Coucou les French learners,
Est-ce que tu as un vacarme dans ta tête ? Do you have a din your head?
There is nothing worse than silence, it precedes the din.
Involuntary Mental Rehearsal
Last week I read this interesting article published by Jeff McQuillan about the “Din in the Head”.
It was back in 1980 that “Barber reported a rising Din in her head; words, sounds, intonations, phrases, all swimming about in the voices of the people she talked with“. Barber was in Russia at that time and after a few days of exposure to Russian, she found that “sounds in her head became so intense that she found herself chewing on them, like so much linguistic cud… She had no control over what subconscious fed into her chewer each day“.
Since I started to have Story Listening sessions in German and in Latin too, I found myself experiencing the same phenomenon.
Tanya also experienced this involuntary mental rehearsal when she shared that after watching my videos “Unintentionally it continues to “sound” in your head. Very soon you understand that it not only “sounds” but also “asks” you to repeat it! “Mets-le dans les commentaires” sounds like a song, and you pronounce it in a way the storyteller says it.”
Dr Stephen Krashen explains in the article that “the Din is a result of stimulation of the Language Acquisition Device (LAD), a sign that the learner is acquiring language“.
Therefore listening to comprehensible and compelling stories stimulates your LAD. There is nothing more to do to acquire another language… No word lists to deliberately memorize, no grammar rules to learn consciously… Just read and listen a lot!
#inputaloneissufficient
Un autre mythe grec
This week’s video is another Greek myth. Remember I told you a famous one in Season 3: le Roi Midas? Megan Hayes, a Spanish teacher in an elementary school tells this story too. It is so cute AND comprehensible!
It also happens that my Latin Story Listening teacher told me the Minotaur, another famous Greek myth. I was really much into the story and at one point I forgot, I was listening to Latin because I was so focused on what was going to happen. Greek mythology has stood the test of time. Myths are all about love, deception, revenge, happiness, betrayal… They are of universal interest.
That is why I like to tell them to provide rich, compelling, comprehensible auditory input for language acquisition. So here is the story of Pygmalion, a great artist who wanted to achieve perfection.
Tu aimes aussi les mythes grecs ? Do you also enjoy Greek myths?
I love hearing from you so keep up sending me feedback. I am here to help you acquire French effortlessly.
Happy French acquisition!
#trusttheprocess
P.S. Got friends, family, colleagues or clients who want to become fluent in French? Share this with them, they’ll thank you for it 🙂
P.P.S The 30 scripts of the season 1 videos are being proofread!!! Watch out for the eBook (pdf) release in December!