Michel Thomas programs without Michel Thomas?
We're all familiar by now with the range of "Michel Thomas Method" programs out there that have come out since his death: Mandarin, Japanese, Arabic, Dutch...
Unfortunately, the quality of these programs has varied somewhat. This is due in part to confusion over just what the Michel Thomas Method is. First of all, there's what the method is legally: The patent is for a system in which a teacher instructs two live students on audio and a home student is asked to participate by hitting the pause button and give responses as a third student. Then there is the Michel Thomas magic, which is different for everybody who enjoyed his courses.
Only people with the right paperwork can present a course the way the Michel Thomas Method audio courses are presented. His grab bag of tricks for making language learning easy, on the other hand, succeeds largely by its mix of pre-existing teaching and knowledge management techniques, not by one unique thing that would likely be patentable.
Some of the folks hanging out at the How To Learn Any Language forum have been talking about this, and at least one of them has made a course:
Michel Thomas Style Free Norwegian Course
If you go to the page, you'll find some rapidshare download links on the first and second pages. Sadly, the author had to quit after six lessons as he has a life of his own to live. This is probably the biggest problem with making your own MT, Pimsleur or other style lessons. Indeed, it can be hard enough to maintain your own studies, never mind prepare materials for others, if you don't have a full-time job in language curriculum development.
I listened to the first three of the six tracks last night, at any rate, and I'd say that Mads has done some nice stuff. In particular, he hit on the thing I liked best about MT courses: the use of building blocks so that you can make your own sentences with guidance, rather than just parroting other people's sentences. If you're interested in Norwegian, have a look. And if you're interested in something else, assuming you like the MT courses, why not think about how he would have taught the material? In particular, look for the building blocks you'd use to explain how to make pretty good sentences if you were trying to teach someone else what you'd learned so far. It's a good clarifying exercise, especially if you're at that phase where you understand all the readings but are having trouble saying things on your own.
Unfortunately, the quality of these programs has varied somewhat. This is due in part to confusion over just what the Michel Thomas Method is. First of all, there's what the method is legally: The patent is for a system in which a teacher instructs two live students on audio and a home student is asked to participate by hitting the pause button and give responses as a third student. Then there is the Michel Thomas magic, which is different for everybody who enjoyed his courses.
Only people with the right paperwork can present a course the way the Michel Thomas Method audio courses are presented. His grab bag of tricks for making language learning easy, on the other hand, succeeds largely by its mix of pre-existing teaching and knowledge management techniques, not by one unique thing that would likely be patentable.
Some of the folks hanging out at the How To Learn Any Language forum have been talking about this, and at least one of them has made a course:
Michel Thomas Style Free Norwegian Course
If you go to the page, you'll find some rapidshare download links on the first and second pages. Sadly, the author had to quit after six lessons as he has a life of his own to live. This is probably the biggest problem with making your own MT, Pimsleur or other style lessons. Indeed, it can be hard enough to maintain your own studies, never mind prepare materials for others, if you don't have a full-time job in language curriculum development.
I listened to the first three of the six tracks last night, at any rate, and I'd say that Mads has done some nice stuff. In particular, he hit on the thing I liked best about MT courses: the use of building blocks so that you can make your own sentences with guidance, rather than just parroting other people's sentences. If you're interested in Norwegian, have a look. And if you're interested in something else, assuming you like the MT courses, why not think about how he would have taught the material? In particular, look for the building blocks you'd use to explain how to make pretty good sentences if you were trying to teach someone else what you'd learned so far. It's a good clarifying exercise, especially if you're at that phase where you understand all the readings but are having trouble saying things on your own.