Category Archives: Learning

Learn Korean: Hangul

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Korean is spoken by over 63 million people in South Korea, North Korea, China, Japan, and even Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia! Grammatically, the Korean language has many similarities to the Japanese language while 70% of its vocabulary is a derivative of the Chinese language. The key to learning Korean is Hangul, the Korean alphabet. Although generally similar to the English alphabet, Hangul groups characters into syllables and does not have lowercase or capital letters. A rather short alphabet, it consists of 19 consonant letters and 21 vowel characters. Characters are grouped into blocks to form each syllable. In fact, the word “hangul” consists of the syllables han (한) and gul (글).

The Korean alphabet is unique as the shape of the letters are modelled after the phonetic features they represent. For example, consonants follow the shape the mouth creates when pronouncing the letter while vowels are made up of horizontal or vertical lines. The character “ㄱ” is roughly the shape your tongue forms when we pronounce the “g” sound.

Another fact about the Korean language is that every word, noun and syllable begins with a consonant. This is always followed by a vowel on the right or below the character. Having the vowel below the first consonant is the most common way of creating syllables. In this case, the third character will always be placed below the second.

Apart from the basic consonants and vowels, Hangul has several irregularities. This is important for reading Hangul. Reading Korean can be simpler than reading English! This is because of the relative pronunciation of sounds in English. This does not occur in the Korean language. Luckily, most irregularities are small and not common. Generally, irregularities are specific to a single character rather than a group of characters.

The most important part of the Korean language are the verbs. Unlike English, the Korean language does not have a subject. Instead, it is assumed from context. However, like the French language, the verb can take different forms depending on who you are conversing with. So, speaking to a respected elder is different from speaking to a friend.

There are many aspects to learning the Korean language, however, with proper guidance and a variety of methods, Korean can be easy to learn. This is especially true in Singapore, where the majority of the population has some knowledge of Mandarin. Even those who do not can easily pick it up as the alphabet is small and the linguistic rules of this language are very straightforward.

The key to success for any student is perseverance and positivity. After all, if you don’t enjoy doing it then what is the point? Learning Korean could be one of the most amazing and fulfilling experiences that you have ever had. Considering the area of the world that Singapore is located in, learning Korean could open new doors in your life that you had never before thought possible. For example, students seeking higher education can use this skill to apply to higher education institutions such as INSEAD.

On the other hand, with the boom of Korean songs (K-Pop), dramas and news, it is not unreasonable to learn the language to better connect with these aspects of the culture. Furthermore, learning a foreign language is one of the highest personal intellectual goals one can achieve. The learning process is not always easy and you’ll have many small issues and problems to tackle along the way. You’ll have to focus on various aspects of the problem, such as spelling, grammar, reading, pronunciation and so forth. However, if you keep the problem in sight and don’t lose interest, the chances of success are extremely high and the intellectual fulfilment that you get at the end is incomparable to anything else.

Come down to Agape School of Education or sign-up and pick a foreign language course that you’re interested! If you’re a Singaporean citizen above the age of 25, you are eligible for the SkillsFuture Credit Scheme! Our Korean and German classes are claimable via SkillsFuture Credit.

Using similarity to learn a foreign language (like German)

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Even if you don’t know a single word of German, you can probably read and understand the following German text. Did you know that the English and German languages descended from the same Proto-Germanic tongue? Many words in both languages are the same or similar.

For example, can you read this story in German?

Guten Tag! Mein Name ist Monika. Ich bin Autorin. Ich habe einen Bruder namens Bob. Bob ist auch Autor. Ich bin Bobs Literaturagentin. Er schreibt interessante Artikel und Bcher. Er schreibt im Moment ein neues Buch. Der Titel ist: Das Telefon klingelt fr Dich. Letztes Jahr hatte er 2 Bcher auf der Bestsellerliste.

Bob lebt in Kanada – in Montreal. Er ist 30 Jahre alt, mit blondem Haar und blauen Augen. Er hat ein altes Auto. Freitags fhrt er mit dem Auto zum Supermarkt.

Im Supermarkt findet er Kaffee, Tee, Mineralwasser, Milch, Zucker, Butter usw. fr Mutter. Er findet auch Frucht wie Bananen, pfel, Orangen usw. Dann geht er zur Bank und wartet eine Weile auf Mutter. Er fhrt danach mit Mutter nach Hause und parkt sein Auto.

Das Haus ist wei und blau. Es hat einen Garten mit wundervollen Blumen und luxurisem grnem Gras.

Im Haus sitzt Bob auf dem Sofa und trinkt oft ein Glas Bier oder Wein und hrt Radio (laut). Mutter sagt: Bob! Das Radio ist zu laut! Bob lacht und geht in den Garten.

Im Sommer, wenn die Sonne scheint, sitzt Bob im Garten. Wenn Mutter will, mht Bob das Gras.

Im Winter schaufelt er den Schnee oder sitzt im Haus beim Feuer.

Meine Mutter hat eine Katze namens Lwe. Lwe ist braun, grau und orange. Sie miaut, wenn sie Bob sieht, springt auf Bobs Knie und schnurrt laut. Mutter hat auch einen Hund – namens Br. Br ist ein Dachshund.

Ach! es ist spt – Mitternacht. Ich muss zu Bett gehen. Gute Nacht! Ich schreibe mehr morgen frh.

How did you fare?
Maybe you didn’t understand the German text completely. However, after reading the story a couple of times, you will be able to spot trends and similarities to the English language.

Here are some rules to help decipher the story,

  • In the German language, ‘K’ instead of a hard ‘C’ is commonly used: Canada=Kanada, Monica=Monika.
  • The English ‘ph’ often becomes ‘f’: telephone=Telefon.
  • Nouns are capitalized: fruit=Frucht, milk=Milch, butter=Butter, sugar=Zucker.
  • Possessives are not formed with an apostrophe + s: brother’s=Bruders.
  • The English ‘sh’ becomes ‘sch’: shines=scheint, shovels=schaufelt.
  • Many words are exactly the same: Winter, November, Finger, Party, Wind, Hunger, Film.

With these hints, read the German text again and check yourself to see if you comprehend more of the text. Think of the words in the context and allow your mind to fill in the blanks. Related words, like the ones above, with common ancestral roots, are called ‘cognates’. English and German are some of the few languages that share many cognates. Over the years, however, many words that used to mean the same thing in both languages have evolved and have acquired different connotations. For example, the old German word for ‘wife’ (‘Weib’) is nowadays generally applied in a deprecating manner. Similarly, the German word ‘gift’ does not mean a present, it means ‘poison’!

Although this technique is not applicable to all foreign languages, the use of similarities is a useful technique for students. Over time you will discover the exceptions. You will feel comfortable with the similarities and form a foundation on which you can build. The learning task then becomes less daunting – and even enjoyable. It is also a nifty trick that can help a student in a pinch or during an exam!

Over the centuries the world has become a melting pot of cultures and languages. Many words and phrases have crossed borders. Globalization, spurred by newspapers, radio, TV, the internet and travel, has accelerated the process. We often use foreign-derived words without a second thought. For example, angst, soup du jour, cafe au lait, poltergeist, bona fide, carte blanche, nom de plume, savoir-faire just to name a few.

Every time you come to a new text passage, scan it to find what you already know (or can guess) for a general sense of what it means. Only tackle the unknown bits after gaining a general sense of the piece. As a student, the learning process will advance rapidly and it will alleviate the tediousness of learning language semantics.

At Agape School of Education, we use a variety of strategies and materials to coach our students to succeed. Our trained teachers find and employ what works best for their students. Be it providing students with a variety of reading materials, encouraging conversation or using different types of media, our methods are diverse. Our curriculum is unique because we also place importance on the culture of a language.

We do this because we know that inspiring a love of the language will breed passion in our students, which will lead them to realise their goals. As a result, Agape School of Education students regularly score in the highest percentile in local and international examinations. Many of our students have proceeded to use their language skills to gain prestigious jobs or educational opportunities.

Come down to Agape School of Education or sign-up and pick a foreign language course that you’re interested! If you’re a Singaporean citizen above the age of 25, you are eligible for the SkillsFuture Credit Scheme! Our Korean and German classes are claimable via SkillsFuture Credit.

Test yourself: Are you fluent?

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Some people take years to learn a language, some months and others decades. So, what are we all chasing? What is it that exams test students for? Fluency. However, given the different complexities, intricacies and even structure of languages around the world, how do you know if you’ve really become fluent? Is it that 100% score on an exam? Students (and parents) certainly think so.

Linguists, on the other hand, argue that fluency is achieved when your subconscious takes over the linguistic process. When you move from controlled linguistic processing to automated, that’s when you’ve achieved fluency. In short, it means when thinking in a foreign language becomes as easy as thinking in your natural language, you’ve achieved fluency. But how do we measure this so that we’re sure?

1. You have dreams in your foreign language
When we say you dream, I don’t mean a student of the French language dreams of a croissant, or that you hear one word of the language in your dream. I mean that you really have active use of the language within your dream. This is an excellent indicator of fluency because when you are sleeping, your subconscious takes over. If your subconscious speaks a foreign language, it’s a clear sign that you’ve switched to automated processing.

2. You can’t help but eavesdrop on conversations in that language
While we are not condoning eavesdropping, when you become fluent in a language, it’s very hard to avoid listening into private conversations. It’s hard to even ignore background conversations in that language. For example, imagine that you’re in the midst of a crowd of people, speaking in a language you don’t understand. Even within that crowd, if someone says something in your native tongue, your ears will pick it up easily. It’s the same for any fluent language, because your subconscious processes the input so even if you’re not listening out for it, the language becomes hard to ignore.

3. You don’t have to concentrate all of your energy to speak the language fluently
In controlled processing, learners have to focus the majority of their energy to fluently speak in their foreign language. Language is inherently a complex task, involving several different areas of the brain. When you throw in the different levels of processing needed for vocabulary, grammar and syntax, it’s not hard to see why it requires so much brain power.

However, when a student becomes fluent, the automated processing frees up the brain to focus on other things, whilst speaking fluently. A good test of fluency is to see if you can multitask and speak at the same time.

For example, can you dance, eat a cookie and have a conversation in your foreign language at the same time?

These are some simple ways to measure your fluency. But don’t be disheartened if you find that you’re not as fluent as you would have liked to be. At the same time, don’t become complacent if you find that you are fluent. Fluency is fluid and it can come and go if the learner doesn’t practice their skills regularly. In the same vein, language is a constant learning process. Even in our native tongues, we learn new words and phrases every day.

At Agape School of Education (ASE), we keep our classes small so our teachers can connect with their students on a personal level. This helps them tailor their lessons and teaching approaches to the individual student. We also combine the technical aspect of language with the cultural. This reinforces the love of the language and helps the student better grasp the language. Our goal is to impart knowledge and inspire passion in our students, and our coaching approach helps our students deal with the emotional aspect of learning a new language. View and register for our available language classes and courses here.

Why Should I Learn a Foreign Language?

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More and more software programs, electronic devices and websites devoted to foreign languages are being developed daily. Why all the excitement? Why would YOU want to learn a foreign language?

Job Advancement – Get the Competitive Edge

Many large corporations and government agencies have positions requiring a second language. In a country like Canada, which is officially bilingual, someone who knows both French and English will have better employment prospects. This also applies for many fresh grads and students who want to work in multinational companies like INSEAD.

Travel

Travel to a foreign country can be exciting – and also very exasperating if you can’t understand the local speech. Many North Americans are somewhat egocentric in this regard, expecting to find English spoken no matter where they are. Although this is sometimes true in larger cities, don’t expect to find English-speakers in small communities.

Relatives

The world is a melting pot of cultures and languages. You probably have living relatives in other countries with whom you could communicate more effectively if you took the effort to learn at least a few words.

Genealogy Research

Some of your ancestors probably spoke a different language. If you plan to search old genealogical records, you will be more successful with at least a basic understanding of your ancestors’ language(s).

Understanding Your Own Language

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, ‘Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen’ or ‘Those who don’t know foreign languages know nothing of their own.’ Learning a foreign language will give you a much better understanding of English. Your knowledge of English grammar, vocabulary, verb tenses and sentence construction will improve when you tackle another language.

Self-Actualization and Challenge

If you’ve already been everywhere and done everything – perhaps it’s time to tackle something new. What could be more challenging and rewarding than immersing yourself in another language?

Opera, Poetry, and Prose Appreciation

Artistic works were written in a different language and often cannot be fully appreciated when translated into English. This is especially obvious when listening to poetry. If poetry is translated into English with a preserved rhyming scheme, the meaning of the poetry is almost always altered. Being able to listen to the original language – with its subtle tones and nuances – will lend to a greater appreciation of the artist.

Culture Appreciation

One can only truly comprehend a foreign culture if the language is also understood. Exactly what is ‘Bratwurst’ or ‘Calvados’? And what about foreign films? Wouldn’t you like to be able to watch something with subtitles – and skip reading them?

Invigorate the Brain

Adults benefit from the brain stimulation produced by language training. Seniors who tackle a foreign language show improved brain function over a period of time. Students who learn foreign languages as children score better on academic tests. There is also evidence to suggest that they may be more creative and resourceful when faced with solving complex tasks.

Learning Teaches You How to Learn

The self-discipline and study habits acquired through the successful acquisition of a foreign language can be applied to many other aspects of your life.

Studying Abroad

What better way to learn about a country’s culture than to study there? This requires an excellent command of the local language.

Communicate With Someone Secretly in Public

Imagine chatting in public with a friend about something private, knowing that only your friend understands!

Make Online Penpals and Friends

The internet is transforming our world into an intimate global village where you can chat via e-mail, forums, live chat sessions, and audio/video feeds.

Impress a Date?

In closing – male or female – you will make points with your bilingual date by learning a few important words. If your date doesn’t speak a foreign language, he or she will be impressed by the enchanting allure of intimate expressions in one of the ‘romance’ languages.

So – what are you waiting for? Get learning with Agape School of Education! We offer language classes in over 13 different languages.

7 habits of highly efficient students

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The one thing young students, casual learners and advanced learners of a language have in common is the desire to learn efficiently. Students have to grapple with very different concepts, cultures and even script – depending on the language. It’s not as simple as picking up reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. To learn effectively, grammar rules, vocabulary and pronunciation are equally important. So what habits or actions can students use to gain that extra head start above the rest of the class?

1. Say it like the native speakers
Talk to native speakers to learn pronunciations, cultural backgrounds and even well-known slangs or phrases. Agape School of Education (ASE) has a variety of teachers who teach their native tongue.

2. Engage with the class
Strike up conversations with your fellow classmates or even those who have learnt the language as a second or third language. They will understand better than anyone else what you might be struggling with. ASE has a healthy mix of teachers who are native and non-native speakers of the language they teach. If you’re looking for relatable tips on how to study or memorise, you’ll find no better resource than our teachers.

3. Dear Diary
Write in the language you want to learn regularly. Daily even, if you want to maximise your learning efficiency. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You can start with listing out simple daily tasks then progress to feelings, ideas, thoughts and phrases you’ve recently learnt.

4. Take writing online
Scout out online language forums or discussion rooms where you can e-converse with people, express ideas or exchange thoughts about particular topics. It’s always a bonus if you can converse in another language on a topic that interests you. This ensures the vocabulary you learn is relevant and that you’ll remember it because you will use it.

5. The Fridge method
Every week, pick 5 items in your house that you want to focus on. Start with items that you use regularly, for example, your fridge, your cupboard, your laptop or even your dog! Attach vocabulary lists to these objects, but make sure that the lists have new and challenging words that you want to memorize. This method ensures that you test yourself every day. Of course, you must remember to refresh the list once you’ve committed the vocabulary to memory. As a bonus, see if you can formulate sentences or situations using the vocabulary you’ve chosen!

6. Listen to a story
Sometimes the best way to commit something to memory is to attach a song or a story to it. Research songs or folk tales in the language you are learning and go through the words, sentence structure and phrases that they use. That catchy tune that’s stuck in your head for days doesn’t need to be annoying! Use it to improve your skills!

7. Ban your native tongue
Once you’ve garnered enough vocabulary, start implementing hours, days or events where you only converse in your newly learnt language. Give yourself rewards and punishments for sticking to it or breaking the rules! It’ll not only force you to use the knowledge you’ve learnt, but also to alert you to gaps in your knowledge!

These tips can help you enhance and maximise your learning capacity. However, as with learning anything, be it a skill or a language, repetition and familiarity are always the most important key factors to success. Come down to ASE today to find out how we can help you succeed in learning a foreign language! Or register for a course online now!

18 Strategies for Enhancing Language Skills

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Learning a language is not always effortless. To maximise your learning and efficiently progress, students must adopt strategies. Here are our best tips for enhancing language skills and managing language challenges.

This list is not exhaustive, it’s simply a place to begin.

1. Take the mystery away.
The first and perhaps most important strategy is to teach students about the components of language, common language challenges and language strategies, and to help students understand their own language strengths and challenges. This process is sometimes called demystification – taking the mystery away.

2. Simplify directions.
Students with receptive language challenges may need directions broken down into their simplest form. They may also benefit from a comic book-type illustration of steps to take for the completion of a task.

3. Give written copies of directions and examples.
Students with receptive language challenges may need directions given to them at a relatively slow pace. They may need directions repeated to them. They most often benefit from having a written copy of directions that are given orally. Examples of what needs to be done are also useful.

4. Provide frequent breaks.
Students who have receptive language challenges may use up a lot of energy listening, and, therefore, tire easily. Consequently, short, highly structured work timed with frequent breaks or quiet periods may be helpful.

5. Give additional time.
Students with receptive and expressive language challenges are likely to have a slower processing speed and should be allowed additional time for written work and tests.

6. Sit Close.
A student may want to sit close to the teacher so he can watch the facial expression of the teacher when s/he is talking. This may also help to diminish interference from other auditory distractions.

7. Allow voluntary participation.
Students with language processing challenges should not be put on the spot by being required to answer questions during class discussions, especially without being forewarned. Rather, their participation should be on a voluntary basis.

8. Teach summarising and paraphrasing.
Reading comprehension is often enhanced by summarising and paraphrasing. This helps students to identify the main idea and supporting details. It may be helpful to provide key words such as who, what, when, where and why to orient attention to the appropriate details.

9. Teach a staging procedure.
Most students find a staging procedure beneficial when writing paragraphs, essays, poems, reports and research papers. First, they should generate ideas, and then they should organise them. Next, they should attend to spelling and grammatical rules. They may also list their most frequently occurring errors in a notebook and refer to this list when self-correcting.

10. Encourage renewed investment of energy in older students.
Older students who have experienced reading failure from an early age must become convinced that a renewed investment of energy will be worthwhile. According to Louisa Moats, an expert in the field of reading, older students who are very poor readers must have their phonological skills strengthened because the inability to identify speech sounds erodes spelling, word recognition, and vocabulary development. Phonological awareness, spelling, decoding, grammar, and other language skills can be taught as a linguistics course in which instructors use more adult terminology such as phoneme deletion and morphemic structure. Phonemic drills may include games such as reverse-a-word (Say teach; then say it with the sounds backwards cheat.)

11. Give Foreign Language Waivers
Students who have experienced problems with their primary language are more likely to have difficulty with a foreign language. Foreign language requirements may need to be waived for these students.

12. Use echo reading for fluency development.
For fluency development, it is helpful to have a student in the lower grades echo read and also read simultaneously with an adult. The adult and the student may also take turns reading every other sentence or paragraph. Additionally, the adult may model a sentence and then have the student read that same sentence.

13. Amplify auditory input.
Multisensory techniques can be used to increase phonetic skills and to memorize sight words. For example, a student may sound out a word or write sight words on a dry erase board using different coloured markers, all while using Hearfones, a Phonics Phone or a Toobaloo device to enhance auditory input. These devices amplify and direct the student’s own voice straight back to his ears, causing increased auditory stimulation to the brain. These devices can be purchased from CDL’s A+ WebStore.

14. See, say, hear and touch.
Multisensory strategies are helpful for learning letter names. Examples include: 1) spreading shaving cream on a table top and having the child write letters in the shaving cream while saying the letter name out loud; and 2) cutting out letters from sandpaper and having the child “trace” the sandpaper letter with his or her finger while saying the name of the letter.

15. A picture is worth a thousand words.
The expression, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” may become especially important for the visual person who has difficulty expressing himself verbally. For example, a student may make diagrams, charts, or drawings to help him remember what he has read. If he is good at art, the student may draw or paint pictures to explain his ideas.

16. Teach active reading.
To help with comprehension, it may be helpful to underline key words and phrases with a pencil or highlighter and to paraphrase them in the margins, thereby making reading more active. If the student is not allowed to write in the book, he can write the main words or ideas on Post-It notes.

17. Guide students to read between the lines.
When first teaching students to infer while reading, the teacher should first guide the thinking by using a whole class activity. After the class as a whole has identified a logical inference, the teacher should facilitate the examination of the process by which they arrived at their inference. Leading questions may be, “What is the author saying to us? How do we know the author meant this?” Remind students that authors provide clues (imply) so readers can infer.

18. Provide individual evaluation and intervention.
Many students with language challenges benefit from individual evaluation and remediation by highly qualified professionals. It is critical to use assessment tools designed to pinpoint specific skill deficits and to provide individual or small group remediation/intervention using explicit, evidence-based strategies and methods that directly address each student’s individual needs.

These strategies can help you enhance and maximise your learning capacity. However, as with learning anything, be it a skill or a language, repetition and familiarity are always the most important key factors to success. Come down to ASE today to find out how we can help you succeed in learning a foreign language! Or register for a course online now!

Chinese reference information to help you study

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Chinese characters seem to be the most difficult part for foreign learners of Mandarin. One likely reason may be that Chinese characters look very different from their Roman language counterparts. Each character in Mandarin represents not only the pronunciation, but also possess a certain meaning. A common complaint is that Chinese characters are so unlike each other that you have to learn them individually. Unfortunately, there are so many to memorise and that when encountering a new character, previous knowledge of other characters rarely helps because you can neither pronounce it directly nor guess what it means. However, this is not always true. There are connections between Chinese characters, composed in a defined way and learning these connections can help learners score better.

Chinese characters form the pictorial writing system used for recording in ancient China. With a history dating back over 8,000 years, it is one of the oldest surviving writing systems in the world. Inscriptions of Chinese characters were found on turtle shells dating back to the Shang dynasty (1766-1123 BC). Known as the Oracle bone script, 1,000 of the 4,600 known bone logographs can be identified with characters used currently. An old Chinese legend credits Cangjie, an official historian under the legendary Emperor Huangdi in 2600 BC, for the invention of the Chinese characters. Although attributing its creation to one person is more likely to be an exaggeration, it is thanks to contributors like Cangjie that we have a complete and well-developed writing system.

Xu Shen, from the Eastern Han Dynasty (121 AD), was a distinguished scholar who attained unparalleled fame for his etymological dictionary, “Shuo Wen Jie Zi”, which explains the written language and parsing words. In the book, Chinese characters are classified into six categories, namely pictogram, ideograph, logical aggregates, pictophonetic compounds, borrowing, and associate transformation. However, Chinese characters generally fall into the first four categories as per their origin.

Pictograms

Pictograms are the earliest characters created and they usually reflect the shape of physical objects. From this pictorial method, other character-forming principles were subsequently developed. Over time, pictograms evolved from irregular drawings to a definite form. Most were simplified by losing certain strokes for ease of writing. However, only a small portion (less than 5%) of Chinese characters fall into this category.

Ideograph

Also called simple indicative, ideographs usually describe an abstract concept. It’s a combination of indicators or the addition of an indicator to a pictograph to connote meaning. For example, a short horizontal bar on top of a circular arc represents the concept of “up” or “on top of”. Similarly, placing an indicative horizontal bar below the pictogram for “wood” is an ideograph for the word “root”. However, like pictograms, the number of this category is also small, less than 2%.

Logical aggregates

These are a combination of pictograms that represent a meaning, rather like telling a story. A pictograph for “person” on the left of one for “wood” connotes “rest”. This story-telling formation is relatively easier to learn as most aggregates have been reformed into or replaced by phonetic compounds.

Pictophonetic compounds

Also called semantic-phonetic compounds, they combine semantic elements with phonetic ones, taking meaning from one and phonetics from the other. For instance, the character for “ocean” (“yang”) is a combination of the semantic classifier of “water” with the phonetic component “yang”. On its own, “yang” means “goat” or “sheep”. This last group of characters is the largest in modern Chinese, making up around 90% of all Chinese characters.

The superiority of phonetic-compounds in the first three categories lies in its unique phonetic components. Many objects and concepts are hard to express through photographs or ideograms, therefore, the association with character pronunciation helps Chinese vocabulary extend faster than logical aggregates. Therefore, newer Chinese characters tend to follow this format.

Over the centuries, the Chinese language has undergone great change. Knowing the origin and evolution of the characters can help learners understand its formation. For example, the phonetic-compound for “cargo” or “goods” uses the character for “shell” as the semantic element because shells were a form of currency in ancient China.

Agape School of Education (ASE) is special because we ensure that our classes are small to maximise teacher-student interaction. Our mix of native and non-native teachers learn from each other to better help students. ASE’s unique curriculum includes regular revisions and testing to ensure students truly understand the concepts and to enhance their learning experience. Find available courses here.

Quickly Learn A Language By Thinking In It

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It can be tedious to learn a language. There will always be a certain amount of raw memorization required. However, there are also many little techniques to help students learn a language efficiently. Labelling things around the house in the language you want to learn comes to mind. Listening to tapes while in the car is another. I used several techniques to quickly learn Spanish.

How I Quickly Learned Spanish

My journey through Spanish started before my trip to Ecuador. I first studied Spanish books for six weeks before leaving but I didn’t speak a word of the language during this time. This was a big mistake. I was just able to converse with the locals in the hostel in Quito the day after I arrived. However, within a few days, I was discussing philosophy, politics and more.

How did I learn Spanish so quickly? I didn’t really. I had a very limited vocabulary when I arrived in Ecuador, and a very limited vocabulary when I left. However, I could use what little Spanish I knew to express myself. This I credit to a habit that fortunately is also a great technique for learning a language.
I have conversations in my head. I think of what I am about to say, and play out future discussions in my imagination. I found myself doing this in Spanish too. The result was that I learned how to speak the language quickly, and say a lot with few words.

Learn To Think In A Language

People imagine that they have to be fluent to think in a language. This just isn’t true. You can choose to think “I am walking to the store,” so there is no reason you can’t think “Yo estoy caminando a la tienda,” as soon as you know those six words. If you don’t know the word “caminar” (to walk), this also helps you recognised words that you use regularly so you can look them up as you get stuck.

One reason this is a great way to learn a language is that it helps you remember the words. Repetition works, and saying the words, even if only in your mind, works better than reading or hearing them. When you make a point of translating your thoughts into your new language, you are always practising.

It is more than just good practice, though. Putting your thoughts into your new language forces you to learn not just words and rules, but also specific ways to express what you want to say. We all talk about different things and have different interests, right? A doctor might want to know how to say “where does it hurt?” while I may want to ask where the toilets are. Often, you learn what others think you should know. This helps, but your thoughts are uniquely yours, and when you think in your new language, you are learning exactly what YOU need to learn.

Speaking a language is perhaps the best way to learn it, and thinking it is just speaking it in your mind. You’ll learn your most important words, expressions and sentences quickly if you are thinking them continually. To help you cultivate this habit, carry a language dictionary with you to use whenever your thoughts stop flowing. There are many apps that you can download, completely free! This is a powerful way to learn a language and start speaking it quickly.

At Agape School of Education (ASE), we keep our classes small so our teachers can connect with their students on a personal level. This helps them tailor their lessons and teaching approaches to the individual student. We also combine the technical aspect of language with the cultural. This reinforces the love of the language and helps the student better grasp the language. Our goal is to impart knowledge and inspire passion in our students, and our coaching approach helps our students deal with the emotional aspect of learning a new language. Find available courses here.

3 Places to Watch Foreign Films in Singapore

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While Netflix, Amazon and Itunes have made watching movies at home convenient, the experience of going down to the movies with friends is one that is not readily replicated at home. Here are some places you should head down to for that awesome movie experience.

1. Ciné Club
Okay, so this is not a cinema- rather, it is a movie club hosted by the Alliance Française de Singapour. However, I would argue that it being a movie club is even better for those among us who are flying solo- after all, what could be better than watching awesome films and perhaps making a new friend or two?
Address: Alliance Française de Singapour , 1 Sarkies Rd, Singapore 258130

2. The Projector
One of the only independent theatres left in Singapore, The Projector shows both box offices successes as well as smaller, indie films. They also occasionally host film festivals, which can be quite valuable to foreign language students since they get to experience overarching themes in films that are produced within a language.
Address: 6001 Beach Road, #05-00, Golden Mile Tower, 199589

3. Carnival Cinemas
Located at the Second floor of Shaw Towers, Bombay Talkies exclusively screens Hindi movies- presumably for Indian foreign workers. That said, if you’re learning Hindi, you might as well go take a look. While the tickets are more expensive, you’re getting more bang for your buck, given the long duration of Bollywood movies.
Address: 100 Beach Road, #02-00 Shaw Towers, 189702, Singapore

The different types of learning styles

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There are many reasons teachers are unsung heroes, not least of all because every student has a different learning style. If they don’t understand the most effective way of teaching their students, teachers will be stuck, unable to help their students reach their maximum potential.

In this article, we will explore the 7 different learning styles:

1. Visual Learners
These learners use pictures or images, and their spatial awareness to learn. Therefore, they need to understand the relationship of the other and themselves. This includes the use of mind maps and other visual cues. These are the students who learn best through film.

2. Aural Learners
These learners require sound and music to learn effectively. Although it is quite difficult to incorporate music into every lesson, sounds also include the use of their own voice. Repeating their notes to themselves or use of audio books and audio material can help these students maximise their learning potential.

3. Verbal Learners
Learners in this category need the aid of speech and writing. However, this is not as simple as getting them to recopy a textbook. Mnemonics, acronyms and even acting out a situation can help these students strengthen their verbal learning techniques.

4. Physical Learners
These students learn through using their sense of touch or by doing. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they need to jump around while they learn. The use of puzzles or objects that accompany their learning, including writing or drawing are the best ways to teach these students.

5. Logical Learners
These students like organisation and following a structure. Reasoning is the main skill used when learning, although this can often be tough when learning a foreign language. However, they generally also have the aptitude to be challenged to think of different ways of learning.

6. Social Learners
As the name suggests, these students learn best with others, in groups or an open, communicative environment. These students are inquisitive and learn by asking questions, presenting or participating in dialogue.

7. Solitary Learners
These learners prefer the quiet and learning independently. However, they also require clear guidance and distinct explanations as they rarely ask questions. However, to guide these students, teachers will need to ask active questions and find out the gaps in their students’ learning.

While these are the main modes of learning, this is not a set figure. The beauty of learning is that it’s always changing and adapting. Furthermore, students can have a mix of learning styles. Most traditional schools focus on the linguistic and logical means of teaching, using textbooks, repetition, and impressing the importance of exams as a final means of assessment. Unfortunately, this has created and reinforced the belief that there are “smart” students or “dumb” students.

At Agape School of Education, we believe that the key to success is to maximise our students’ potential to learn. To attain this goal, our teachers individually identify their students’ learning techniques and adapt their teaching styles. We also use a range of teaching materials, from textbooks to videos, and even games and puzzles. While there are a good variety of textbooks out in the market, there is rarely a textbook that fits our in-house curriculum. Therefore, we have specially designed in-house textbooks and materials to help our students learn efficiently and effectively. Finally, while we have numerous courses spanning different languages, for students and adults, our curriculum is always modifiable. So, should you require an MOELC-based course or one for business, we are here to help! View our available courses now!