Categories: Lesson

How to Learn Any Language in 6 Months

On Friday, I posted the first half of a lesson about learning English quickly. The key word here was “quickly.” I didn’t mean it to come across like clickbait or spam, and I would never make silly promises to my students. What I wanted was for them to discuss whether or not it’s possible to fastrack language acquisition.

Today, I’m bringing you the second half of that lesson. Up to this point, the students have been discussing learning English, and they’ve even suggested methods for international students to learn Chinese. Now it’s time for them to watch a TED Talk by Chris Lonsdale, which is filled with ways to speed up language learning.

First, here’s the PPT. This contains the whole lesson. When it comes to the blank slide, start the video – I’ll put the YouTube link below.

How to learn any language in 6 months from David Wills

Obviously, this is for Chinese (or Taiwanese) learners. The PPT is bilingual, as my students for this lesson had a low level of English but I still thought it would be useful for them to consider these questions and watch this video. Feel free to edit out the Chinese or even input whatever is the L1 of your students.

Importantly, don’t forget to leave time for the final question. I believe the most important questions you can ever ask your students are: “How do you feel?” and “What do you think about that?”

Click here for more ESL or IELTS -style questions on Chris Lonsdale’s TEDx Talk.

David S Wills

I am a writer, editor, and educator. I have written various books on mid-20th century American writers and a few on grammar and IELTS preparation. I have been in the education field since 2008 and have worked in various countries. I started this website to share some ideas and resources to help my fellow teachers.