BooksPart 31 of the Poligo Guide to Learning a Language.

♦

SECTION 4: This section explains how to divide the language into smaller parts and how to learn each part.

---

So you have a lot of different things to learn from. How do you manage them all? Basically, you use them together and/or swap between them. First, you do a few lessons in one set of materials. Then, two things might happen:

1. It will get a bit boring to use the same book or CDs.
2. You will get too far above your level, and you will not remember what you learnt.

When these things happen, you should switch. Go to another book and start continue. In a language, most materials cover the same things in about the same order. When you switch materials, you will review what you have learnt from the last set of materials. However, you will have new situations and examples. This will keep it fresh and interesting.

For example, you might have two texbooks (Textbook A and Textbook B) and a set of listening materials (CDs):

1. Start on Textbook A. When you have done a few lessons, you will start to get a bit bored, or you might not remember the language so well (for example, Lesson 4). Stop and change to something else.
2. Change to Textbook B and start at Lesson 1. Go until it is boring, or you can't remember everything.
3. Change to your CDs. Learn with this until it is getting too hard or boring.
4. Go back to Textbook A and continue from the point you finished before (Lesson 4).

Keep going like this, using the materials together and swapping between them:

Textbook A
→Textbook B
→CDs
→Textbook A
→Textbook B
→CDs...

When you use many materials at the same time, you create a relationship between your beginner textbooks and beginner audio materials (the things you read and the things you hear). It is best if you can get a matching set: a textbook that has its own full audio materials. You can listen and read at the same time. You will learn a lot about how to read the language and how to pronounce it.

But you also get a lot from when the text does NOT match the audio you use. You need to make things a little difficult to get the most benefit. The trick, though, is that it is also, in my experience, ideal if some of the audio does NOT match a text. You should listen again and again to this material to train your listening skills. You should try to repeat what you hear out loud. You should shadow as closely as you can. As time goes by and you learn more of the language, you will understand it and remember it very well. You get several extra benefits from doing this:

• You tune your ears to the language. You get used to hearing the language and develop your listening skills.
• You train your mouth to make the sounds of the language.  
• You develop your memory, so that you can hold large pieces of the language in your mind and think about them.

You should use these materials until you are 90% accurate, or until it gets boring. Remember to keep it fun and interesting! You should use this listening to immerse yourself in the language (especially when you do not  live in a country where your target language is spoken). Keep these recordings on your music player and listen when you can: on the train; in the car; waiting for your classes to start; whenever you have the chance!

Read about some other ways to immerse yourself in language.

If you have one really good, complete textbook for your level, that can become the centre of your language learning. Use it as the main guide to your learning, and then support it with other materials. For each language topic, look in your other books and materials to find the parts that match that language topic in your main book. Use the supporting materials for variety and interest.

When you use this method, it means you can set your own pace. You can learn the parts of the language in the way that suits you. You do not need to follow your class or the order of the book. You can jump around and do the things that are most useful or easiest first and save the rest for later. This is how you use the map we will give you. You can also develop your own map of how to learn the language.

When you use this method, you will quickly find that you have too much to learn. That is perfect. It is, in fact, a central point to the method. You should drown in the language. Do not always worry about remembering (or even understanding!) it perfectly. Let a lot of it wash over you. Catch what you can, and be happy. You have to balance two main ways of learning:

1. Thinking learning: with sit-down, old-fashioned, hard work (like you do at school);
2. Unthinking learning: learning "naturally" through experience and by picking things up (like you do in real life).

So, you should have a lot of material to learn from:

• You will have your main book (or books) which you learn with focus. This gives you the main map your language learning needs.
• Also, you will have all your other materials. This gives you the huge volume of input and experience you need when you learn a language.

And for each type of material, you have a style of learning: 

1. Study, thought and work;
2. Experience, usage and play.

---

Next—Part 32: The Benefits of Using Many Different Materials.