writing. Writing in a second language forces you to cope with your linguistic gaps. It makes you understand how little vocabulary you know. To master your writing skills you need, primarily, to read in the second language as much as possible. You also need to read over and over again your writing, and it is better after a period of decantation, looking for errors in stratified ways: grammar, spelling, connectors, etc.
SUMMING UP
To know more, read also mind to mouth, starting to speak, connectors to speak and master writing! And what about your strategies? Do you have any effective ones? Let us know and share them with others!
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