How long until I get to talk?
The silent phase is really only the first 30 hours of sessions. You are allowed to talk outside of your lessons and after the first couple weeks in your sessions.
What is a nurturer?
You will be nurtured into the language and culture by a specially-trained local person who speaks well, is integrated in the community, and sincerely wants to help you succeed in learning about their languacultural world.We call this person a “nurturer.”
Do I have make my own lesson plans?
We have a wide variety of structured activities and planned lessons in each phase, but they are flexible enough to allow you the freedom to tailor them to your own needs. For example, if you’re in medicine, you’ll need some specialized vocabulary that will be different than someone in tourism or higher education.
How am I going to learn grammar if I don’t study grammar?
Our methodology is designed to utilize the brain’s unconscious ability to identify and practice speech patterns.
If I don’t do grammar drills and learn all the rules, won’t I sound silly?
Admittedly, you will sound funny at first. Like a child might say, “I going play outside wif Adam.” With gentle correction and many experiences, it doesn’t take long before that child speaks fluently. In the same way, you cannot expect to avoid sounding funny! But you can expect that in a relatively short amount of time you will have built up enough meaningful encounters with words and their use that you will intuitively use them properly. Your nurturer will gently correct you as a parent would their small child. Through your willingness to sound silly, you will open a door to Tunisian people to help you and to know you.
Can this approach work for my children?
Yes, because this approach to language learning is based on our brain’s natural ways of learning language, it is perfect for children! We’ve helped many ex-pat families to have greater overall quality of life when their children feel a sense of belonging.