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Six college students sit in a classroom, waiting. A middle-aged black man walks in and greets them warmly, one by one.

"Igama lami ngu George," he says to the first student, pointing at himself.

Then he asks, "Kubani igama lakho?"

It takes a couple of tries, but soon these students pick up that they can introduce themselves in Zulu. Nobody has instructed. Nobody has taken notes. No translations have been attempted. Every student learned.

This example shows a successful way of starting to learn a language. Immerse immediately, and provide lifelines. Each student must hear the language spoken, and repeat phrases in it that, in context, are meaningful.

The first thing, therefore, to learn in any language, is how it feels to hear and speak it. Just get into it, and build out from there.

I know this method works because I have had it used upon me, and because my late instructor, Dr. George Vilakati, once needed a substitute for the first day of class. I recommend this to any teacher of high school and older students.

The elementary school equivalent is "total physical learning." In this method, the teacher demonstrates actions while giving commands and directions, then applauds and rewards, corrects as necessary, and repeats.

See if you can follow this lesson:

A teacher seated in front of a seated class stands up, lifts her hands toward the ceiling, palm upward, and says, "Yimani."

A few students stand up. The teacher smiles, then approaches those still seated, and, one by one, tells them, "Yima," again demonstrating with the hands. In two minutes' time, every student in the class has learned that "yima" means "stand up" in Zulu. Again, no translations, no paperwork, no drills.

The physical aspect reinforces the memory formation, as the social aspect does with the college student example at top. Eventually, the physical aspect can be decreased, and direct instruction will have to take a bigger place.

By then, the initial lessons will have established a scaffold of comfort and knowledge on which students can hang their new lessons.

Learn more about this author, Stephen Shea.
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