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Vision for an Intensive Institute for Foreign Language Learning Skills
Let me describe my vision for what I hope would be a very special kind of institute for the intensive study of foreign
languages. I do not believe that there are overly many intensive language institutes in the world, and so another place
where foreign languages can be learned in a very serious fashion should be a useful and successful enterprise even if it
did not have any particularly distinctive features. However, the kind of place that I envision does have a very distinctive
characteristic, and that is this: to the best of my knowledge, in all other intensive institutes, language schools, and
university language departments, the focus is upon teaching students specific languages. In my institute, the focus
will be different, for students will come not to be taught specific languages, but rather to learn language learning skills
so that they can better teach themselves languages. As they learn how to be better language learners, they will also,
naturally and of necessity, learn their specific target language all the more effectively.
The main hurdles and difficulties faced by people who are independent-minded enough to conceive of engaging in the
self-study of languages are: that they do not know what all their study options are; that even faced with a full selection
of materials for language study, they would not know how to choose the ones that are best suited for their style of learning;
that even once they had chosen a set of materials, they would not know the techniques to use them most effectively; and that
even if they knew how to use them effectively, they would not know how to establish and carry out a regimented study schedule.
The heart and core of my institute will be a truly comprehensive language learning resource center that holds every
imaginable kind of language learning material. The institute will be staffed by a faculty not only of native-speaking
conversational instructors, but also of polyglots, that is, people who have actually learned lots of languages themselves
and who therefore know intimately and from the inside out what it is like to do so. Their primary task will be to guide
students in the selection and use of materials in the resource center so that they can successfully and effectively teach
themselves languages.
Thus, students will come to this institute to learn a specific language, just as they would at another intensive
institute, but as the focus will be upon teaching it to themselves, at the same time they learn the language, they will also
learn the transferable skill of how to teach themselves languages, which will naturally be of great value for the eventual
future study of other languages.
To whom should this appeal? What kind of student will want to come here? The institute ought to become known and
respected as a center for intensive foreign language study, such that anyone who wants and needs to focus on learning a
language for a while ought to consider the option of coming here. As the focus is upon developing independent study skills
of life-long value, when those who need to learn a specific language at the moment have this option presented to them, a
certain portion of potential students ought to find this notion inherently attractive. Apart from those who are intrigued
by the possibility of the idea in and of itself, there will also be those who feel a need for and attraction to the idea once
it is proposed to them on the practical grounds of temporal economy.
Many people who need to learn a language are not able to budget months at a time away from their normal lives in order to
focus exclusively upon doing so, as is necessary to attend other intensive study centers. As the main focus of my institute
will be the selection of self-study materials and the provision of guidance in their use, I envision a relatively short-term
intensive formal core course of approximately one month's duration in which students can get established in a study routine
of effective techniques for the use of appropriate materials. After this, they will not need to stay at the institute, but
can profitably continue studying on their own in any location. Thus, this course should also serve well as a pre-departure
orientation for students about to embark upon a period of immersion and study abroad so as to prepare them to get maximum
linguistic profit from this experience.
Together with the short-term option of learning better study techniques and habits in a month-long course, the institute
will of course also offer the mid-term option of staying on to study for several months or even years so as to focus upon
attaining more advanced skills in one or more languages. Indeed, it is at this level and in this regard that the special
character of this institute will become more apparent, for those students who wish to study multiple foreign languages either
simultaneously or sequentially will receive all the support and encouragement that they need in order to so. Apart from
being able to take advantage of the special intense atmosphere of the institute and its resource center, mid-term students
will of course also have protracted regular opportunities to converse individually with native-speaking tutors. Furthermore,
once they reach an intermediate level, as a most efficacious means of progressing towards more advanced skills, they will be
encouraged to participate in reading and discussion circles in their target languages, the reading matter consisting of
classic works of "Great Books" caliber.
It is my hope and expectation that, particularly among the already academically minded mid-term students, a group will
emerge who will share the educational ideals and research interests of the new scholarly discipline that I tentatively call
"Polyglottery," and who will want to stay on at the institute for long-term degree programs in that field as described below.
This is my vision. I would be very happy to hear from like-minded scholars who would be interested in collaborating
in such an endeavor, as well as from business or government agencies that can see the value of such an undertaking and would
be interested in supporting a feasibility study for the most appropriate geographic location for the center. I would be
happiest of all to hear from colleges, universities, or other educational establishments that would be interested in hosting
this kind of institute as an auxiliary language-learning resource center where their students could receive the guidance,
support, and discipline that they need in order to develop into independent life-long language learners.
Call for Students
Caliber of Students Sought
I seek serious students with experience in learning foreign languages to study with me in person.
Are you
- an academic, a language teacher, a foreign service agent, a mature homeschooler, or anyone else who
appreciates the hard work involved in studying languages?
- highly motivated to begin intensive language study?
- eager to improve your abilities in a target language and learn transferable skills for teaching yourself
other languages in the future?
- interested in a holistic system of learning language that exists outside the passive,
controlling structure of a classroom?
- looking for inspiration and structure from an experienced polyglot?
- ready to be amazed by your own ability to learn a language in a short period of time?
I am instituting a foreign language academy that builds on my decade-long experience teaching "The Effective Study of
Foreign Languages," a college linguistics tutorial. Many students of this course have contacted me years after their
graduation to say this tutorial comprised their most valuable undergraduate educational experience.
I am now ready to present all the knowledge from that course in a small group format that offers the necessary
intensity, focus, and systematic regularity students require to learn languages effectively and efficiently.
I will not instruct students in a specific language. Rather, I will teach students how to teach themselves
a language.
Proposed Course of Study
One month of training with me will include the following:
- an analytical review of all available study materials and a selection of the most appropriate ones for you;
- instruction in the most effective techniques for using these materials;
- prescription of a variegated study regimen for implementing those techniques;
- personal instruction and coaching for approximately two hours each day to ensure that the regimen is implemented
correctly and that a habit of systematic and effective study is formed; and
- daily, individual assignments to further promote and develop language study skills.
Application
If you are interested in the intensive development of foreign language study skills or any other kind of customized course of study with me, these will be available at the Regional Language Centre in Singapore beginning in the summer of 2010. Please do not write directly to me about this, but rather to Ms. Regina Chin at
In your letter of introduction, please provide her with the following detailed information so that she can organize cohesive groups of like-minded students for the most efficient instruction:
- your language learning experience,
- your current language learning goals,
- your desired timeframe to begin your study.
Testimonials of Past Students
~ Aidin Debaleh - Berlitz school teacher of Persian, Dari, Azerbaijani, and Turkish; worked on English and Arabic with
Alexander 2006-2008
I met Alexander at New College of California just after he arrived from Lebanon and I signed up for his Middle Eastern
Consciousness great books class. Because of his strong character and his multilingual abilities, I was encouraged to
improve my own language and learn others. Although I was raised in a bilingual family in a multilingual society,
later, when I tried to learn English and Arabic, it took me a long time to master, and I was frustrated during the
learning process. Surprisingly, though, in the last two years I have become a language teacher at one of the world's
top language schools: knowing Alexander and being a student of his in his language classes enabled me to
achieve this position.
The fact that Alexander speaks so many languages and, through his own learning process, has invented
a unique system of language learning, removes the traditional pain and anxiety of learning a foreign language. With his
method one not only learns how to speak another language, but one is also able to improve one's language reading
skills. I can say that no matter what my level was or what experience I had had in language learning, studying with
Alexander opened the door to learning all my foreign language more effectively.
From him I learned how to be self-correcting, how to take control of my own learning process, and how
to create right habits and techniques. He also awakened my curiosity to learn different languages. Alexander is a very
detail oriented and enthusiastic language coach, and he works individually with each student dealing with their own
particular problems, regardless of their level. After learning his method, I can use it for my own life and for my career.
After studying with Alexander, I improved enough and gained the courage to teach English and other languages to
students from all over the world. His method can be applied universally, and it has been working very well in my
own language classes.
~ Justin Syren, University of California, Berkeley Architecture student - Italian, Spring 2008:
I came to Alexander after two semesters of studying Italian every day in a college level program. After studying for two
semesters, I was disappointed and frustrated with my general lack of progress in being able to converse and comprehend
successfully in Italian. I had read an entire college textbook, learned the grammatical rules of the language, and
developed a foundational vocabulary, yet I still lacked to ability to speak and comprehend confidently in
Italian.
The shadowing technique was a new concept for me, strange and awkward at first. I had never had the confidence of
speaking correctly or making the proper sounds, I could barely read and write, and certainly had no ability to
actually converse in Italian. The concept of "walking and talking" may sound and look simple, but it took a lot of
coaching and correcting from Alexander for me to get the technique down right. After a few weeks, however,
he trained me to do it with the right speed, posture, and volume, and I began to feel a real change in my ability
to make foreign sounds and for the first time felt comfortable doing it. This style of learning makes so much more
sense to me now that I've really felt it work and as I begin to develop a real comprehension of Italian.
I've come to understand that meaningful foreign language learning begins with developing the physical sound and
the confidence of speaking, not the grammatical rules from an overpriced textbook.
When I met Alexander I was immediately drawn to his enthusiasm and zeal for foreign languages, as well as a greater
and genuine desire for knowledge and intellectual pursuit. He possesses a unique energy that seems to rub off on
those around him. Not only did he give me a second chance at learning Italian, but a newer, greater desire to learn
and strive for knowledge.
~ Brenden Hamilton, Filmmaker, San Francisco, California - Spanish, Dine Navajo, and Japanese, 2007/2008
Alexander is a true scholar. When I began studying with him I quickly realized that, although considered well
read by my peers, friends, and family, in fact, relative to Alexander, I was illiterate. But don't be intimidated:
Alexander is a master teacher, the one you have been dreaming to find if you seek to learn the secrets of language
learning: he is intelligent, wise, funny, kind, compassionate, disciplined, and has a mighty enthusiasm for teaching.
Before meeting Alexander I had never heard of nor imagined the possibility of polyglottery, but I always had a love of
languages and a thirst for knowledge. Speaking two or three languages was impressive to me, 10 to 20 languages was mind
blowing. Alexander's language teaching has empowered me with the tools to be my own language teacher. Today doing my
language walks by myself I can still hear Alexander coaching in the back of my mind. He teaches the
way to practice language perfectly - holistically writing, reading, and speaking.
Alexander's teaching bestowed language consciousness upon me. He teaches Language with a capital L. Now I can hear and
see the difference between Korean and Cantonese and I can appreciate the differences between Dine and Lakota.
Thanks to my study with him I have come to truly enjoy listening out for the variety of sounds and intonations
in different languages as I overhear them, and I thank him profusely for curing my deafness to this whole range
of human experience.
Alexander's holistic approach to the study of language helped me to overcome the bashfulness and embarrassment of speaking a
foreign language out loud in public, which, for me, was one of the hardest things to overcome. With the help of
Alexander's teaching and methods I love nothing more then making a fool of myself attempting to speak foreign
languages with native speakers! Because, as they say, "if you want to learn to swim, you gotta get wet!" I am very thankful
for this lesson because engaging foreigners in their native tongue has only resulted in great laughs, good times, and new
friendships for me.
I have never been a great student nor am I that bright, and yet with Alexander's methods and guidance, I have attained a
working knowledge of Japanese writing, reading and speaking, I can speak some Dine, I have improved my spoken Spanish, and
even my English, which I used to think I spoke fluently, but now I use his methods to expand my knowledge of my native
tongue.
Studying with Alexander actually made me smarter. I come from an athletic background, and on our marathon language hikes
along the wooded fire trails that he uses for his "classroom," Alexander would remind me often that the brain is a muscle.
Learning a language is like sports conditioning - if you go to the gym and don't know what you are doing you will
inevitably hurt yourself and not get any stronger, but if you get yourself a good coach to guide you, you will
inevitably get faster and stronger. The study of language is no different. The better the coach, the better the results.
Shadowing may look and sound easy - just walk and talk - but it is an exercise or a discipline like any other,
and I had to practice it for weeks with Alexander, having him prompt and suggest and correct and nag me to do it
right in order to get it down. Shadowing at the wrong pace and with bad posture and incorrect volume is still a lot more
effective and a lot more fun than studying languages in any other way I have ever experienced, but I only
began to make real progress, like 10x faster, after I got it down right, and I never could have done this without
practicing it under his direct guidance.
I truly believe that Alexander has figured out the science of language learning. Studying with him empowered me,
enlightened my mind. He can do this with you one on one, like he did with me, but he has even better ideas for a
full-blown language academy. As I recall the general idea was to have a campus almost like a monastery on a
hill, a retreat center where students of any age with a desire to do really serious language work could come and
study.
We talked a lot about a program for college-age kids looking for a real tour of the humanities. The first year would
be extremely but not excessively disciplined, like boot camp for scholars. Lots of language hikes, lots of reading and
writing. Perhaps work in an organic garden for meals held together in a common dinning hall. Lectures from professors
and research homework, the reading of great books, the first year would be mostly focused on ingraining self-discipline
in the students. The second year would be more language, more lecture and discussion, and guided study in the fields of
interest to the individual student. I always imagined a decent library and study area, but again very monk-like in the
rooms and sleeping accommodation for the students.
It would be a place of great prestige desiring to form young men and women with skills to do real and noble work in academia
and beyond. It would have an international feel, native languages wouldn't matter, in fact the more the variety,
the better for all the students, because then they would have more opportunities for speaking practice on campus.
It is a beautiful idea for a school. A new kind of school, molding students to be catalysts for a new
renaissance - may it be!
~ Amanda Smiles, Social Worker, San Francisco, California - Spanish, Fall 2007:
When I read about Alexander's language class, I was eager to see if his method could work for me. I was terrified of
losing all the progress I had made in Peru and, in truth, by the time I had started the class I had lost 70% of what I
gained abroad. The method, however, worked wonders for me! Even after my first children's book I could feel Spanish
swirling around in my head like it did in Peru. I would wake up with random Spanish words and phrases in my mind and find
myself eagerly listening into others' conversations in Spanish (and understanding). Several Spanish books later I could see a
marked improvement and when I went back to listen and read the first book I shadowed I could understand it in total. I
retained what I had learned!
What makes this method so successful to me, and what I learned about my relationship with foreign languages, is that
I need to learn a language in its living form... when I think back to the language learning methods that have worked for me,
Alexander's method and being in Peru, I realize that both required me to see the language as a whole.
This class has been life-altering in the way I view and relate to learning languages. Not only have I learned a method that I
can and will use throughout my life and language learning career, I also learned that it is okay not to learn by the
methods taught in school. More importantly, I learned that it isn't me who is inept at learning the Spanish language,
that it was simply the way I was learning. That's a comforting thought for someone who was ready to give up.
Detailed Proposal for a Full Program of Study in Polyglottery
Under construction 22 April 2009
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