The Method

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My Linguistics Method

A method founded on 40 years of experience and loved by students worldwide. Conceptualized and created in Switzerland, the method has been used to teach thousands of students languages worldwide.

  • Fast and efficient
  • Dynamic and fun
  • Rethink the traditional class
  • Focused on practicing speech
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Method, my Linguistics, Genèva
Course Features
  • Conversational exercises
  • Listening comprehension
  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Spelling
  • Pronunciation
  • Songs
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What you’ll use

The method provides carefully structured exercises to help students develop their vocabulary and sentence structures innately. Students are not taught formal grammar but instead trained to acquire it naturally. They might not know the rules, but they will be able to recognize if a sentence is correct or not.

  • My Linguistics method is one of the fastest ways to acquire a new language and gain confidence in your target language.
  • It is also an excellent tool to gain the language level needed to pass language exams at levels A1, A2, B1, B2, and C1 for exams such as IELTS &TOEFL.
  • It can be used as a stand-alone method or combined with other exercises.

The method – Rethink the traditional language class

From changing the traditional classroom format to rethinking exercises, the method takes a different approach to conventional language teaching. Discover a few.

Students work in groups of two or three.

Traditional classrooms are composed of a single teacher facing a class. A teacher may spend 50 percent, or more, of a lesson speaking. In a class of 10 students, each student may only talk for 3 minutes, if not less. It is hardly conceivable for a student to speak effectively in these conditions.

The heart of the method lies in organizing the class into small groups. Students use course materials and recordings to guide them through each lesson. The teacher becomes a facilitator or trainer, making their way around the different groups. As such, students spend 35 % of the class speaking, and when interacting with a teacher, the advice offered is much more personalized.

When learning a second language, it is necessary to hear, see and use words to acquire them. 

Students are unlikely to remember new words or sentence structure by simply seeing them a couple of times and not returning to them. Traditional methods, based on memorization exercises, will expose students to large quantities of new information. Students discover new vocabulary once or twice before progressing to new materials. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to learn like this. Students are given the impression that they have learned something but will often find that they cannot recall or use what they were taught after a day or so.

My Linguistics method presents new materials recurrently as the student progresses. This is to say that content, such as vocabulary and grammar, will be repeated as the course progresses and provided to students in different forms. In this way, the students have recurrent opportunities to retain what they are being presented with.

Students need to be involved in the content to retain what is being taught. Students need to discover content pertinent to them and their daily use. Students will not learn to speak or retain information by studying content they aren’t likely to use! 

To help students, the exercises they do are not exercises in the strict sense of the term but rather short, guided conversations. This is another reason why students always work with a partner.

The method is built on extensive research of what content language learners likely need. While total beginners may want to write and speak at an academic level, this is unlikely before they build certain foundations. Predictably though, people need to order food, call a doctor to schedule an appointment, introduce themselves to others and ask others about themselves, etc. Considering this, we provide materials adapted to students’ levels and adapted to their objectives.

Students are introduced to more complicated vocabulary and sentence structures at more advanced levels in the method. Free-flowing conversational exercises also give students more autonomy to explore the vocabulary most penitent to their unique background.

The course materials contain recordings that students listen to and replicate. The recordings are all created with real people speaking at a natural pace with natural intonations, as opposed to computer-generated voices. Students learn to understand native speakers speaking at a natural rhythm.

For students to understand native speakers and be able to pronounce words well, they need to hear and repeat them at a natural pace. The pronunciation of words does not result from words spoken separately as units but rather as a combination of the words immediately before and after them. These change stress, intonation, and rhythm of a sentence. 

To build good pronunciation and comprehension, students must hear voices speaking at a natural rhythm and hear different accents.

To learn, students must make mistakes. If a student isn’t making any mistakes, then the course is probably not adapted to their current level. If the student is not making mistakes because they are not speaking, they won’t learn.

Students must learn to recognize their own mistakes and understand those being made around them. When the student is aware of this, this will become second nature to them, and they will use the proper form. Being told they are wrong, and given the good solution, will not result in a student resolving this issue in the long run. Students need to be aware of their mistakes.

The course is created in such a way as to prevent mistakes students are making from becoming fixed. While students are not taught formal grammar, they learn to speak correctly and learn to recognize and correct their errors.

Why don’t we only focus on conversational exercises? 

Conversational exercises are excellent for improving fluency but do not address underlying issues with form or vocabulary. This is why we combine structured and conversational activities to optimize learning results.

Paired exercises

Students work in groups of two or three. Activities are formatted in such a way as to ensure that each student is given the same opportunity to speak and participate.

A human method

The method has been digitalized, but human contact remains at the heart of each class. Students work in pairs, using the platform as they would a book.

Teachers become facilitators

Langue trainers don’t face a class but navigate between groups. Their role is to coordinate exercises and consult the different groups.

Why the method works

The method is built around a core question: What’s the most efficient approach to learning languages in a classroom? Our solution to this question is built around several fundamental considerations. Integrating the following considerations into each lesson creates an atmosphere conducive to language acquisition.

Condition 1

The student must use the language

To learn how to speak, students must first and foremost Speak. It is inconceivable that a student learns how to speak solely by reading or writing. In a typical 1-hour course split between 1 teacher and 10 students, a single student may speak for 3 minutes, if not less. Our method, therefore, focuses on creating an environment where each student speaks for at least 30 percent of the class.

Condition 2

Lowering the audience effect

The audience effect can be described as the student’s inhibition to practicing speaking when around others. Many students feel that those around them will judge them if they make mistakes. In a classroom, the teacher is also seen as a significant audience. By dividing students into groups, we lower this constraining factor. The teacher will move from group to group, offering help and advice.

When working in pairs, students will no longer feel inhibited by the presence of others and will no longer feel inhibited by the presence of a teacher.

Condition 3

Motivation

Personal motivation is a powerful tool when learning a language. The method used and the teacher are essential to help keep students motivated. A boring method will result in a loss of motivation; an overly convoluted method will also result in a loss of motivation. Our approach presents a diverse range of exercises and keeps students continually active.

By placing the students into groups, the student is forced to participate and will not be lost at the back end of a class. Students are also presented with materials on par with their current level.

Condition 4

Understandable and pertinent content

For students to acquire a language, they must understand what they are hearing and be presented with content that will be useful to their daily use. A student with little to no exposure to a language will not understand complex texts or concepts. Simply being spoken to will not help the student learn. The method and teacher must present information so that it is understandable and relevant to the student.

Long terms subconscious memory

Our ability to speak our first or second language is innately linked to our subconscious long-term memory. Our classes focus on providing students with content via exercises built to target and improve language acquisition through their subconscious long-term memory.

Condition 5

Acquire the language, not learn about the language

In contrast to many methods, we focus on helping the student acquire the language rather than learn about the language. Students are taught to use the language to give them autonomy when communicating. Traditional classes focus on teaching students about the language, typically grammar. The issue is that this is done through memorization exercises, targeting short-term conscious memory. Unless the student is interested in grammar, this may lower the student’s motivation and is not optimal for subconscious long-term retention.

Condition 6

Have a good time!

This is probably the most important condition. Relax and have fun! A lot of serious people have put a lot of serious time into creating the course so that you can enjoy each lesson. So, have fun and enjoy the classes.

Testimonials

What People are Saying

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Ricardo Owens
Designer
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Joel Burdine
Designer
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Rhonda Key
Designer
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Ashley Hoyt
Designer

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