One of the best things about working on the joy of languages blog is that our readers are always sharing smart ideas about how to learn a language. This week's post is inspired by Anne, Ken and Vanessa, who suggested keeping a journal as a way to improve your speaking skills in a foreign language.
I loved this idea and wanted to get as many people involved as possible, so I've set up a language diary challenge on Instagram, together with a little giveaway (more on this later).
First, let's talk a little about how keeping a language diary can boost your speaking skills.
Writing to improve speaking
Writing to improve your speaking may seem counterintuitive at first. But writing helps develop the skills you need to communicate fluently. To speak a language well, you need to:- practice organising your thoughts into sentences
- learn vocabulary to talk about everyday events
- identify gaps in your knowledge
Reasons to keep a language diary
1. Learn useful things
By writing about your day, you'll be practicing using the vocabulary and grammatical structures that you need to talk about day to day stuff. You'll learn how to communicate about things that are important to you and the people around you, which is much more useful than the random word lists most language courses give you.2. Remember faster
Humans are hardwired to remember stories better than other types of information. The little snippets in your diary act like mini stories, which make the grammar and vocabulary easier to remember and reuse. You're also likely to repeat a lot of the same words and structures, which naturally makes them more memorable.3. Use the language
When we learn a language, most of us focus on "passive activities" like reading and listening. But if we want to use the language to communicate, we should focus more on activities that help us produce the language. A language diary helps you draw from the vocabulary and grammar you've been learning to build sentences you can use in real conversations.4. Learn consistently
Keeping a diary is a great way to add consistency to your language learning and make sure that you practice using the language you're learning in some way every day.The #languagediarychallenge community
I started the language diary challenge on Instagram so that we can work together to help each other learn a foreign language. Research shows that people are more likely to achieve their goals when they work together as a team, so I thought it would be a great way to get a community of language learners together. And Instagram is the perfect place to write a little something in the language you're learning each day.- It's based on photos and videos, which makes it visual and fun
- Pictures facilitate memory
- You can connect with the language learning community on Instagram, which includes support and corrections from native speakers.
