Alg youtube

[herds]

http://www.youtube.com/user/algworld

 

Impressed with these, basically like being a pupil in a classroom and theres hours of lessons on there, there's no english speaking which i think is part of their technique. There is a funny bit in one of the first lessons where a teacher is explaining 'gossip' to the class.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/algworld#p/c/51182DF47F93421A/2/h5lRxXobY2E

 

Found that a little strange, 'crosstalk' but I guess theres method to it somewhere.

[MONOCHROMEMAN]

I now quite a bit about this method if there;s owt you want to know.

 

I prefer TRPS which used similar methods/theory but is better imho (and certainly more developed). Good luck finding a TPRS Thai class though

 

Here's the best teaching method blog I've seen of any kind. Run by Ben Slavic who taught using traditional methods for decades and hated every minute.

 

http://www.benslavic.com/blog/

 

And here's his TRRS class (French not Thai). http://www.vimeo.com/user1798986

[herds]

Anyone watched some of these? the level 5 teacher is really good, funny, interesting, very clear and easy to understand and I suppose being narlak helps. Wish they would open a website with these videos i'd happily subscribe.

[COYS]

I've just watched David's videos on the ALG technique.

He explains it in a way that is really easy to understand and it makes complete sense to me that learning any language in this way would yield better results.

Learning in the same way a child would obviously makes sense.

The down side for me however is the length of time, patience and effort that this would take. Not to mention money.

When you're looking at 2 years before you have even begun to speak phrases and sentences and up to 5 or even more to become totally fluent then that's a lot. We are talking about listening to Thai all day, every day without being told in our own language what anything means, until we can pick things up like a child does (which on average is 22 months) until you can understand enough to speak a word or phrase.

I agree that the end result will be better than conventional methods. You might even be able to speak exactly like a Thai. But who on earth has the time patience and money to do this? And who would want to speak exactly like a Thai anyway. I would happily be able to speak fluently enough to be able to fully communicate with them in conversation.

With conventional methods you can learn to do this within 9 months to a year by going to school whilst living in Thailand. During this time you would be able to read and write some Thai too.

 

The ALG method is a good idea but a bit extreme I think.

 

COYS.

[herds]

After watching some of the level one lessons I can't really see how someone with zero thai knowledge could just pick things up, but I think like myself after you have some basics down it's useful.

[Ajay75]

I could see the advantage of learning like this if there was interaction only in Thai. But if someone is learning from an absolute beginner level it would frustrate the hell out of me if there was no explaination as to what was being said. If the teachers just made the class listen and not speak but explain why they said things the way they do and meanings then it would be alot more helpful.

 

You may as well just watch Thai movies or TV for a similar experience as to what these classes are providing IMO. Sure you'll probably get there in time but theres quicker and more effective methods than this which are alot less expensive as well.

[MONOCHROMEMAN]

I've just watched David's videos on the ALG technique.

He explains it in a way that is really easy to understand and it makes complete sense to me that learning any language in this way would yield better results.

Learning in the same way a child would obviously makes sense.

The down side for me however is the length of time, patience and effort that this would take. Not to mention money.

When you're looking at 2 years before you have even begun to speak phrases and sentences and up to 5 or even more to become totally fluent then that's a lot. We are talking about listening to Thai all day, every day without being told in our own language what anything means, until we can pick things up like a child does (which on average is 22 months) until you can understand enough to speak a word or phrase.

I agree that the end result will be better than conventional methods. You might even be able to speak exactly like a Thai. But who on earth has the time patience and money to do this? And who would want to speak exactly like a Thai anyway. I would happily be able to speak fluently enough to be able to fully communicate with them in conversation.

With conventional methods you can learn to do this within 9 months to a year by going to school whilst living in Thailand. During this time you would be able to read and write some Thai too.

 

The ALG method is a good idea but a bit extreme I think.

 

COYS.

 

I think ALG is a good but not perfect or the best method. TPRS - which Krashen has called "the best thing out there" has all the advantages of ALG (and is based on commonsense as well as solid theory) plus you don't have to wait 2 yrs for any results. It's the best I've seen.

 

This site covers the basics of both;

 

http://effortlessacquisition.blogspot.com/2004/06/silent-period-teaching-methods.html

 

There's evidence to back up the silent period. One thing to remember is that not only is speaking too soon seen as damaging but even THINKING the sentence is seen as damaging, too. So don't assume you can think it but not say it and you'll be ok. You won't. That's Marvin J Brown theory.

 

The problem I have with the adults learning like children theory is that adults AREN'T children so why would they learn like them? That's not to say they can't learn that way. But the idea that because it works for children it MUST work for adults is flawed, to me. What processes go on in a child's brain when they're learning L1? How do they acquire language? What processes go on in an adult's brain when they're learning L2? How do they acquire L2? How do these processes (child L1 v adult L2) compare? We don;t know exactly. So I suspend my belief in adults learning like kids for now. Yet it's repeated as though it were fact. Just like Chomsky's LAD (language acquisiton device) is spoken and written of for 40 or whatever years as though it's fact but we have no proof of it. That's not to say it doesn't exist but we don't know.

[MONOCHROMEMAN]

I could see the advantage of learning like this if there was interaction only in Thai. But if someone is learning from an absolute beginner level it would frustrate the hell out of me if there was no explaination as to what was being said. If the teachers just made the class listen and not speak but explain why they said things the way they do and meanings then it would be alot more helpful.

 

You may as well just watch Thai movies or TV for a similar experience as to what these classes are providing IMO. Sure you'll probably get there in time but theres quicker and more effective methods than this which are alot less expensive as well.

 

This would work as long as you can comprehend most of what's being said in the movie. I suspect that ISN'T true in a lot of cases. I've heard people say they just have to listen to Thai for x amount of hours and they'll start speaking. You won't. If that were true all the barhounds in pattaya would be fluent. Me, too. L2 is just noise, imho, unless you comprehend it. So it has to be x amount of comprehensible hours. Comprehensible input is the phrase they use. Noi and lek are talking in front of you in a bar and you can't understand a word. This doesn't count. 2 characters in a film are talking but you don't get what they're saying (due to speed of speech or background noise or whatever). Doesn't count!

 

This is where classrooms have an advantage. They should be set up so learning can be as efficient as possible. Comprehensible input should be as close to 100% as possible (ie classes structured so almost EVERY word is understood. Something that rarely happens in the real world.) This is the teacher's responsibility. It's an artificial scenario to get you up the learning curve and out into the real world. Most classrooms fail miserably at this. ALG is one of the better attempts at doing it, though. TPRS is better, imho.