Language Institute of Georgia
CLASS STRUCTURE AND PRICING
Each course consists of 10 hours of classroom instruction. Class meets once a week for two hours for five weeks. The price of a five weeks online course is $250. Please check our schedule section for start dates. We use Graded Readers for building a strong vocabulary and a solid understanding of the structure of the Spanish language, both crucial to your speaking abilities.
You can reach us at 404 520 8754.
THOUSANDS OF SPANISH WORDS LEAVE YOUR MOUTH WHEN YOU SPEAK SPANISH
Your memory has to supply them. In order for your memory to do so, you have to feed your memory with these words. Old fashioned reading is the best way of doing so unless you are born or raised in a Spanish speaking environment.
Academia intentionally makes language learning problematic. Problems lead to research and research leads to funding. Research may be fake but dollars are real. Each year academia receives billions of dollars for modernizing its language learning systems. A less than honest entity sets the standards of foreign language education in the US. A less than honest entity trains language teachers. A language teacher can not be better than the system that trains her or him.
Widespread failure among language learners has its reason. Please explore our website.
FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF SPEAKING A LANGUAGE
"You can not speak a language that you do not understand".
Focus on understanding. It will pay off.
GRADED READERS ARE THE FASTEST WAY OF EXPANDING YOUR VOCABULARY
The more words you know, the better you speak. You see words repeatedly in their proper context and that helps greatly in retention.
WHY MOST LANGUAGE SCHOOLS FOCUS ON SPEAKING
Most language learners just want to speak. They do not want to struggle with developing a good understanding of the target language. It is far more easy for the language schools to make a sale when they say what their prospective buyers want to hear. Politicians win elections when they say what voters want to hear. Radio channels get higher ratings when they say what the listeners want to hear.
You need a lot of luck to speak a language that you do not understand. First things first. We focus on understanding. Once you understand, speaking will not be an issue. Truth has its ragged edges. We don't shy away from showing them.
YOU CAN NOT RETRIEVE WHAT YOU HAVE NOT STORED
When you read in Spanish, you store words in your memory.
When you speak Spanish, you retrieve words from your memory.
Thus reading in Spanish and speaking Spanish have a strong correlation. Those who have read 5 pages, do not see this correlation. Those you have read more than 500 pages in Spanish, do see a correlation between speaking and reading.
Corporate academia will show you the most expensive path, not the best one. Reading material is available for free.
UNDERSTANDING SPANISH WILL OPEN MANY DOORS FOR YOU
Once you understand Spanish, you start absorbing it. Once you start absorbing it, you start retaining it.
Once you start retaining it, you start speaking it. Speaking is all about recalling, which depends on retention.
We can give you this understanding in less than six months.
WHAT HAPPENS ONCE YOU HAVE READ 100 PAGES IN SPANISH
Your understanding of the language will improve.
Your vocabulary will expand.
Your retention of Spanish words and structures will improve.
Your confidence will improve.
All the above mentioned factors determine how well you can speak.
This is far better than mimicking phrases in a Conversational Spanish class.
BUT MY LANGUAGE PROFESSOR SAYS THAT SPEAKING IS THE BEST WAY OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE
This is not a logical argument.
What logical is that only those words can leave your mouth that you know. In normal conversations thousands of words are exchanged. Not only you have to know them but also retain them. Regardless of what language teachers say, knowing the language precedes speaking it.
WHY SHOULD I SIGN UP WITH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE OF GEORGIA ?
We are one of the very few language schools that use Graded Readers.
Graded Readers will give you an in depth understanding of the Spanish language. You will be able to build a wide variety of sentences to express yourself.
GRADED READERS VS A TYPICAL LANGUAGE TEACHER
A Graded Reader will show you the same words in multiple contexts, over and over. That will help you retain it. It is very natural to see a word and then forget it. By repeatedly seeing the same word, you will retain it permanently.
A typical language teacher will punish you for forgetting by labeling your intelligence with symbols like "B", "C" or even with "D" and "F". We pay thousands of dollars just to be judged by entities who have zero interest in our learning experience. Knowledge lies in the books not in the buildings. Those who own the buildings will tell you otherwise.
A Spanish storybook can teach you far more words than any Spanish teacher possibly can.
The more often you read or see something, the more it will stick
Simple as that. If you read a lot in Spanish, you will see words and structures again and again. Those words and structures will stick.
You can only use in speech what you have retained.
HOW GRADED READER CAN MAKE YOU A FLUENT SPEAKER OF SPANISH
Graded Reader Method will help you develop a good recognition of the Spanish language. Once you recognize it, you will retain it. Speaking is all about recalling which depends on retention.
YOU CAN NOT GIVE WHAT YOU DO NOT HAVE
When you speak Spanish, your memory gives you Spanish words. It has to have those words before it can give.
Graded Readers are a great way of putting Spanish words in your memory.
THE MORE WORDS YOU KNOW, THE BETTER YOU SPEAK
Adults speak at a rate of 100 words per minute. A thirty minute conversation can involve an exchange of 3000 words. If you do not want to run out of words, you better focus on building a strong vocabulary. We can help.
WHY ACADEMIA MODERNIZES THE LANGUAGE LEARNING SYSTEMS
Each year it receives billion of dollars from the government to modernize its language learning systems. This is in addition to billions of dollars it charges students for its borderline useless language courses. This modernization has taken academia far from the reality of language learning. No one suspects any foul play. Students take language courses to fulfill their degree requirements. Degrees have obscene price tags. Federal government lends more so that academia can charge more.
TALL BUILDINGS NEED DEEP FOUNDATIONS
The tall building is your speaking ability. The deep foundation is a solid understanding of the target language.
We sell foundation work. Our message may not be very exciting but it appeals to the serious language learners.
YOU CAN NOT DOWNLOAD LANGUAGE SKILLS
Old fashioned reading is far more powerful than all the technology based language learning systems combined.
FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH SPANISH, BEFORE TRYING TO SPEAK IT
It takes six months to familiarize yourself with the Spanish language via Graded Readers.
Most Spanish teachers will tell you "just speak it". Most Spanish teachers themselves have never learned Spanish as an adult.
Click on the text below for more on this.
IF YOU ONLY KNOW 1000 SPANISH WORDS, YOUR CONVERSATIONS WILL BE VERY CHOPPY
Choppy conversations are stressful, not only for you but also for your conversational partner.
Reading expands vocabulary.
We can teach you to read in Spanish, with comprehension, in less than six months.
HOW A RITUAL CAN MAKE YOU A FLUENT SPEAKER OF SPANISH
That ritual is reading a page in Spanish every day. It only takes 15 to 20 minutes.
Each page has 200 Spanish words. If you read at a rate of one page per day for one year, you get 73,000 reinforcements (365 X 200). 73,000 reinforcements can make you a fluent speaker.
Reading material is available for free.
WHY WIDESPREAD FAILURE AMONG LANGUAGE LEARNERS DOES NOT BOTHER ACADEMIA
A major university in Atlanta, sells a language course for around $2000. It could easily be more. Once it manages to sign up 30 students in a language class, it collects $60,000. It pays usually around $3000 to an adjunct professor or an instructor to teach the class for an entire semester. You do the math. It is close to 2000% profit. Corporate minded academia is very happy with the current state of foreign language education in the US. It makes an obscene amount of money while failing language students en masse. It also sets the "standards" of foreign language education in the US. Not following these standards can lead to success.
WHEN IT COMES TO SPEAKING, QUALITY OF RETENTION MATTERS
You improve the quality of retention, when you repeatedly see the same words, in different contexts, over an extended period of time. When you read consistently, you run into the same words over and over and that improves the quality of retention in your memory.
People who say that reading has nothing to do with speaking, usually have read less than 5 pages. We are talking here about reading 500 pages. You can accomplish this in less than one year.
HOW GRADER READERS CAN HELP YOU BUILD A STRONG VOCABULARY
When you see words repeatedly in different contexts, over an extended period of time, they become an integral part of your memory. Once 2000 Spanish words are an integral part of your memory, speaking will be a breeze.
BREAKING THE CYCLE OF FAILURE
Language students, following the advice of their teachers, try to speak a language that they have not learned yet. In other words they try to speak a language that they do not know. They fail and give up, assuming that the language teachers can not be wrong. They blame themselves for their failure.
If you only know 10 words, you can not speak much, no matter how smart you are.
Expand your vocabulary via reading in Spanish. Improve the retention level of words in your memory via reading. Speaking will follow.
The more you know, the better you speak. Reading expands vocabulary. Speaking Spanish is fun if you have a vocabulary of more than 2000 Spanish words.
CATCH 22 AND SPEAKING PRACTICE
If you can not speak, you can not practice speaking either.
If you can speak, you would not worry about speaking practice.
Focus on absorbing the language via reading and listening, speaking will not be an issue. Input = output, regardless of what most language teachers will tell you.
HOW LEARNING GRAMMAR IS INCORPORATED IN THE GRADED READER METHOD
You repeatedly use rules of grammar to figure out the meaning of the sentences. The sentences then combine to create a story for you. Going through a Spanish story is an very enjoyable experience plus you expand vocabulary and acquire a good command of the structure of the language. This enables you to build your own sentences and hence speak.
We have six level of Graded Readers. Level 1 for beginners and level 6 for advanced learners.
OUR REVIEWS ARE DESCRIPTIVE
They are worth reading.
WHY YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON BUILDING A STRONG VOCABULARY BEFORE TRYING TO SPEAK
Let's say you want to open a shoe store. Would you not stock a wide variety of shoes to sell to a wide variety of customers ?
In the same way you should store a wide variety of words in your memory for a wide variety of situations.
THE IMPACT OF READING ONE PAGE IN SPANISH
You will learn several new words and will improve the retention level of the words that you already know. This will bring you one step closer to speaking. These are small steps. 500 steps will get you to point where you will start speaking.
Sadly most language learners want to learn at the speed of light. They will rather buy a technology based language learning system.
Companies selling technology based language learning systems have made billions of dollars in sales in the US. Why these buyers are not speaking another language ?
WE WILL MAKE YOUR MIND POROUS FOR SPANISH
Regardless of what most language teachers will tell you, you have to absorb the language to a certain extent, before you can speak.
IMPRESSION BASED DECISIONS VS LOGIC BASED DECISIONS
An example of an impression based decision is to assume that if a language professor said something about language learning, it has to be right since a language professor can not be wrong. Most of them will tell you to speak a language that you have not learned yet, a recipe for failure. Your ability to speak is not their focus. Their focus is to bring money in form of grants into the universities.
An example of logic based thinking is to ask yourself, can I speak a language without knowing it ? Can I carry on a conversation without understanding my conversational partner ? Can I express my thoughts in Spanish without being able to build my own sentences ? Can I have a sustainable conversation without a strong vocabulary ?
READING IN SPANISH PREVENTS YOU FROM MAKING MISTAKES
When you read extensively, you go through numerous examples of correctly built sentences. This enables you to build your own sentences correctly. Reading improves both quantity and the quality of your Spanish.
THE REASON MOST CONVERSATIONAL SPANISH CLASSES DO NOT WORK
Repeating phrases after the teacher does not teach you how to build your own sentences, a key requirement for speaking.
A GREAT METAPHOR
We run into many, many students who think that reading has not much to do with speaking.
If you travel for a few miles, you will think that the earth is flat. If you travel 24,000 miles, in the same direction, you will come back to your starting point and would realize that earth is round. In exactly the same way, if you read few pages, you can conclude that reading has nothing to do with speaking (earth is flat). If you read a few hundred pages, you start seeing that reading has everything to do with speaking (earth is round and it is true).
Modern academia is an archenemy of reading in foreign languages. Academia is not a friend of students. If it were so, it would not charge them an obscene amount of tuition. It would not sell them jobless majors.
IF MONEY COULD BUY LANGUAGE SKILLS
Most Americans would be speaking multiple languages fluently. Language industry consumes $30 billion dollars each year in the US without producing any tangible results. There is a concerted move in academia to push reading out of foreign language curriculum. For the sake of your language skills, give some thought to the language learning process.
A TESTIMONIAL
"Having taken Spanish classes and also online training (Rosetta and others), I was discouraged- I hated memorizing lists of words, conjugating verbs, etc. The Language Institute's method of READING and comprehension is so much more enjoyable, more natural to how I learn, and it's working. It really is silly to memorize or repeat words you don't remember or use in context over and over in the hopes it sticks. By reading real stories, you begin to learn context and the stories themselves help you 'figure' out words you are not familiar with. I actually don't mind studying on my own, and find that I am retaining things more naturally. Using the methods taught here you can begin teaching yourself outside of class- using anything and everything you find written in Spanish as material to learn from."
- Keith Petroni
THE PROFILE OF OUR STUDENTS
They see value in reading. They read and they see real results.
WHY MOST SPANISH TEACHERS DO NOT EMPHASISE READING
Most Spanish teachers themselves have never learned Spanish as an adult. They will tell you "just speak it."
MOST OF OUR REVENUE COMES FROM EXISTING CUSTOMERS
Our students see progress and sign up for the next level.
CORPORATE MODEL OF EDUCATION AND YOUR PAST LANGUAGE LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Three tenets of Corporate Model of Education are as follows.
Charge students as much as you can. Revenues need to be increased.
Pay teachers as little as possible. Costs need to be controlled.
Sell students jobless majors. Do not worry. Student counselors will make them believe that they are cool majors.
Invent language learning theories and get billions of dollars in research grants.
Academia needs money to invest billion of dollars in funds, buy property, pay wide variety of vice chancellors extremely high salaries.
Academia sets the standards of foreign language education. These standards support the above mentioned language learning theories. Modern academia is not what its leaders portray it to be in graduation ceremonies. Many language learners blame themselves for their failure. In the blame game the big guy always win.
A TESTIMONIAL
"I've been learning Spanish with the graded reader method at the Language Institute of Georgia for about 6 months now and I love it. The graded reader method actually enhances fluency and re-enforces sentence structure so that you remember it rather than the traditional method of just memorizing vocabulary. Highly recommend giving it a try."
- Elizabeth Rawlings
THE ROAD MAP
When you read a page written in Spanish, with comprehension, you get at least 200 reinforcements.
If you read one page, every day, for one year, you get at least 73,000 reinforcements. 73,000 reinforcements are enough to make you a fluent speaker. It takes, on the average, 15 minutes for a language learner to read a page.
We can teach you how to read a page written in Spanish, with comprehension, in less than three months.
4 YEARS OF HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH AND STILL CAN NOT SPEAK ?
Language learning texts are written with the purpose of testing and grading. They are not very effective when it comes to teaching how to build your own sentences. Going through Graded Readers will teach you how to build your own sentences and you will be able to speak.
WHY YOU NEED TO BUILD A WIDE VARIETY OF SENTENCES
Adults speak at a rate of 100 words per minute. A thirty minute conversation can involve an exchange of 3000 words. If we assume each sentence to be six words long, we are talking here about an exchange of 500 sentences. Assuming a balanced conversation, you have to build 250 sentences and understand 250 sentences. You can not do so, unless you have a good command of the target language.
READING IMPROVES THE QUALITY OF YOUR SPANISH
You learn new words and you improve the retention level of words that you already know.
Poor retention is the most common cause of not being able to speak.
Poor retention also prevents you from speaking practice. In order to practice speaking, you have to recall words. You can only recall, what you have retained.
REAL CONVERSATIONS VS REHEARSED CONVERSATIONS
In a rehearsed conversation, you repeat sentences after the teacher. In a real conversation, you have to build your own sentences.
In a rehearsed conversation, you repeat few phrases after the teacher. In a real conversation, you have to build hundred of sentences.
Rehearsed conversations do not prepare you for speaking.
TOTAL IMMERSION = TOTAL CONFUSION
Few things in life are so absurd that you can not even argue against them. One such thing is Total Immersion for adult language learners.
When you are starting out to learn a new language, you will come across a wide variety of unknown words and structures. In order for these to make sense, someone has to explain them. Not only once, but multiple times. Things can only be explained in a language that you can understand. In our case it is the English language.
Many times in a language class, there are students from different language backgrounds. The teacher can not speak multiple languages in the same class. Association of language teachers decided to immerse the class in the language of the teacher. So the language teachers solved their problem by creating one for the students.
So many language teachers use immersion that it seems to be a real language learning method. Nothing can be further than truth. Academia is great at creating illusions. It creates an illusion of the cost of education while paying adjunct professors $15 an hour. Majority of the classes in a university are taught by adjuncts.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU START YOUR LANGUAGE LEARNING JOURNEY VIA READING
You learn new words. You reinforce the words that you already know. If you keep on reading, you soon reach a point where you start speaking as well.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU START YOUR LANGUAGE LEARNING JOURNEY VIA SPEAKING
You will be stuck. It really is very hard to speak a language that you do not know. In sports you can practice on day one. This does not work with languages. You can not speak a language that you do not know.
READING BASED LEARNING VS CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
Learning under the fear of a bad grade stifles curiosity and passion. Curiosity and passion are two hallmarks of excellence in learning.
In a typical classroom, your learning revolves around the need of a teacher to test and grade. Reading is the most efficient way of acquiring knowledge for adults. Speaking a foreign language is a knowledge based activity. The more words you know, the longer you can speak. Reading also improves retention level of words in your memory, as mentioned several times in this website.
WHY I HAVE NOT HEARD OF GRADED READER METHOD ?
Academia in the US uses corporate model of education. It will show you the most expensive path not the best.
Just google "Graded Readers". You will find a ton of information.
THREE SECRETS OF BECOMING A FLUENT SPEAKER OF SPANISH
Read in Spanish. Read in Spanish. Read in Spanish.
Contrary to what you have been told, reading has everything to do with speaking.
I DO NOT WANT TO STRUGGLE WITH DEVELOPING AN UNDERSTANDING OF SPANISH. I JUST WANT TO SPEAK SPANISH
This exactly is the reason language industry does not talk about developing a solid understanding of the language in its marketing material. It will say, what most people want to hear.
You will need a lot of luck to speak a language that you do not understand.
LEARNING SPANISH IS FUN VIA GRADED READERS
You enjoy going through interesting, easy to understand stories while learning and retaining Spanish words and structures. There are six levels of Graded Readers. Once you reach level 4, you can read almost anything written in Spanish. Another advantage of being literate before trying to speak, is that you are far more likely to speak a language that you know.
GRADED READER METHOD IS A VERY HOLISTIC WAY OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE
In Graded Reader Method, you focus on developing a good overall understanding of the language. A good understanding forms the basis of speaking and listening. Many experts say that in order to be a good conversationalist, you should be listening 75% of the time. You can only listen to what you can understand. Do not underestimate the value of understanding.
GRADED READERS ARE THE FASTEST WAY OF EXPANDING YOUR VOCABULARY
You will also see the same words, over and over, in different contexts and this will result in improved retention.
TECHNOLOGY CAN NOT SOLVE ALL THE PROBLEMS
Once such problem is learning a foreign language.
Technology for knowledge transfer does not exit. Until then reading is your best bet.
A COMMON BIAS AGAINST READING: "READING IS PASSIVE"
Reading may look like a passive activity to the onlooker, but the reader is actively combining words to extract meaning out of the sentences. When you speak, you combine words to build your own sentences.
The reader is also improving the retention level of words in her or his memory. Speaking is all about recalling, which depends on retention.
Academia will only promote dependency on its language learning systems. In corporate model of education, selling is far more important than the learning experience of the students.
DEVELOPING A SENSE FOR THE SPANISH LANGUAGE
This sense enables you to use the right word at the right moment. As an adult, you can develop this sense by reading in Spanish.
You do not develop this sense by repeating phrases after the teacher in a "Conversational Spanish" class.
WHY ACADEMIA DOES NOT PROMOTE READING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Reading material is available for free. Academia is far more interested in selling than teaching.
WHO TELLS YOU HOW LANGUAGES SHOULD BE LEARNED
It is an entity that collects 30 billion dollars under the pretext of teaching foreign languages.(Education is a trillion dollar entity. 3% of it belongs to foreign languages). It pays a very tiny fraction of this amount to the language teachers. It sets the "standards" of the foreign language education in the US. It also "trains" the language teachers.
Since the dawn of the mankind, money has been equated to wisdom. Academia is indeed wise when it comes to "teaching" foreign languages. Since most students are not as rich as academia, they blame themselves for their failure to learn a foreign language.
WHAT WILL I LEARN IN THE BASIC SPANISH CLASS ?
You will familiarize yourself with 400 commonly used Spanish words. You will be introduced to a wide variety of language structures. Your comfort level with Spanish will improve. This course will prepare you for the intermediate level classes.
WILL I BE ABLE TO SPEAK SPANISH AFTER TAKING THE BASIC SPANISH CLASS ?
In order to speak Spanish, you need to have at least 2000 Spanish words in your core memory. Although our basic Spanish class is a good start, it is not enough to make you a fluent speaker. Speaking happens once you reach intermediate level 3 or 4.
I TOOK FOUR YEARS OF HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH AND STILL CAN NOT SPEAK ?
The focus of high school Spanish is on testing and grading. It does not teach you how to build your own sentences. Graded Readers will teach you how to build your own sentences, a key requirement for real conversations.
LEARNING ON A NEED TO KNOW BASIS
The need is defined as going through a complete and an interesting story. In our basic Spanish class, you go through a complete novel written with 400 unique words. You will actually be using the words and the structures to get to the story. This will result in improved retention.
IMPRESSION BASED DECISIONS VS LOGIC BASED DECISIONS
In making an impression based decision, you would think that a major university or a language school can not be wrong about language learning. You do not pay any attention to the method employed by the language school.
In logic based decisions, you scrutinize the language learning method. You do not worry about the size of the school. Rich entities make quite an impression. Language schools are rich because most language learners do not think before signing up. Language departments are rich because they can force students to sign up for language courses. The students have to take these courses to fulfill their degree requirements. Another reason they are rich is that they pay a miserable salary to most language teachers.
TO DO LESS AND EXPECT MORE IS A RECIPE FOR FAILURE
Many students, after reading five pages of Spanish, get upset on not being able to speak. Reading 500 pages in Spanish can lead to speaking. Reading 5 pages can not lead to speaking. You need a lot of reinforcements.
READING IS A DYING ART
Modern academia is an arch enemy of reading in a foreign language. It is responsible for the widespread failure among the language learners. Its focus is to sell expensive language courses and language learning texts. Most people think that it is acting in their best interests.
FORGETTING IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF LEARNING
You will relate a word to its meaning and most likely forget it. This will happen couple of times and after that the word or a structure will become an integral part of your memory. You need this for speaking. You do not have to worry about forgetting. If you forget something, you will see it again. That is how Graded Readers are designed. Repetition is the key to learning.
In a traditional class, you will be punished for forgetting. The teacher will label your intelligence with symbols like 'B', 'C', 'D' or 'F'.
Sadly these days most teachers are testers and graders. Many of them do not inspire you to learn further.
HOW MUCH SPEAKING CAN I EXPECT IN THE BASIC SPANISH CLASS ?
Speaking involves building a wide variety of sentences at a moment's notice. Beginners can not do so. We do not force beginners to do something that they can not.
WOULD I BE IMMERSED IN SPANISH ?
Being immersed in a language that you do not understand is not going to do you any good. In the beginning you will have questions and these questions can only be answered in a language that you can understand, namely English.
WHY SHOULD NOT I SIGN UP FOR A CONVERSATION BASED CLASS ?
In these classes you will repeat phrases after the teacher. In real world you will run out of phrases in less than 30 seconds. Your ability to carry on a sustained conversation depends on your ability to build your own sentences.
STRUCTURE OF OUR INTERMEDIATE LEVEL SPANISH CLASSES
Our intermediate Spanish I class introduces you to 700 unique words. It focuses on the past tense as well. Past tense is extremely important from a conversational point of view. We talk about our experiences which lie in the past. Again you will see these words used in wide variety of contexts. This will improve retention. Retention is the key to speaking.
Our intermediate Spanish II class introduces you to 1000 unique Spanish words. Our intermediate level III introduces you to 1500 Spanish words and our intermediate level IV to 2000 unique Spanish words. Once you know 2000 Spanish words, you can carry on sustainable conversations.
THERE IS A FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPORTS AND LEARNING A LANGUAGE
In sports, practice plays a much bigger role than knowledge.
In speaking a language, knowledge plays a much bigger role than practice.
Most language teachers will tell you practice, practice, practice. They will not advise you to acquire knowledge. Reading expands knowledge. This is the reason we focus on teaching students how to read. We know that reading is not very popular in the era of language learning gadgets. Companies selling those gadgets have made billions in sales. You do not see even a tiny fraction of these buyers speak another language. Blind faith in technology helps these companies to sell their systems.
STAGE 1: FAMILIARIZING YOURSELF WITH SPANISH
At this stage you familiarize yourself with a wide variety of Spanish language structures that you will be using when speaking. You will also familiarize yourself with 2000 commonly used Spanish words. Your comfort level with the Spanish language will increase. Speaking will be hard at his stage. Once you have gone through certain number of reinforcements (stage 2), you will be able to speak. Going through 5 Graded Readers will get you through this stage.
The rule of retention says that you have to see or hear a known word, 20 to 25 times, before it is retained permanently. Only then you can use it in speech.
Retention will follow. 2000 Spanish words will be known entities and you can apply the above rule in the next stage.
STAGE 2: GETTING THE NECESSARY REINFORCEMENTS
You have to relate a word or a language structure, 20 to 25 times, to its meaning before it is retained permanently. You need to retain at least 2000 Spanish words permanently before you can have a meaningful conversation. Going through 10 Graded Readers will get you through this stage. You can go through these 10 Graded Readers on your own because of the skills acquired at stage 1.
GRADED READER METHOD IS A VERY EFFICIENT WAY OF LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
It is the fastest way of expanding your vocabulary. It is the fastest way of improving the retention level of words in your memory. Both of these factors determine how well you can speak.
TRY OUR ONE HOUR SAMPLE SPANISH CLASS
It is a great way to see if Graded Reader Method is right for you. It costs $25.00 and you can sign up for it via schedule section.
PARTIAL RETENTION VS FULL RETENTION
If you have related a Spanish word to its meaning between 1 to 10 times, you get a partial retention. You can recognize partially retained words but you can not recall them fast enough to use it in speech. For that you need full retention.
If you have related a Spanish word to its meaning between 20 to 25 times, over an extended period of time, you get a full retention. If you read 500 pages in Spanish, you would retain commonly used words permanently and will be able to carry on sustainable conversations.
Many language learners say that they can read but can not speak. These students usually have read few pages and have partially retained words in their memory. We have had many students who have claimed that they can read and they would like to focus on speaking. When we make them take a simple reading test, we find out that they struggle with comprehending even a simple text. In other words they had a hard time recognizing Spanish. You can not speak a language that you don't even recognize.
GRADED READERS ARE THE FASTEST WAY OF DEVELOPING A SOLID UNDERSTANDING OF SPANISH
Within six months you will have a very good understanding of the Spanish language. No other language learning system comes even close to Graded Reader Method in this regard.
YOU DO NOT WANT TO RUN OUT OF WORDS WHILE SPEAKING SPANISH
Reading expands vocabulary. It really is that simple.
I AM INTERESTED IN SPEAKING. WHY SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT UNDERSTANDING ?
You can not have a conversation without understanding your conversational partner.
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS LEAD TO SUCCESS
It takes six months to develop a good understanding of the target language. It takes another six months of reinforcements to get to a point where you can start speaking. We are very transparent about what we offer. The assumption here is that you spend 2 to 3 hours of study per week in addition to the class. Please read our reviews. Our students have described their learning experience in them.
LEARNING BY EXAMPLES
When you read with comprehension, you go through a wide variety of sentences. Seeing numerous examples of how sentences should be built gradually develops an ability to build your own sentences.
In order to see a correlation between speaking and reading you have to read a few hundred pages. Even if you have no background in Spanish, we can get you to a point where you can read in Spanish, with comprehension, in less than three months. After that it is recommended that you go through 10 Graded Readers on your own. That corresponds to about 500 pages. You can accomplish this is less than one year.
THE CONCEPT OF SPACED REINFORCEMENTS
You have to relate a word, on the average, 25 times to its meaning, over an extended period of time in order to retain it permanently. You can not relate a word to its meaning 25 times in one day and retain it. It has to happen on 25 different days. Graded Readers are designed around this principle. Going through 10 Graded Readers will result in a great improvement in your Spanish skills. For more information just google "Graded Readers".
SOMETHING UNIQUE ABOUT OUR REVIEWS
Many reviews are full of words like great, amazing, outstanding, superb etc. and five stars.
If you read our reviews they are much more descriptive. You can tell that they originate from real language learning experiences.
WHY LITERACY BEFORE SPEAKING ?
You are far more likely to speak a language that you know.
WHO IS MORE LIKELY TO HAVE A SUSTAINABLE CONVERSATION IN SPANISH ?
A. A person who has only 20 Spanish words in her or his core memory.
B. A person who has 2000 Spanish words in her or his core memory.
If your answer is B, we can help you get 2000 Spanish words in your core memory.
Reading expands vocabulary. Reading improves the retention level of words in your memory. Reading leads to speaking.
HOW WOULD I LEARN GRAMMAR ?
When going through a wide variety of sentences, the teacher will explain how the rules of grammar are applied in the sentence construction. Learning a rule of grammar and seeing it applied will help you appreciate the language structures better.
Language learning texts are written for the purpose of testing and grading. They do not teach you how to build your own sentences. When you go through Graded Readers, you will learn how to build a wide variety of sentences.
WHY YOU SHOULD BE READING IN SPANISH
A well written, level appropriate, Spanish book can teach you far more words than any Spanish teacher possibly can.
THREE THINGS NEED TO HAPPEN BEFORE YOU CAN USE A WORD IN SPEECH
1. You have to know what the word means.
2. You have to know how to use it in a wide variety of sentences.
3. You have to retain it permanently.
You need to internalize at least 2000 Spanish words in order to carry on a sustainable conversation. We can help you achieve this goal.
SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE READ A LOT
Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Cuban and many more read at least 3 hours per day. They read to learn new ideas to improve their businesses. You, as a language learner, should be learning new words via reading. We communicate via words, the more words we know, the better we speak. Reading expands vocabulary. Please don't listen to what most language teachers will tell you. Do what makes sense.
THE REASON WE FOCUS ON UNDERSTANDING
You can not have a conversation unless you can understand your conversational partner.
Understanding also allows you to absorb the language. You have to absorb before you can emit (speak).
SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT IS THE BEST MOTIVATION
Going through 10 Graded Readers will give you a sense of accomplishment.
GRADED READER METHOD IS AN INPUT BASED LANGUAGE LEARNING METHOD
First you spend six months developing a good understanding of the Spanish language.
Then you spend another six months on reading and listening. After that speaking Spanish becomes a reality.
We all learn our first language via input not via speaking practice. That makes Graded Reader Method a very natural way of learning a foreign language.
WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE
In the context of learning a foreign language, reading is the path of least resistance. You can choose an easy to understand book and with the help of a dictionary and a grammar reference book, you can read and learn new words. If you are learning a foreign language, learning new words is extremely important. If your vocabulary is less than 2000 words, speaking is going to be very hard.
If you are a beginner or a low intermediate level student, speaking is the path of most resistance. It will tire you sooner than you think. Trying to speak a language that you do not know is going to lead to failure. Premature speaking is the most common cause of failure among language learners. Language teachers will typically tell you, speak, speak speaking is the best way of learning a language. Nothing can be further than truth. Listen to logic not to the language teachers.
WHY MOST LANGUAGE LEARNING SYSTEMS DON'T TAKE YOU FAR
When a language learning system is created, the language is broken into pieces. Words and structures lose context and thus become harder to retain.
Learning via stories is a great idea. Stories give you context. Stories give you reinforcements. Both are important for retention. Without retention you can not speak because you can only recall what you have retained.
Stories in form of Graded Readers are available for all level of language learners.
WHAT A FAMOUS POLYGOT HAS TO SAY ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING
"Whenever I am asked how I was able to succeed in many languages in a relatively short period of time, I always make a bow in spirit to the source of all knowledge: books.
My advice to learners can thus be expressed in one word: read!"
-Kato' Lomb, the polyglot
This polyglot was fluent in 18 languages. She did not use any language learning technology. Just simple old fashioned reading. I can have sustainable conversations in five languages. I grew up with two. The other three I learned via reading. I believe 100% in what Kato' Lomb, the famous Hungarian polyglot, has to say about learning a foreign language. We teach beginners how to reading in Spanish or German with comprehension. This is our specialty.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE BOILS DOWN TO ONE WORD
Preparation.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM VS REAL WISDOM
Conventional wisdom will tell you that speaking is the best way of learning a language.
Real wisdom will tell you that you can not speak unless you can understand your conversational partner.
Real wisdom will tell you that you can not speak unless you can build a wide variety of sentences.
Real wisdom will tell you that you need some preparation before you can speak.
Language industry focuses on speaking, not on the preparation. Talking about speaking is far more likely to attract students than talking about the struggle to develop a good understanding of the target language.
Conventional wisdom is created by the powerful to control the mind of the masses. Independent thinking can get you great result.
WHY YOU SHOULD DIG DEEPER TO FIND THE TRUTH ABOUT LANGUAGE LEARNING
Because you will not find this truth in the marketing scripts of the language companies.
Universities distort language learning process, because it makes language learning problematic. Problems lead to research and research leads to funding. Research may be fake but the funding is real.
It is the same academia that would take money from tobacco companies and publish studies that lung cancer has nothing to do with smoking. Lying about language learning does not have any serious consequences, so academia gets away with it.
THE ILLUSORY TRUTH EFFECT
When we hear the same false information repeated again and again, we often come to believe it is true.
Language industry uses this psychological principle to sell language learning technology. Many of us believe that technology can make everything faster. Technology can make trains, airplanes and computers faster but not language learning. Technology for knowledge transfer does not exist. Till then reading is your best bet. Speaking a language is a knowledge based activity.
ONCE YOU CAN BUILD YOUR OWN SENTENCES, SPEAKING WILL NOT BE A PROBLEM
Graded Readers can get you to a point where you can build your own sentences in Spanish.
WE ARE LIVING IN A WORLD OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
The cause is the ability to understand your conversational partner, the effect is speaking.
The cause is your ability to build a wide variety of sentences, the effect is speaking.
The cause precedes effect.
Focus first on understanding the language. Focus first on developing an ability to build your own sentences.
The marketing scripts of the language companies can defy the law of cause and effect. It is in your best interest not to do so.
WHY SO MANY LANGUAGE LEARNERS FAIL TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN THE US
They blindly follow the advice of their language teachers and try to speak a language that they do not know.
Getting to know the language is a stage in learning a foreign language that most language schools ignore.
IT DOES NOT DEPEND ON HOW SMART YOU ARE. IT DOES NOT DEPEND ON WHICH LANGUAGE LEARNING TECHNOLOGY YOU HAVE USED
Speaking depends on how many Spanish words you know.
Even a third grader knows that reading expands vocabulary. Reading material, in form of Graded Readers, is available for all level of language learners.
OUR SENTENCE BUILDING PRACTICE
Once you reach intermediate level classes, you will be asked to modify sentences. This will train you to build your own sentences. You will be having your own conversations and for that you need to build your own sentences.
KNOWING THE LIMITATIONS OF YOUR MEMORY IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS
You will relate a Spanish word to its meaning and you will forget it. It will happen many many times before you can retain the word permanently. You will forget 20 to 25 times, before you can retain a word or a structure well enough to use it in speech.
Bob Proctor, a famous motivational speaker, once said that the only reason we know what out name is that someone repeated our name over and over to us. Repetitions are the key. Graded Readers are rich in repetitions.
WHY WE ARE SO AFRAID OF FORGETTING ?
What happens if you forget something while taking a test ? You can get a bad grade. Your intelligence is stigmatized forever. This is the problem with our educational system. Instead of focusing on the learning experience of the students, it focuses on testing and grading.
This is the beauty of reading based learning. No fear of forgetting, because you know that you will see the same word or structure again. Repetitions are a remedy for forgetting. Forgetting is an integral part of learning. Many teachers, who are only interested in asserting themselves, would embarrass you for forgetting. Verbally or by giving you a bad grade. Make books your teacher. You will be doing yourself a great favor.
We are not saying that you can become a surgeon by reading a book on anatomy. Reading works very well for subjects like Spanish. If you follow rules of pronunciation, which can fit on one page, you will be fine. As an adult language learner, you will have an accent. Correct pronunciation is more important than accent. I have a mild accent in English but I am understood by native speakers almost all the times.
WHY YOU SHOULD USE GRADED READERS
Graded Readers are rich in reinforcements. Reinforcements lead to retention. Speaking is all about recalling the right words at the right time. Recalling depends on retention.
LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE IS ALL ABOUT PUTTING NEW WORDS AND STRUCTURES IN YOUR MEMORY
Nothing does it faster than reading with comprehension.
THE REASON WE FOCUS ON UNDERSTANDING SPANISH
It is impossible to have a conversation without understanding your conversational partner.
WHY WRITERS READ A LOT ?
They are always looking for better ways of saying things.
WHY LANGUAGE LEARNERS NEED TO READ A LOT
They need to learn new words and reinforce the words that they already know. You are far more likely to use reinforced words in speech. You have to see a word between 20 to 25 times, in different contexts, over extended period of time (six months), to be able to recall it and use it in speech. Graded Readers are designed for this purpose.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU KNOW ONLY 10 SPANISH WORDS
You can not say much. What is the point of speaking when you can not say much ?
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU KNOW 2000 SPANISH WORDS
You can say interesting things. Speaking would make sense at this stage.
THREE THINGS THAT MANY LANGUAGE LEARNERS IGNORE
Reading expands vocabulary. Reading expands vocabulary. Reading expands vocabulary.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO DEVELOP A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE ?
Six months with Graded Readers.
HOW MANY LANGUAGE LEARNERS FAIL TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN THE US
They thoughtlessly follow the advice of their language teachers and try to speak a language that they do not know. Trying to speak a language that you do not know would result in failure. Then they blame themselves or their fate for failing to learn a foreign language. Rarely it occurs to them that the language teachers can be wrong too.
ANOTHER BENEFIT OF UNDERSTANDING SPANISH
It allows you to absorb Spanish via reading and listening. You need to absorb the language to a certain extent before you can speak it.
FAMILIARIZING WITH 2000 COMMONLY USED SPANISH WORDS
Adults speak at a rate of 100 words per minute. A thirty minute conversation can involve an exchange of 3000 words. A minimum vocabulary of 2000 Spanish words is recommended. Going through 5 Graded Readers will get you there.
Poor vocabulary is the most common cause of not being able to speak.
THE KAIZEN PRINCIPLE
The Kaizen principle states that small improvements over an extended period of time can lead to amazing results.
APPLYING THE KAIZEN PRINCIPLE TO LEARNING SPANISH
When you read a page written in Spanish, with the help of a dictionary, you learn new words and reinforce words that you already know. This is a small improvement. If you read one page a day in Spanish for one year, you can get amazing results.
YOU CAN NOT PRACTICE SPEAKING A LANGUAGE THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW
Get to know the language first. Graded Readers are a great way to be introduced to a foreign language.
READING A BOOK IN SPANISH VS A TYPICAL SPANISH CLASS
A typical Spanish class can teach you a few Spanish words. Reading a book in Spanish can teach you thousands of words.
There is a concerted move in academia to push reading out of foreign language curriculum. Language classes pump billons of dollars into the pocket of academia. Reading material is available for free. Even if you are an absolute beginner, we can teach you to read with comprehension in less than six months.
GRADED READERS USE THE CONCEPT OF SPACED REPITITIONS
When you learn new Spanish words or structures, you will forget them fast. They need to be periodically reinforced. Typically you have to see a Spanish word or a Spanish structure, 20 to 25 times, before it is internalized. Once internalized, you can use it with ease in speech.
Graded Readers will repeatedly show you the same words and structures in different contexts and that helps greatly with retention.
Speaking depends on recalling which depends upon retention. We encourage you to explore our website which describes Graded Reader Method in detail.
A TESTIMONIAL
"I’ve been trying the graded reader method and have enjoyed and learned a lot more from it then from many other ways I’ve tried to learn Spanish. In the past, I’ve tried Rosetta Stone, high school classes, reading print magazines, web articles etc. I did like Rosetta Stone by the way it taught as we all learn languages but it was hard to advance beyond a few phrases. High school was too grammar-based and frankly boring. Print and web articles were just a little too advanced which became frustrating and I lost interest. With the graded reader method, it gets you started without being too basic but keeps you interested by telling a story. The level 1 books will repeat words throughout the story so you will see a lot of the same words over and over so you really get to remember a word in a natural context. No grammar rules that slow you down but you will learn naturally the rules by reading. Like any worthwhile endeavor, it still takes time and effort but it so much more enjoyable in my opinion than any other way I’ve learned before."
- Brian.
A COMMON MYTH: "READING IS A PASSIVE ACTIVITY"
To a casual observer reading may seem passive. If you take a deeper look, a reader is actively putting words together to get meaning out of the sentences. The reader is gradually improving the retention level of words in her or his memory. Those who read a lot are also better speakers.
FLUENCY IS IN YOUR MIND, NOT IN YOUR TONGUE
It is your mind that builds Spanish sentences. It is your mind that understands your conversational partner. Your tongue only vocalizes the sentences provided to it by your mind.
Reading in Spanish will feed your mind.
WHY CONVERSATION BASED CLASSES DO NOT WORK SO WELL
Repeating phrases after a language teacher does not teach you how to build your own sentences, a key element of being conversational.
ARE THESE SPANISH ONLY CLASSES ?
No, we explain things in English, a language that our students can understand. You have to understand the Spanish structures before you can use them to build your own sentences. In order to make them understandable, we explain them in English.
WHAT YOU WILL GET FOR YOUR TIME AND MONEY
You will develop a solid understanding of the Spanish language in less than six months.
This understanding will enable you to absorb Spanish via reading and listening.
You have to absorb the language to a certain extent before you can speak it.
READING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE WILL MAKE YOU SPEAK IT AS WELL
Reading expands vocabulary.
Reading improves the retention level of words in your memory.
Both of these aspects are vital to your speaking ability.
BUT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CAN READ BUT STILL CAN NOT SPEAK
These people have usually read 5 pages in Spanish. If you read 500 pages, you will see the difference.
RATIONAL THINKING + PATIENCE = SUCCESS
Language industry wants you to see things through the lens of your desires. That desire is to find a system that can make you a fluent speaker in no time and with no effort. Great promises lead to great sales, this is especially true when selling to impulse buyers. Just like politicians would win elections by telling voters what they want to hear.
For finding the truth, you have to dig deeper. This website can help you.
GRADED READERS TAKE BOREDOM OUT OF REPITITIONS
Since Graded Readers are interesting stories, you see the same words in different sentences. The words may be the same, but you see them in different contexts and at a different stage in the story. Words fulfill a need and are thus far more likely to be retained. When you see Spanish words combine to build your personal experience, you are far more likely to retain them. The story becomes your personal experience.
SPEAKING A LANGUAGE IS A KNOWLEDGE BASED ACTIVITY
Adults speak at a rate of 100 words per minute. A thirty minute conversation would involve an exchange of 3000 words. If we assume each sentence to be six words long, on the average, we are talking about an exchange of 500 sentences. In a balanced conversation, you will have to build 250 sentences and understand 250 sentences. These sentences would not be the same.
You have to know the language quite well before you can build 250 sentences or understand 250 sentences. Speaking a language is thus a knowledge based activity.
Reading expands knowledge.
GRADED READERS VS CONVERSATIONAL APPROACH
Graded Readers give you a context. Conversational Approach does not give you a context.
Context is great for retention and retention is great for speaking.
GRADED READERS VS TOTAL IMMERSION
Graded Readers give you a context. Total Immersion does not give you a context.
Context is great for retention and retention is great for speaking. Please scroll down to read a detailed comparison of Graded Readers with Total Immersion.
GRADED READERS VS LANGUAGE LEARNING TEXTS
Graded Readers give you a context. Language learning texts do not give you a context.
Context is great for retention and retention is great for speaking.
THE REASON WE HAVE GREAT REVIEWS
We take a logical approach towards learning a foreign language. We encourage you to explore our website.
THE REASON GRADED READER METHOD WORKS SO WELL
In Graded Reader Method you go through countless examples of how Spanish sentences are built. This gradually enables you to build your own sentences.
In real world you carry on your own conversations. In order to carry on your own conversations, you have to build your own sentences.
A COMMON COMPLAINT AGAINST GRADED READER METHOD
Some of our students have mentioned that their progress is slow. The progress is slow because learning a foreign language is a slow process. Slow progress is far better than no progress, which is what you get with most other language learning systems. 4 years of high school Spanish and still not being able to put few words together is quite common.
In our opinion if you can learn to build your own sentences and be able to speak another language in less than one year, it is a very fast progress. Marketers of technology based language learning systems promise fast learning. But those are just promises to make a quick sale.
CREATING POSITIVE MEMORIES IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS
When you go through Graded Readers, you learn new words and reinforce words that you already know. You will have a sense of accomplishment which will motivate you to learn further. Good memories are a permanent source of motivation. You will see your Spanish improve a little with each page that you read. These little improvements over time will enable you to speak Spanish.
TWO COMPONENTS OF YOUR SPEAKING ABILITIES
1. Your ability to understand your conversational partner.
2. Your ability to build a wide variety of sentences to express yourself.
This correspond to a very good command of the target language. We can help you acquire this command.
GRADED READERS ARE THE FASTEST WAY OF EXPANDING YOUR VOCABULARY
A strong vocabulary is the cornerstone of your speaking abilities.
GRADED READERS OFFER A TANGIBLE LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Graded Readers teach a language via stories. Going through stories is a tangible experience. Retention is much better than going through language learning texts.
GRADED READER METHOD IS THE MOST ENJOYABLE WAY OF LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
You learn new words and structures while enjoying an interesting and an intriguing story. This approach is also called pleasure reading and is the most powerful way of learning a language. I am not a native speaker of English. I learned English via pleasure reading. I also learned German and Spanish via pleasure reading.
Universities and colleges are against pleasure reading because they want to sell their classes and systems. They also train the language teachers to promote their agenda. Academia in the US, each year, collects $30 billion dollars under the pretext of teaching foreign languages. The one who has wealth also has the "wisdom". If you are an independent thinker, our approach will make a lot of sense.
READING BASED LEARNING VS CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
When you are learning in a typical classroom setting, the learning revolves around the teacher's need of testing and grading. Also the fear of a bad grade can stifle curiosity and passion.
When you are learning via reading, the learning revolves around your curiosity and passion. You do not have to put up with an ego of a professor or the fear of a bad grade. It also does not put a big hole in your pocket.
One Spanish story can teach you thousands of words. No language teacher can teach you thousands of Spanish words. All they do is make you repeat phrases that you may never use. Even if you use them, you will run out of them in less than a minute.
CAN I GO THROUGH THE GRADED READERS ON MY OWN WITHOUT TAKING A CLASS ?
Yes you can. With the help of a dictionary and a grammar reference book.
IF I CAN GO THROUGH THE GRADED READERS ON MY OWN, WHY SHOULD I SIGN UP FOR A CLASS ?
If you are a beginner or a low intermediate level student, a page would seem to you full of unknown words and structures. It can be quite overwhelming. If you take a course or two, you will get to a point where there will be only 5 or 6 unknown words per page. At this point you can take matters in your own hands.
GRADED READERS ARE THE FASTEST WAY OF IMPROVING THE RETENTION LEVEL OF WORDS IN YOUR MEMORY
A solid retention is the cornerstone of your speaking abilities.
ITS LIKE OSMOSIS
When you read in Spanish, you slowly and gradually absorb Spanish words and structures. We can teach you to read with comprehension in less than three months.
Most language learners do not like the words "slow" and "gradual". For this reason you do not see these words in the marketing scripts of the language companies.
THE REASON TOTAL IMMERSION DOES NOT WORK FOR ADULTS
When you start learning a new language, you see a lot of unknown structures and words that need to be understood. In order for them to be understood, they have to be explained. They can only be explained in a language that students can understand. In our case it is the English language. This nonsense of Total Immersion is quite widespread among language schools.
TOTAL IMMERSION VS GRADED READERS
Don't take our word for it. Just google "Graded Readers" and google "Total Immersion". You will find tons of information about Graded Readers because it is a well established language learning method. It is not entertained in the US because it is not very lucrative to use Graded Readers.
If you google "Total Immersion", you will not find any information relevant to your language learning needs because Total Immersion is a big fat lie of the language industry as far as adult language learners are concerned. Modern academia does lie. Especially selling jobless majors to unsuspecting students. While increasing tuition and paying most teachers a miserable salary.
THE REASON WE USE SPANISH LITERATURE INSTEAD OF LANGUAGE LEARNING TEXTS
Spanish stories give you a context and context is great for retention. Retention is great for speaking. We have stories written for all level of language learners.
Spanish stories will give you an expanded vocabulary.
You see the beauty of the Spanish language when you go through Spanish literature. You do not see the beauty of the Spanish language when you go through the language learning texts.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU READ A PAGE WRITTEN IN SPANISH
You relate 200 to 250 Spanish words to their meaning. Reading gradually makes words more meaningful. Once they become meaningful, they are easier to retain. Once retained, you can recall them easily to use them in speech.
THE REASON WE SIMPLIFY LANGUAGE LEARNING
We have to deliver solid results in order to survive. We do not have access to tax dollars.
I AM A BEGINNER. HOW CAN I READ WITH COMPREHENSION ?
Even if you are a total beginner, we can teach you how to read with comprehension in less than six months. Initially you will chose easy to understand texts.
WHEN LANGUAGE LEARNERS GIVE UP ON READING
When they have read less than 10 pages and do not see a correlation between speaking and reading.
WHEN LANGUAGE LEARNERS DO NOT GIVE UP ON READING
When they have read more than 500 pages and they do see a correlation between speaking and reading.
THE REASON YOU NEED TO HAVE A GOOD GRASP OF THE PAST TENSE
When we speak, we talk about our experiences. Unless we are a psychic, they lie in the past. For instance, you use the word told far more frequently than tell or the word met more frequently than the word meet. We introduce you to the past tense in the basic Spanish class and we deal with it in more depth in our intermediate level classes.
We have a very practical program and will give you results faster than most other language learning systems. Please explore our website.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU DEVELOP A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE
Learning to read is the fastest way of developing a good understanding of the target language, without which you can not speak.
We can teach you how to read in Spanish with comprehension in less than six months.
WHY DOES IT TAKE ONE YEAR TO ACQUIRE A GOOD COMMAND OF THE TARGET LANGUAGE
It takes six months, on the average, to develop a good understanding of the language.
It takes another six months for reinforcements via reading and listening.
Speaking is very easy after this.
WHY LANGUAGE INDUSTRY GIVES A VERY CASUAL VIEW OF LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
It wants to sell. If language learners would know what is involved in learning a foreign language, a majority of them won't even try. That would be huge financial loss to the language industry.
HOW FAST I WILL LEARN SPANISH VIA GRADED READERS ?
If you do not have any background in Spanish, it can take one year to get to the point where you can speak reasonably well.
If one year is too long for you, then we are slow.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A POOR VOCABULARY AND A GOOD VOCABULARY
If you only know 1000 Spanish words, speaking will be a pain.
If you know 2000 Spanish words, speaking will be a pleasure.
Even a third grader knows that reading expands vocabulary.
I WANT TO SPEAK. WHY SHOULD I LEARN HOW TO READ ?
When you speak, you use words. Reading teaches you how to use words.
THE REASON LANGUAGE INDUSTRY DOES NOT PROMOTE READING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
People would rather buy a system that would promise them fluency in three weeks.
Learning to read in a foreign language can take at least six months. It takes anther six months of reinforcement before you can speak. Reading although is a very powerful language learning tool, it fails to inspire most language learners. We live in an era of instant gratification.
READING YOUR FIRST PAGE IN SPANISH WILL BE HARD
Reading your 101st page will not be hard at all.
Reading your 501st page in Spanish will be a great pleasure. You will actually feel the Spanish words becoming an integral part of your memory.
A TESTIMONIAL
"Having taken Spanish classes and also online training (Rosetta and others), I was discouraged- I hated memorizing lists of words, conjugating verbs, etc. The Language Institute's method of READING and comprehension is so much more enjoyable, more natural to how I learn, and it's working. It really is silly to memorize or repeat words you don't remember or use in context over and over in the hopes it sticks. By reading real stories, you begin to learn context and the stories themselves help you 'figure' out words you are not familiar with. I actually don't mind studying on my own, and find that I am retaining things more naturally. Using the methods taught here you can begin teaching yourself outside of class- using anything and everything you find written in Spanish as material to learn from."
Keith Petroni
THREE REASONS BEGINNERS CAN NOT SPEAK
1. They do not know enough words to say anything meaningful.
2. They do not know the language structures well enough to build their own sentences.
3. They can not recall words and structures due to poor retention.
Going through 10 Graded Readers will get you out of this stage. Please explore our website and you will know how we do it.
A GREAT METAPHOR
If speaking a language were driving a car, your ability to build a wide variety of sentences is the engine and your vocabulary is the fuel. You need both.
WHAT YOU NEED FOR BECOMING A FLUENT SPEAKER OF SPANISH
Extensive vocabulary (at least 2000 words).
Thorough understanding of a wide variety of the language structures.
Solid retention.
With Graded Readers you will improve all these three areas.
WHAT ARE GRADED READERS ?
Spanish Graded Readers are stories written with different levels of difficulty. Level 1 are the easiest and level 6 are more challenging. If you can read level 4 Graded Readers with comprehension, you can read almost anything written in Spanish.
THE MOST MISLEADING ADVICE LANGUAGE STUDENTS GET
Most language teachers will tell their students to speak a language that they have not learned yet. If you could speak, you wouldn't be looking for a language class.
You speak when you have acquired a very good command of the target language. You can speak, if you can build a wide variety of sentences at a moment's notice. In order to do so, you must be able to recall words and structures at a moments notice. This is the focus of our program. Click on the text below for more on this.
WHY LITERACY BEFORE SPEAKING ?
You are far more likely to speak a language that you know.
THE MORE YOU KNOW, THE BETTER YOU SPEAK
The more you read, the more you know.
THE LIMITATIONS OF SPEAKING PRACTICE
If you know only one thousand words and practice speaking them, that would not help you become a fluent speaker. What prevents you from speaking are the other thousand words that you do not know. In other words, what prevents you from speaking is a poor vocabulary. Even a third grader knows that reading expands vocabulary.
I AM A BEGINNER. HOW CAN I READ ?
You can read if you have a basic understanding of the structure of the language, choose a simple text and use a dictionary. Even our basic Spanish course will get you to a point where you can read on your own with the help of a dictionary and a grammar reference book.
SUCCESS IS A BY-PRODUCT OF HABITS
If you make a habit of reading one page per day in Spanish, in one year you will be amazed at your progress.
Reading one page per day in Spanish is a very doable thing. It can be done in 15 minutes. This thing works far better than all the language learning technologies combined.
WHY READING IS MORE SUITABLE FOR BEGINNERS
As a beginner you can read with the help of a dictionary and a grammar reference book.
As a beginner you can not speak with the help of a dictionary and a grammar reference book. It would be too awkward.
If you can speak without the help of a dictionary and a grammar reference book, you do not need a class.
WE OFFER A MORE FOCUSED LEARNING EXPERIENCE
In our Basic Spanish class we go through a level 1 Spanish Graded Reader. It is a complete and an interesting story written with 400 unique words. This creates a need of knowing 400 hundred Spanish words and being able to use them in a wide variety of language structures. Learning on a need to know basis is very effective. You will see the same words in multiple contexts and that will help you retain them.
In our intermediate level I class, we use a Graded Reader written with 700 unique words. In our intermediate level 2, 3 and 4, we use Graded Readers written with 1000, 1500 and 2000 unique Spanish words respectively. Our goal is to get you to a point where 2000 Spanish words are an integral part of your memory. Speaking Spanish will be fun since you won't run out of words. This system works. We have been doing it for 18 years now. Please read our reviews. Students have described their learning experience in them.
WHEN WE SPEAK, WORDS MOVE ACROSS OUR MEMORY
The more often you have seen a word, more likely you are to recall it while speaking. In Graded Readers you see the same words in wide variety of contexts and that helps you retain them permanently.
Unlike companies selling technology based language learning solutions, we do not promise fluency in three weeks. With Graded Readers you can see amazing results in less than one year.
WE ARE LIVING IN A WORLD OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
The cause is your ability to build a wide variety of sentences. The effect is speaking.
The cause is your ability to understand your conversational partner. The effect is speaking.
You can not have an effect without the cause.
WHAT ARE GRADED READERS ?
Graded Readers are stories written for different level of language learners. The benefit of going through Graded Readers is that you will learn new words and reinforce words that you already know.
Learning new words and reinforcements lead to speaking.
A GOOD REASON TO CHOOSE GRADED READERS
Graded Readers give you context. Language learning texts, Conversational Spanish classes and technology based language learning systems do not give you a context.
Context is great for retention. Retention is great for speaking.
WHY ACADEMIA MAKES LANGUAGE LEARNING PROBLEMATIC ?
Problems lead to research and research leads to funding. Research may be fake but dollars are real. Our government can be quite reckless when it comes to spending tax dollars.
In corporate model of education money is everything.
2000 SPANISH WORDS HAVE TO BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF YOUR MEMORY BEFORE YOU CAN SPEAK
Going through Graded Readers will get you there.
OUR APPROACH TO LANGUAGE LEARNING IS DIFFERENT
Our reviews are different too.
"ONCE YOU LEARN TO READ, YOU WILL BE FOREVER FREE." - FREDERICK DOUGLASS
You will be free from the language learning systems.
WHEN IT COMES TO LEARNING A LANGUAGE, PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
It takes about six months to develop a good understanding of the target language. Only then you start retaining words and structures. Retention precedes speaking.
Six months go by fast. Time flies.
OXFORD DICTIONARY'S DEFINITION OF PATIENCE
"The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset".
You will not find this word in the marketing scripts of the language companies.
LEARN SPANISH LIKE A SNAIL
You will not trip over. Your little progress each day will add up. Language industry will try to lure you with fake promises of fast learning. Seller of a nontangible service can say anything. If the tall claims of the language industry were true, so many language learners would not fail.
In fact our system is the fastest way of learning a language. Unfortunately one year is too much for most language learners.
WHY SHOULD I USE GRADED READERS TO LEARN SPANISH ?
Graded Readers are the fastest way of expanding your vocabulary.
Graded Readers are the fastest way of improving the retention level of words and structures in your memory.
Graded Readers are the fastest way of developing a good understanding of the Spanish language.
When it comes to speaking, these things matter.
TWO WAYS MOST LANGUAGE TEACHERS FAIL THEIR STUDENTS
By forcing them to speak a language that they do not know.
By immersing them in a language that they do not understand.
YOU CAN NOT SPEAK SPANISH UNLESS YOU HAVE 2000 SPANISH WORDS IN YOUR CORE MEMORY
The focus of our program is to get 2000 commonly used words in your core memory.
THE KEY TO RETAINING A SPANISH WORD PERMANENTLY
You have to relate a Spanish word to its meaning multiple times, in different contexts over an extended period of time.
This happens when you read extensively. You will see great improvement in your ability to retain Spanish words, after six months of reading at a rate of 15 minutes per day.
Once you have retained words, recalling and using them in speech will not be hard.
YOU CAN NOT DOWNLOAD LANGUAGE SKILLS
Companies selling technology based language learning have made billions of dollars in the US. You don't even see a tiny fraction of these buyers speak another language.
There is no shortage of technology worshippers. Technology has improved our standards of living. Technology has not improved the language learning experience. Vast majority of language learners who rely on technology fails to learn a foreign language.
Our system is at least one hundred years old. It worked then and it works today. Please read our reviews.
WHAT WE DON'T DO
We will not immerse you in a language that you do not understand (No Total Immersion). We explain things in a language that you can understand. In our case it is English. Once you understand the Spanish structures, you can use them to build your own sentences.
We will not force you to speak a language that you have not learned yet.
DON'T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT
Just google the words "Graded Readers". You will find tons of information. Please educate yourself about the language learning process.
REPITITIONS ARE THE KEY TO SUCCESS
If someone told you only once, what your name is, you would not know what your name is. You were told your name repeatedly and that is the reason, you know what your name is. The same goes for Spanish words. You have to see and hear the Spanish words over and over before you can retain them. Only then you can use them in speech.
YOU CAN NOT BECOME MR. OLYMPIA BY LIFTING DUMBBELLS 5 TIMES
You can not become a fluent speaker of Spanish by reading 5 pages. 500 pages would do the job.
I WOULD RATHER LEARN VIA SPEAKING PRACTICE
If you do not know basketball, you can still practice.
If you do not know Spanish, you can not practice. That is the difference.
Get to know Spanish first and then practice. It takes six months to get to know Spanish.
SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT IS THE BEST MOTIVATION
Going through 1 Graded Reader may not give you a sense of accomplishment.
Going through 10 Graded Readers can.
IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK SPANISH FOR 30 SECONDS
Sign up for a conversational Spanish class, where you will be repeating phrases after the teacher. You can easily fit few phrases in 30 seconds. A cheaper option will be a $5.00 phrase book. You can repeat as many phrases as you want. It comes with a pronunciation guide as well.
IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK SPANISH FOR 30 MINUTES
You have to learn to build your own sentences. You can not fill 30 minutes with greetings and phrases. You have to do more. Our program is geared towards teaching you how to build your own sentences.
TECHNOLOGY FOR KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER DOES NOT EXIST
Until then reading is your best bet.
WHO ARE OUR CUSTOMERS ?
A tiny fraction of the language learners who give language learning process some thought.
VISUAL LEARNERS LOVE OUR PROGRAM
If you are a visual learner, you will love it because it involves a lot of reading.
Learning to read leads to understanding. Understanding will open many doors for you.
WHY ACADEMIA DOES NOT PROMOTE READING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES ?
An entity who is only interested in selling expensive courses would not do so. Reading material is available for free.
REPEATED INTERACTION WITH SPANISH IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS
If you are a beginner, level 1 Graded Readers of Spanish are an excellent choice. Our students make great progress.
THE MOST COMMON REASON A LANGUAGE PROFESSOR WRITES A BOOK
He or she wants to become a published author. Once a professor becomes a published author, he or she is far more likely bring money into the university in form of grants. Academia loves money. If you ever go to a language department of a university, you will see professors busy in their offices. They are not thinking about your language skills. They are working on their resumes so that they can bring in more money. Their job depends on it. Academia loves money.
WHAT DETERMINES HOW WELL YOU CAN SPEAK SPANISH
It is the amount of interaction you have had with the real world Spanish. This interaction is not possible without a solid understanding of the Spanish language. Graded Readers are the fastest way of developing this understanding.
YOU LEARN BETTER WHEN YOU ARE FEELING GOOD
With Graded Readers, you will make progress and that will make you feel good. Plus they are interesting stories and it is fun to go through them.
A language learning text can not make you feel good.
Language learning technologies can not make you feel good.
A language teacher forcing you to repeat phrases does not make you feel good.
Being immersed in language that you do not understand does not make you feel good (the nonsense of Total Immersion).
Fear of a bad grade does not make you feel good.
Modern academia is interested in money. It does not care about your feelings or learning experience.
73,000 REINFORCEMENTS
Each page of a Spanish Graded Reader has, on the average, 200 words. If you read one page per day for one year, you get 73,000 reinforcements. 73,000 reinforcements can make you a fluent speaker.
GIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS SOME RESPECT. IT WILL REWARD YOU
Giving the language learning process some thought is a great way of showing respect. The contents of this website can help.
IF READING IS THAT GREAT FOR LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES, WHY UNIVERSITIES DON'T USE IT
Academia receives billions of dollars from the government for modernizing language learning systems. It simply can not forgo this money. This is in addition to billions of dollars it collects selling its borderline useless language courses. Modern academia is greedy.
Federal government doles out money to academia. Academia charges more and federal government lends more. This tango has made academia fabulously rich and students poor and straddled with 1.7 trillion dollar student debt.
PRIORITIES OF ACADEMIA
A vice chancellor of enrollment management makes $300,000.
An adjunct professor makes $30,000. Majority of the classes are taught by adjuncts and poorly paid graduate students.
WHAT SETS THE LANGUAGE INDUSTRY IN THE US APART
It consumes most money while delivering least results.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO GIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS SOME THOUGHT
Only then you will be able to see through the lies of the language industry.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU
We can teach you to read in Spanish with comprehension, reasonably well, in less than six months.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
- Aristotle
Making a habit of reading one page per day in Spanish will do amazing things to your ability to speak Spanish.
TWO WAYS OF LOOKING AT LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE VIA READING
When you are reading in a foreign language, you will come across many unknown words. You will have to look up for the meaning of the unknown words in a dictionary.
Looking up for the meaning of a foreign language word improves your vocabulary a tiny bit. These tiny bits over the time can become a strong vocabulary and that can make you a fluent speaker.
If you find looking up for the meaning of a new word in a dictionary tedious, then learning a foreign language via reading is very tedious, especially in the beginning.
If you find learning new foreign language words exciting, then learning a language via reading is a very exciting process.
If you do not value learning new words, then you should reconsider learning a foreign language.
HOW READING IN SPANISH ACCELARATES THE LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS
Reading is the fastest way of expanding your vocabulary.
Reading is the fastest way of improving retention level of words in your memory.
Reading may not contribute a lot to the bottom line of the language companies but it has a lot to offer you.
THE EXCITMENT OF LEARNING NEW WORDS
Comes from reading.
THE EXCITMENT OF REINFORCEMENTS
Comes from reading.
WHY LEARNING SPANISH VIA STORIES IS A GREAT IDEA
Stories can make you laugh, stories can make you curious, stories can add to your knowledge. Anything that has an emotional impact on you is likely to be remembered by you. Since Spanish stories consist of Spanish words, Spanish words have an emotional impact on you and are far more likely to be retained by you. Also while reading stories, you see the same words in different contexts and that helps greatly with retention.
The Graded Readers that we use are Spanish stories written with six levels of difficulty. Level 1 is for the beginners and level 6 is for the advanced. Even if you can read a level 4 Graded Reader with comprehension, you can read almost anything in Spanish.
PATIENCE + GRADED READERS = SUCCESS
If you spend 30 min per day for one year on Graded Readers, you will see amazing results. Please read our reviews. They are not typical.
OXFORD DICTIONARY'S DEFINITION OF PATIENCE
"The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset".
One year is not a very long time when it comes to learning a language. We enjoy a very high success rate among our students and we do not want the wild expectations of the few to lower it.
IF I CAN READ ON MY OWN, WHY SHOULD I SIGN UP FOR A READING BASED LANGUAGE COURSE ?
If you are a beginner or a low intermediate level student and see a page written in Spanish, there will be too many unknown words and structures and it could be overwhelming. Words have to be known before you can use them for speaking. Just speak it approach, so popular among language teachers, does not work. By taking a course or two, you can get to a point where where there will only be 5 to 6 unknown words per page. At this point you can read on your own with the help of a dictionary and a grammar reference book.
Some of our students reach level six and still sign up for our courses. They can easily read on their own but they don't mind paying $250 to have someone by their side when they are reading so that they can ask questions and get quick answers.
LIVING EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS
Countless people learn English via reading. At one point I did not know any English. English was a foreign language to me. I learned it via reading. Its really simple. You learn new words when you read with the help of a dictionary. Nothing is more important for a language learner than learning new words. Reading is the fastest way of learning new words.
THREE TENENTS OF CORPORATE MODEL OF EDUCATION
1. Charge students as much as you can, the market will take it.
2. Pay teachers as little as possible, the market will take it.
3. Teach them whatever you like. Students will not question you. How can omnipotent academia be wrong ?
SPEAKING PRACTICE VS READING IN SPANISH
What you can recall in speaking practice, you can also recall in a real conversation. Those words are not the problem. What kills your conversations are the words that you do not know or the words that you can not recall. Reading is the solution to both the problems, since reading expands vocabulary and reading improves retention level of words in your memory.
If you only know 10 words, speaking practice is not going to take you anywhere.
FROM TINY SEEDS GROW MIGHTY TREES
Many language learners frown at the concept of learning to read. Reading is too small for them. Reading is that small seed from which the mighty tree that they are looking for, can grow. The mighty tree in this metaphor is the ability to speak Spanish fluently.
THOUGHTLESSNESS IS ONE OF THE MAIN CAUSES OF FAILURE AMONG LANGUAGE LEARNERS
They blindly follow the advice of their language teachers and try to speak a language that they do not know. They accumulate experiences of failure and give up. They blame themselves for their failure. It never occurs to them that language teachers can be wrong about learning a foreign language. Please click the text below for more on this.
WITH TIME FOREIGN LANGUAGE WORDS FADE FROM YOUR MEMORY
Reading in a foreign language prevents that from happening.
WHY WE ONLY LEARN WHEN WE REPEAT
SINKING SPANISH WORDS DEEP INTO YOUR MEMORY
Once you have related a Spanish word to its meaning, multiple times, over an extended period of time (usually six months), it sinks into your deep or active memory. Once it is in your active memory, you can easily use it in speech.
In order to be a fluent speaker of Spanish, at least 2000 Spanish words should reside in your active memory.
Graded Readers are designed around this concept.
THE MOST IMPORTANT STAGE OF LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Developing an ability to recognize the language as used in the real world is crucial. Once you have developed this recognition, the language will have a chance to get into your memory. When you speak, your memory supplies you with words. You have to feed your memory via reading and listening. In order to read and listen you have to develop a solid understanding of the target language.
CAN YOU SPEAK A LANGUAGE THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW ?
If your answer is no, then we have a great program that introduces you to Spanish or German.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE
Boils down to one word. Preparation.
We are selling a preparation program. Our competition is selling you effortless performance.
Performance is exciting and preparation is boring. The truth is that preparation precedes performance.
REINFORCEMENTS CAN MAKE YOU A FLUENT SPEAKER OF SPANISH
Spanish Graded Readers are rich in reinforcements.
IN A REAL CONVERSATION YOU HAVE TO BUILD YOUR OWN SENTENCES
The focus of our program is to teach you how to build your own sentences.
MAPPING A THOUGHT OR AN IDEA INTO A COMPLETE SENTENCE
When you speak, you exchange ideas, thoughts and feelings. You must be able to convert these into complete Spanish sentences in order to speak. In other words you must acquire a good command of the language before you can speak. Learning how to read is the fastest way of doing this.
THE MORE EXPOSURE YOU HAVE TO SPANISH, THE BETTER YOU SPEAK
You can not have exposure unless you understand Spanish. Learning to read is the fastest way of developing a good understanding of the Spanish language. With our system you will develop a solid understanding of the Spanish language in less than six months.
WHY ACADEMIA INTENTIONALLY DISTORTS THE LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS
Academia makes language learning problematic because problems leads to research and research leads to funding. Modern day academia can do anything for money. The more money you have, the more impressive you look.
WHY DO YOU NEED TO READ 500 PAGES IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO SPEAK SPANISH
If you have related a Spanish word to its meaning between 1 to 10 times, you are very likely to forget it.
If you have related a Spanish word to its meaning 10 to 20 times, you may retain it or you may forget it.
If you have related a Spanish word to its meaning 20 to 30 times, you are very likely to retain it permanently.
You need to retain 2000 words permanently for speaking Spanish. You do not want to run out of words while speaking.
When you read with comprehension, you relate words to their meanings. Reading 500 pages will give you amazing results. Reading material is available for free.
Self serving academia will show you the most expensive path, not the best path.
We can teach you to read with comprehension in a matter of weeks.
HOW MUCH CAN I READ IN ONE DAY ?
If you are a beginner or a low intermediate level student, we recommend 1 page. If you are advanced intermediate student, then 2 pages. Reading in a foreign language, although a very enjoyable experience, can tire you if you try to do too much.
FOUR BENEFITS OF GOING THROUGH 10 GRADED READERS
1. Solid understanding of the Spanish language. In order to have a conversation, you have to understand your conversational partner.
2. A strong vocabulary. You do not want to run out of words while speaking.
3. Improved retention level of words in your memory. Speaking is all about recalling which depends on retention.
4. You become literate in the Spanish language. In other words you can read with comprehension. The more you read, the more you know, the more you know, the better you speak. Reading material in Spanish is usually available for free.
A WORTH MENTIONING FACT
in 1955, the English vocabulary of an average high school graduate was 25,000 words. Now it is down to 11,000 words.
During the same period, the sale of technology based learning systems to K12 school systems went from nowhere to $25 billion dollars each year. These technology based learning systems have not made students any smarter.
ANOTHER WORTH MENTIONING FACT
Reading is the most power language learning tool. Its free or costs very little.
READING LEADS TO CLARITY. CLARITY LEADS TO SPEAKING
Reading 5 pages does not lead to clarity. Reading 500 pages does.
DO YOU WANT TO SPEAK A LANGUAGE IN THREE WEEKS ?
Try a technology based language learning system. The companies selling technology based language learning systems say that they can make you a fluent speaker in three weeks.
Or you can wait till these companies start using AI and ChatGPT. Then you can speak another language in three days.
THE BEAUTY OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE
You see the beauty of the Spanish language when you go through the Spanish literature. You do not see the beauty of the Spanish language when you go through the language learning texts. Graded Readers are Spanish literature modified for language learners. The language learning texts are 20 times more expensive than Graded Readers. Academia loves to sell these texts.
WHY ACADEMIA WANTS TO PUSH READING OUT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE CURRICULUM
Because it wants to promote dependency on obscenely expensive language courses and language learning texts.
REPETITIONS ARE THE KEY TO SUCCESS
In the context of language learning, relating words and structures to their meaning constitutes a repetition. The more you relate words and structures to their meaning, the more likely you are to retain them and thus use them in speech. Reading with comprehension is all about relating words to their meaning.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPORTS AND LANGUAGE LEARNING
In sports you need a little knowledge and a lots of practice to get better.
In languages you need a lot of knowledge and a little practice.
Language schools make you repeat a few phrases. they focus on practice. They will not make you knowledgeable in the target language. Reading will make you knowledgeable. You can not speak a language that you do not know. It does not get more basic than this.
LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IS DISTRUPTIVE. GOING SLOW IS A GREAT IDEA
Learning at a slower pace would enable you to absorb the language better. Just as eating slow is great for digestion. As a beginner you ability to absorb Spanish is limited. We recommend 15 to 20 minute sessions of learning. After three months into Graded Readers, you can easily read a page written in Spanish with comprehension in less than 20 minutes.
WE WILL GIVE YOU A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT IN LESS THAN 3 MONTHS
Sense of accomplishment is the best motivation.
CATCH 22 AND SPEAKING PRACTICE
If you can not speak, you can not practice speaking either.
If you can speak, you would not worry too much about speaking practice.
Think about the language learning process. Thoughtlessness has made the language industry very rich in the US. Reading material is available for free. Reading is not good for the bottom line of the language industry.
OUR SPECIALITY
We teach beginners how to read with comprehension in Spanish and German.
REPETITIONS ARE THE KEY TO SUCCESS
In the context of language learning, relating words and structures to their meaning constitutes a repetition. The more you relate words and structures to their meaning, the more likely you are to retain them and thus use them in speech.
THE REASON MANY LANGUAGE LEARNERS STRUGGLE WITH SPEAKING SPANISH
Poor understanding of the structure of the Spanish language does not let them build their own sentences.
WHAT ARE GRADED READERS ?
Spanish Graded Readers are Spanish literature for language learners. They are interesting stories and are available in six levels.
TECHNOLOGY VS OLD FASHIONED READING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Technology based language learning systems can not put 2000 words in your core memory. Reading can.
WHEN YOU SPEAK SPANISH , SPANISH WORDS MOVE ACROSS YOUR MEMORY
The more often you have seen a known word, faster it will move across your memory. If you have seen a word only a few times, it may be stuck in your memory. But If you have seen a word more than 20 times, you are far more likely to use it while speaking. Reading a lot gives you an opportunity to see the same words multiple times in multiple contexts.
Reading thus has a strong correlation with speaking.
YOU DO NOT ACHIEVE SUCCESS BY DOING AN EXTRAORDINARY THING ONCE. YOU ACHIEVE SUCCESS BY DOING ORDINARY THINGS EXTRAORDINARY NUMBER OF TIMES.
The ordinary thing in this context is reading a page in a foreign language.
HOW TO MAKE SPANISH WORDS MEANINGFUL
If you see a Spanish word for the first time, it is a cryptic entity. Once you have related it to its meaning, 20 to 25 times, it becomes meaningful. Once it becomes meaningful, it is easier to retain. Reading stories in Spanish will do the job. Once you have read 500 pages in Spanish, you will see that most commonly used words will be in your core memory and speaking will not be an issue.
MOST OF US DO NOT HAVE A PHOTOGRAHIC MEMORY
For this reason we need a lot of reinforcements. Graded Readers are rich in reinforcements.
READING LEADS TO CLARITY. CLARITY LEADS TO SPEAKING
For this reason we teach beginners how to read with comprehension.
LITERATURE VS LANGUAGE LEARNING TEXTS
Spanish literature gives you a context. Language learning texts do not give you a context. Context is great for retention and retention is great for speaking.
LITERATURE VS LANGUAGE LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES
Spanish literature gives you a context. Language learning technologies do not give you a context. Context is great for retention and retention is great for speaking.
THE REASON YOU NEED A VOCABULARY OF AT LEAST 2000 WORDS
Adults speak at a rate of 100 words per minute. A thirty minute conversation can involve an exchange of 3000 words.
WHEN WILL I BE ABLE TO CARRY ON SUSTAINABLE CONVERSATIONS IN SPANISH ?
When you have 2000 commonly used Spanish words in your core memory.
AN EXCITING WAY OF LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE
As a language learner, learning new words should excite you. Nothing teaches you new words faster than reading. With our system, you will find yourself reading in Spanish, with comprehension, in less than six months.
CLASS MATERIAL
Clicking on the highlighted text will take you to the amazon page, where you can purchase the books. A list of level appropriate Graded Readers for self study will be provided by the teacher.
RECOMMENDED EXERCISE BOOK FOR HOMEWORK
BASIC LAW OF RETENTION
Typically you have to relate a word or structure 20 to 25 times to its meaning in different contexts, before it is retained. You can only use those words and structures in speech that you have fully retained. Graded Readers provide you this opportunity.
WE WILL TAKE YOU DEEP INTO THE SPANISH LANGUAGE
It is the in-depth understanding of the Spanish language that enables you to build your own sentences and hence speak Spanish. The more you think, the more sense will our system make to you. We encourage you to thoroughly explore our website.
WHY MOST LANGUAGE LEARNERS DO NOT SEE ANY CORRELATION BETWEEN READING AND SPEAKING
Those who have read only 5 pages in Spanish do not see any connection between reading and speaking.
Those who have read 500 pages in Spanish do see a correlation between reading and speaking.
OUR SPECIALITY
We make reading in Spanish and German a very enjoyable learning experience.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE COMMONLY USED SPANISH WORDS AND STRUCTURES
Only those words and structures can enter your memory that you recognize. With Graded Readers, in less than six months, you will develop this recognition.
IS GRADED READER METHOD A NEW LANGUAGE LEARNING FAD ?
It is a well established language learning method. Millions of people have learned foreign languages via Graded Readers.
In the US, those selling extremely expensive language learning texts are telling students how to learn a foreign language.
Just Google "Graded Readers", you will find a ton of good information.
WHO IS MORE LIKELY TO CARRY ON A SUSTAINABLE CONVERSATION ?
A. A person who has only 100 Spanish words in her or his core memory.
B. A person who has 2000 Spanish words in her or his core memory.
If your answer is B, we encourage you to sign up for one of our courses. Our system will put 2000 words in your core memory in less than one year.
IF YOU CAN NOT SPEAK, YOU CANNOT PRACTICE SPEAKING EITHER
In order to speak or practice speaking, you need a strong vocabulary and a good understanding of the language. You can acquire both by going through Graded Readers.
AS A BEGINNER YOU CAN READ WITH THE HELP OF A DICTIONARY AND A GRAMMAR REFERENCE BOOK
As a beginner you can not speak with the help of a dictionary and a grammar reference book.
A TESTIMONIAL
" I’m very happy with my Spanish-language experience at the Language Institute of Georgia. Ahsan is brilliant and is a great teacher. I really enjoy the graded reader method, as it allows me to keep encountering the same words in various contexts so that the meaning actually sticks. There’s no pressure to speak when you don’t even have a vocabulary, yet, which is what many language methods push for. Instead, the graded reader method allows you to learn at your own pace and absorb the information. I’m on my third round of classes, and I definitely feel like I’m making progress and understanding a lot quicker. I’m slowly getting comfortable with speaking some sentences. But people don’t realize that there isn’t a method in the world that will get you speaking well right away. It takes time, and you have to build a foundation. I highly recommend the Language Institute of Georgia if you’re looking to begin that foundation and build upon it! "
- Lucie R
FLUENCY IS IN YOUR MIND, NOT IN YOUR TONGUE
It is your mind that understands your conversational partner. It is your mind that builds sentences. Only a fluent mind can do this. Learning to read in Spanish and then reading at least 500 pages in Spanish will make your mind fluent.
Moving your tongue in a "conversational" Spanish class can rarely make you a fluent speaker.
I AM A BEGINNER. HOW CAN I READ WITH COMPREHENSION ?
In less than three months we can get you to a point where you can be reading with comprehension. This is our specialty. We have been doing this for 18 years.
Even if you do not see a correlation between speaking and reading, consider that reading with comprehension implies that you understand the language. You are far more likely to speak a language that you understand.
THE MAGIC OF READING ONE PAGE PER DAY IN SPANISH
By the end of one year, you would have learned thousands of new words. You would have reinforced thousands of words. The more words you know, the better you speak. Even after our basic Spanish course, you can read a page of a relatively easy text written in Spanish.
BUT MY LANGUAGE TEACHER SAYS THAT SPEAKING IS THE BEST WAY OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE
If your language teacher says that sun rises from the west, would you believe it ? Speaking a language that you do not know is not too far behind it.
A GREAT METAPHOR
Just as a bird hatchling has to wait till it grows wings for being able to fly, you have to build a strong vocabulary before your speaking skills can take off.
THE REASON WE DO NOT FORCE BEGINNERS TO SPEAK
Beginners do not know the structures of the language well enough to build their own sentences. In order to speak, you should be able to build a wide variety of sentences to express yourself.
THE REASON WE ASK OUR INTERMEDIATE LEVEL STUDENTS TO BUILD SENTENCES
More often than not, they are able to do it. Our basic Spanish class prepared them to do so. Please give a closer look to our reviews. Our students have described their learning experience in them.
The word preparation exists for a reason. Preparation = Success.
READING BASED LEARNING VS CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
In reading based learning, the learning revolves around your curiosity and passion.
In classroom instruction, the learning revolves around the teacher's need for testing and grading.
Thus reading based learning has an edge over instruction based learning. Instruction based learning works better for some subjects. But for language learning reading based learning works much better. Students spending years in classroom settings still can not put few words together in a foreign language to express themselves. Classroom instruction brings in a lot of money for academia.
REAL FOCUS OF ACADEMIA
A vice chancellor of enrollment management can easily make $300,000.
A typical adjunct teacher makes close to $30,000. Most classes are taught by adjuncts. Vice chancellors with fancy titles have taken over academia. Vice chancellors of maximum cash flow are making language learning policies in the US. Ever wondered why failure to learn a foreign language is so common in the US.
Give language learning process some thought. You will be able to see how academia routinely misguides language learners.
SILENT PERIOD IN LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
When a child is born, he is or she spends two years making sense out of the language before starting to speak. Adults also have to make sense out of the language before they can speak. Reading with comprehension is a great way of developing this sense. We strongly recommend going through 10 to 15 Graded Readers before trying to speak. This can be accomplished in less than one year. Preparation = Success. Seeing the language learning process through the lens of logic is much better than seeing it through the lens of your desires.
CREATING POSITIVE MEMORIES
When you read a page written in Spanish, you learn new words and reinforce words that you already know. You create a positive memory. A positive memory is a permanent source of motivation. Reading first few pages will be hard, but after reading 50 pages you are very likely to enjoy the process. Reading in a foreign language is a great pleasure and at the same time a great way of depositing words in your memory.
IN ORDER TO SPEAK SPANISH, YOU HAVE TO ABSORB SPANISH
Reading and listening are great for absorbing a language. We recommend going through 10 to 15 Spanish Graded Readers before speaking.
IN ORDER TO ABSORB SPANISH, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND IT
This is where we can help you big time. In less than six months, you will develop a very good understanding of the Spanish language.
I WANT TO SPEAK. WHY SHOULD I STRUGGLE WITH DEVELOPING AN UNDERSTANDING OF SPANISH ?
You can not speak a language that you do not understand.
WHY SO MANY LANGUAGE LEARNERS FAIL TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN THE US
Following the advice of their language teacher, they try to speak a language that they do not know.
"If you can get 1% better each day by the end of the year, you will end up with results that are nearly 37 times better."
James Clear - Atomic Habits
Reading one page a day improves your Spanish by at least 1%.
GRADED READER METHOD IS NOT JUST ANOTHER LANGUAGE LEARNING FAD
Graded Reader Method is a well established language learning method. Just google "Graded Readers" and you will find tons of information. Giving language learning process some thought is a great idea.
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION VS READING BASED LEARNING
When you are learning via reading, you are learning without the fear of a bad grade. Fear stifles curiosity and passion. Curiosity and passion are two hallmarks of excellence in learning.
CONVERTING THOUGHTS AND IDEAS INTO SPANISH SENTENCES
Before you can speak, you have to convert a thought or an idea into a complete Spanish sentence. Even in short conversations, several hundred sentences go back and forth. You need to have a good command of the language before you can speak.
GRADED READERS VS TYPICAL LANGUAGE LEARNING TEXTS
Graded Readers give you context. Language learning texts do not give you a context. They are more of an instrument of testing and grading.
You will learn far more words via Graded Readers than language learning texts.
Poor vocabulary is the most common cause of not being able to speak Spanish.
PARTIAL RETENTION VS FULL RETENTION
If you have related a Spanish word 5 to 10 times to its meaning, it results in a partial retention. You can not used partially retained words in speech. If you read a few pages of Spanish, you will get a few partial retentions. This is the reason why many language leaners do not see a correlation between reading and speaking.
If you have related a Spanish word to its meaning 20 to 25 times, you get a full retention. Fully retained words can be used in speech. For retaining words fully, you have to read a few hundred pages. Speaking is all about recalling which depends upon retention.
BUT READING AND SPEAKING ARE TWO DIFFERENT SKILL SETS
On the surface they may be different. Reading is preparation because it teaches you how to use words and structures, expands your vocabulary and improves the retention level of words in your memory. Speaking is performance because you have to build a wide variety of sentences to express yourself.
Most successful people will tell you that preparation is extremely important.
OUR LEARNING MODEL
During the first six months we help students develop a solid understanding of the Spanish language. Then students absorb the language via reading and listening for another six months. Speaking is a lot easier once you understand and have absorbed the target language.
You will have access to the great wealth of Spanish literature. You will be able to listen to Spanish radio stations and watch Spanish movies. You can only do these things if you understand Spanish.
SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT IS THE BEST MOTIVATION
When you read a page in Spanish, you learn new words and reinforce words that you already know. This will give you a sense of accomplishment. You may not perceive it when you read your first page in Spanish but reading you 101st page in Spanish will certainly give you a sense of accomplishment.
FLUENCY IS IN YOUR MIND, NOT IN YOUR TONGUE
By fluency we mean your ability to build a wide variety of sentences to express yourself. By fluency we mean your ability to understand a wide variety of sentences spoken by your conversational partner. Reading extensively ( more than 500 pages ) will lead to fluency.
You can not acquire fluency by moving your tongue in a conversational Spanish class. In other words repeating phrases after a language teacher can not make your a fluent speaker. For that you have to absorb the language. Reading is a great way of absorbing the language, especially if you are not living in a country where the language is spoken by the majority of the people.
WHY BEGINNERS SHOULD START THEIR LANGUAGE LEARNING JOURNEY VIA READING
As a beginner you can read by choosing a simple text with the help of a dictionary and a grammar reference book. This will help you build a strong vocabulary and will enable you to speak.
As a beginner you can not speak with the help of a dictionary and a grammar reference book.
AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU REAP
When you read, you sow words in your memory. When you do this, you can reap conversations. The more words you sow, the better will be your conversations.
BUT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CAN READ BUT STILL CAN NOT SPEAK
Usually these people have read 10 or so pages in Spanish. Just as you can not become Mr. Olympia by lifting dumbbells 10 times, you can not become a fluent speaker by reading 10 pages. 500 pages can have a huge impact on your speaking abilities.
A TYPICAL CONVERSATIONAL SPANISH CLASS VS GRADED READERS BASED CLASS
In a typical conversational Spanish class, you will repeat phrases after the teacher. You can not have a conversation based on rehearsed phrases. For a real conversation, you should be able to build your own sentences. Going through Graded Readers will teach you to build your own sentences so that you can have meaningful conversations.
INTERNALIZING 2000 SPANISH WORDS
When you read a page written in Spanish, you internalize, on the average, 4 words. In order to internalize 2000 words, you have to read 500 pages. It really is that simple.
Many, many students of the Spanish language give up on reading after reading 5 pages. Obviously you can not have a conversation, if you only have internalized 20 words.
WHY MANY LANGUAGE LEARNERS DO NOT LIKE READING IN SPANISH
Reading in Spanish can be tedious, especially in the beginning. When it comes to learning a language patience is a virtue. You will not find the word patience in the marketing script of the language companies.
SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT IS THE BEST MOTIVATION
When you read a page written in Spanish, you learn new words and reinforce the words that you already know. This will give you a sense of accomplishment.
FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF RETENTION
You have to see a known word or a structure, between 20 to 25 times, in different contexts, over an extended period of time, before it is internalized. Only those words and structures that are internalized can be used in speech.
Reading in Spanish will let see words and structures repeatedly in different contexts. You have to read at least 300 pages before you start internalizing words and structures.
WHY MOST OF OUR STUDENTS SIGN UP FOR OUR INTERMEDIATE LEVEL COURSES
Because they see a lot of progress in the basic Spanish class.
DEVELOPING MEANINGFUL CONNECTION WITH SPANISH VIA STORIES
When you learn Spanish via stories, you see words and structures in their proper contexts. Retention is much better compared to other language learning systems.
Graded Readers are interesting stories written for different levels of language learners. These are not half page bland stories that you find in typical language learning texts. These are captivating stories that you will enjoy while getting the much needed reinforcements. Reinforcements lead to retention and retention leads to speaking. When you speak, you recall and you can only recall what you have retained.
I AM A BEGINNER. HOW CAN I READ IN SPANISH ?
Graded Readers are available for all levels. We can teach you to read with comprehension in less than three months.
WHAT YOU WILL BE PAYING US FOR
To help you develop a solid understanding of the Spanish language in less than six months.
I WANT TO SPEAK SPANISH. WHY SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT UNDERSTANDING ?
You can not speak a language that you do not understand. Poor understanding is the most common cause of not being able to speak a language.
WHY WRITERS READ A LOT
Because they are always looking for better way of saying things.
You as a language learner should also read a lot in the target language. Learning to read in a foreign language is not hard. You start with level 1 Graded Readers. Once you can go through a level 4 Graded Reader, you are a literate in Spanish and can read almost anything written in Spanish.
WHY ACADEMIA DOES NOT PROMOTE READING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES
When you expand your knowledge via reading, you do not pay anyone. Educational Industrial Complex (aka modern academia) is in the business of selling knowledge. Why should it promote free acquisition of knowledge via reading ?
ONCE YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH SPANISH, SPEAKING WILL NOT BE AN ISSUE
Going through 10 Spanish Graded Readers will make you comfortable with the Spanish language.
REPETITIONS MAKE YOU SMARTER
The more often you have seen a piece of information, more likely you are to recall it at the right moment.
In Graded Readers you will see the same words and structures multiple times in different contexts. That will help you greatly in recalling them while speaking.
WHAT PREVENTS YOU FROM SPEAKING
Poor vocabulary and poor retention.
WHAT PREVENTS YOU FROM SPEAKING PRACTICE
Poor vocabulary and poor retention.
BEST REMEDY FOR POOR VOCABULARY AND POOR RETENTION
Read few hundred pages written in Spanish.
THE MORE YOU READ IN SPANISH, THE MORE YOU KNOW
The more you know, the better you speak. It really is that simple.
Please explore our website and you will know why academia makes language learning more complex than it needs to be.
HOW READING IN SPANISH TEACHES YOU TO USE WORDS CORRECTLY
If, while reading you use a word incorrectly, the whole sentence will not make sense. Then you look up for the meaning of the word in a dictionary and then the sentence will make sense. This way you will learn to use Spanish words correctly.
When you are speaking, you have to use the words correctly, otherwise you will not make any sense to your conversational partner. Reading teaches you to use words correctly.
If you use a word incorrectly in a test, you can get a bad grade. Reading based learning has an edge over classroom instruction.
WHAT SETS US APART
Our genuine reviews.
ITS NOT ABOUT SHYNESS. ITS ABOUT HOW MANY WORDS YOU KNOW
Reading expands vocabulary. Graded Readers are interesting stories written for all level of language learners. For our basic Spanish class we use a level 1 Graded Readers. Graded Readers that we use come in six levels.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit" - Aristotle.
The habit of reading two pages per day in Spanish will make you a fluent speaker in one year. Two pages can be read in less than 30 minutes.
We can teach you to read with comprehension is less than 3 months. Guaranteed.
I WANT TO SPEAK. WHY SHOULD I STRUGGLE TO DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF SPANISH ?
There has yet to exist a person who can speak a language without understanding it.
SENTENCES ARE THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF A CONVERSATION
You can not have a conversation unless you can build a wide variety of sentences. For this you need preparation.
HOW FAST WILL I LEARN VIA GRADED READER METHOD ?
If you spend 2 to 3 hours per week, you can become reasonably fluent in Spanish in about one year. This is a very fast way of learning Spanish.
IF YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK, TIME IS YOUR FRIEND
You will see progress and that will motivate you to learn further. Please read our reviews. They are a lot more than 5 stars and praise.
KNOWING THE LIMITATIONS OF YOUR MEMORY IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS
If you relate a word once with its meaning your are going to forget it. Even if you relate it ten times, you are still very likely to forget it. Relating a word to its meaning twenty to twenty five times, spread over extended period of time, will enable to you to retain it. Reading, with the help of a dictionary, provides you this opportunity. Those who read a lot in a foreign language can relate reading to speaking.
I AM A BEGINNER. HOW CAN I READ IN SPANISH ?
Graded Readers are available for all level of language learners. Each Graded Reader is a complete and an interesting story. You will go through the first Graded Reader with the help of a teacher. Then going through subsequent Graded Readers will be easier.
Reading expands vocabulary, which is a key component of your speaking abilities.
BEING COMFORTABLE WITH THE SPANISH LANGUAGE
A foreign language for a beginner is simply a collection of cryptic symbols. Rules of grammar are different and the word order in a sentence is different. Going through 3 Graded Readers will familiarize you with the Spanish language. Your comfort level will increase.
FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF LANGUAGE LEARNING
"You have to be fluent in understanding the target language before you can be fluent in speaking it".
We will give you a solid understanding in less than six months.
WHY MOST LANGUAGE SCHOOLS ONLY TALK ABOUT SPEAKING
Most language learners are interested in speaking only. They do not like the idea of struggling with developing a good understanding of the language. Talking about less glamorous aspects of learning a language can result in lost sales. Education Industrial Complex knows how to protect its bottom line.
TWO REASONS MOST LANGUAGE LEARNERS CAN NOT SPEAK A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
1. Poor vocabulary.
2. Poor retention.
Reading in Spanish will solve both the problems.
READING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IS A GREAT PLEASURE
Reading first 100 pages may not be fun but after that it is very exciting.
READING IS NOT AS PASSIVE AS MANY WOULD THINK
When you are reading you are putting words and structures together to make sense out of Spanish sentences. Our Graded Reader for the Basic Spanish Class has close to 300 sentences.
Spanish has to make sense before you can speak it.
Reading 10 pages can not make you a fluent speaker, just as lifting dumbbells 10 times won't make you Mr. Olympia.
Reading 500 pages can.
SIZE OF YOUR VOCABULARY MATTERS
Adults speak at a rate of 100 words per minute. A thirty minute conversation can involve an exchange of 3000 words. Running out of words while speaking is not a good idea.
QUALITY OF RETENTION MATTERS
When you speak, you have to recall words and structures fast. For this you need a solid retention. Graded Readers are rich in reinforcements. They will give you solid retention.
HOW BASIC IS OUR BASIC SPANISH CLASS
If you have taken two to three years of Spanish in High School or you have tried to learn Spanish via technology based language learning systems, you will still learn a lot from our Basic Spanish Class.
I WANT TO SPEAK. WHY SHOULD I LEARN TO READ ?
If as an adult you can not read with comprehension, it implies that you do not recognize the language. You are not very likely to speak a language that you do not recognize.
THE REASON SO MANY LANGUAGE LEARNERS FAIL TO LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
They do not give much thought to the language learning process. They simple try to do what most language teachers will tell them.
THE REASON CONVERSATION BASED CLASSES DO NOT WORK SO WELL
In real conversations, you do not repeat the phrases that you have rehearsed after the language teacher in a conversation based class. In real conversations you will have to build your own sentences.
CLARITY LEADS TO ACTION. READING LEADS TO CLARITY
It is true in case of learning Spanish as well.
THE MORE WORDS YOU KNOW, THE BETTER YOU SPEAK
Reading in Spanish will expand your vocabulary. We make reading in Spanish a very enjoyable experience.
WHERE DO SPANISH WORDS COME FROM WHEN YOU ARE SPEAKING ?
They do not come out of thin air. They come from your memory. Reading in Spanish, with the help of a dictionary, is a great way of feeding Spanish words to your memory. The more you think about our approach, the more sense it would make compared to "Total Immersion" or "Communicative Approach".
A STRONG VOCABULARY = CONFIDENCE TO INITIATE CONVERSATIONS
We are a good judge of what we can do or what we can not do.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GO THROUGH THE FIRST PAGE OF A GRADED READER
If you are a total beginner, the first page will seem to be full of cryptic symbols. The teacher will go through the first page and explain everything so that in the end Spanish written on the first page will make sense. The second page will not be so cryptic because a lot of words you have seen will be repeated in the second page. By the end of our basic Spanish class, you will be able to recognize 400 commonly used words. You have to recognize words before you can retain them. You have to retain them before being able to recall and use them in speech.
In order to be a fluent speaker you should be able to recognize 2000 commonly used words.
WE WILL NOT FORCE YOU TO SPEAK SPANISH. WE WILL PREPARE YOU FOR IT
You need to have a good command of the structure of the Spanish language before you can speak. You will carry on your own conversations and for that you need to be able to build your own sentences. We will make you go through countless examples of Spanish sentences. After six months you will be able to build your own sentences.
WE FOCUS ON CLARITY
You have to be very clear about the structures of the Spanish language before you can use them to build your own sentences. Nothing brings clarity faster than learning to read.
YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
If you sow 2000 Spanish words in your core memory, you will be able to speak Spanish.
If you sow less than 2000 words in your core memory, you will have a hard time speaking Spanish.
WHY DO I FORGET SPANISH WORDS SO FAST ?
A lot of Spanish learners, especially beginners, have this issue. In the absence of a good overall understanding of the structure of the language, you will forget Spanish words. As your understanding grows, so will your ability to retain Spanish words and structures. Also you have to relate a Spanish word 20 to 25 times, on the average, in order to retain it permanently.
GRADED READERS CAN TEACH YOU TO READ IN SPANISH WITH COMPREHENSION IN WEEKS
Graded Readers are written for all level of language learners. Going through 3 to 4 Graded Readers will make you a reader in Spanish. You will be able to read on your own. You may find 5 or 6 unknown words per page. You can always consult a dictionary.
GRADED READERS: LEARNING BY EXAMPLE AT IT'S BEST
When you go through Graded Readers, you will see countless examples of how sentences should be built. This will enable you to build your own sentences. You have to be able to build your own sentences before you can speak.
WE WILL GIVE YOU SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT IN LESS THAN 3 MONTHS
Sense of accomplishment is the best form of motivation.
"IF I HAVE EIGHT HOURS TO CHOP A TREE, I WILL SPEND SIX ON SHARPENING MY AXE"
- Abraham Lincoln
When you read in Spanish, you sharpen you skills in Spanish. In other words, the more you read, the more you know, the more you know, the better you speak. It really is that simple.
OUR MEMORIES CONTROL OUR THINKING
It is a very good idea to create positive memories. When you learn new words and reinforce words that you already know, you will be creating positive memories. This happens when you read in Spanish.
FOCUS ON THE STAGE THAT YOU ARE IN
If you are a beginner or a low intermediate student, focus on expanding your vocabulary. Focus on developing a good understanding of the structure of the language. Do not focus on speaking. Focusing on something that you can not do will zap your positive energy. Once you have acquired a good command of the language, you will be able to speak.
Most language teachers will tell you to speak, regardless of your level. This is simply bad advice. We associate doing what our teachers tell us with success. With good grades you can get into a school of your choice or land a good job. In case of learning a foreign language, following what most language teachers will tell you usually leads to failure. If you are a beginner, you need comprehension and input not speaking practice.
WHEN WILL I BE ABE TO SPEAK SPANISH ?
Once you can build your own sentences, you can speak. It takes about six months to one year before you can get there.
You need in-depth understanding of the Spanish language in order to build your own sentences . In a typical Conversational Spanish class you repeat phrases after the teacher, which rarely makes you a fluent speaker.
GRADED READER METHOD IS NOT JUST ANOTHER LANGUAGE LEARNING FAD
Graded Reader Method is at least 100 years old. Just google "Graded Reader Method" and you will find a ton of information relating to Graded Readers.
THE POWER OF 25th REINFORCEMENT
If you have seen a word 25 times in different contexts, it gets internalized. In other words it becomes an integral part of your memory. You can recall it in an instant and use it in speech. Graded Readers are rich in reinforcements.
25th reinforcement is the privilege of those who read a lot. Reading between 300 to 500 pages in Spanish will let you see its effects.
WHY SPOUSES OF NATIVE SPEAKERS SIGN UP FOR OUR CLASSES
Because they know that they need to have a very good command of the structure of the language before they can build their own sentences in order to speak.
If speaking practice were such a great tool, they would not need a class since they have the best opportunities for speaking practice. This concept of learning a language via speaking practice is very common among language teachers. It does not work for most intermediate and beginner level students who can not speak and for this reason they can not practice speaking either. Click on the text below for more on this.
KNOWLEDGE LIES IN BOOKS, NOT IN BUILDINGS
If you make reading in Spanish your friend, sky is the limit. Reading expands vocabulary. Reading improves retention level of words in your memory. Reading leads to speaking.
BUT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO CAN UNDERSTAND BUT STILL CAN NOT SPEAK ?
Lack of input is the most common cause of not being able to speak for these people. If you can understand the language, you should focus on input in form of reading and listening. Speaking will be easy. Going through 10 to 15 Spanish Graded Readers will do the job.
There are not many people in this world who can speak a language without understanding it.
READING TEACHES YOU TO DIFFERENCIATE BETWEEN SIMILAR WORDS
Many times students mix up the word "sentarse" which means to sit down with "sentirse" which means to feel. When they read they learn to differentiate between these words. Mixing these words up would make a sentence meaningless. Another example is "parar", which means to stop and "pasar" means to happen. There are many other words beginners mix up and via reading learn to differentiate between them.
LEARNING BY EXAMPLE
When you go through Graded Readers, you will see how wide variety of sentences are built. Seeing these examples will help you build your own sentences. When you have a conversation, you have to build a wide variety of sentences to express yourself.
HOW READING STORIES IN SPANISH WILL HELP YOU MEMORIZE WORDS AND STRUCTURES
When you read Spanish stories with comprehension, you will see words and structures repeatedly in their proper context. That will help you greatly with retaining words.
Most language learning systems lack context. For this reason they fail to deliver the desired results.
A CLOSER LOOK AT "TOTAL IMMERSION"
A 5 year old has a vocabulary of 2000 words. A five year old has had, assuming a 4 hour exposure to the language each day, 7,300 hours of exposure to the language. For an adult to have a similar exposure, duration wise, he or she has to attend two hours per week classes for more than 70 years.
Secondly, a language teacher making gestures in a "Total Immersion" class is no match for a real environment in which a child grows.
A USEFUL HOMEWORK ACTIVITY
Once the students have gone through a page of a Graded Reader in the class, we ask them to rewrite it in their own handwriting. Doing so will make them revisit the text and it will be good for reinforcements.
Reinforcements are vital to your success. You have to see a word at least 10 to 15 times, on the average, before it is internalized.