Danville Man Can Help You Talk the Talk in Many Lands

Danville Man Can Help You Talk the Talk in Many Lands

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2009/11/15/danville_man_can_help_you_talk_the_talk_in_many_lands

By Pat Phillips


DANVILLE – Mark Frobose isn't afraid to describe himself as a "rags to riches" story.

"To show you what is possible, I started with an idea more than 25 years ago, then I failed my way to success over the years," he said. "It wasn't until I moved back to Danville that I became successful."

The story actually began even longer ago, when Frobose, now 55, was attending North Ridge Middle School. He wanted to take a French class but was denied access because his math scores weren't high enough. He brought his math grades up, only to come away from his French class with a D.

"I basically didn't do well because I didn't understand grammar," Frobose admitted.

On a trip to Europe with other Explorer Scouts, the group was staying at a hostel and heard guitar music. Those in the room spoke only French, so Frobose used his D-level French ... and opened the door to a wonderful experience.

"I came home so motivated and got straight A's after that," he said.

Mark Frobose started his own audio language-learning business in his Danville home. By Rick Danzl

He went on to get a master's degree in foreign language at the University of Illinois.

"In 1981, in an Albuquerque studio apartment, I wanted to start a language school, but wasn't happy with any of the textbooks," he said. "So I decided to write my own when someone told me, 'You can't do that.' You can ask my wife: If you tell me I can't, I'm going to prove you wrong."

After some success, Frobose's own insecurities got in the way.
"I held several jobs, but in 1993, I started recording cassettes teaching languages while my day job was putting in fence posts," he said of finally finding some direction with his idea.

"Through every setback, I learned something," Frobose said. "I had this idea that rich people were evil and unhappy."

It was then that Frobose had a frank conversation with his father, who explained that there are just as many poor people who are evil and unhappy. The difference is what you do with your money, his father told him, and that what he was doing was something that could help people.

When the opportunity arose to market his Language Dynamics series on Amazon.com, the business really took off.

"I could sell there and compete with the largest publishers from my garage," Frobose said. "The drawback was I only got 45 percent of each sale, but I sold everything in the garage in a month. I told my wife, 'We're not in Kansas anymore.'"

She was glad to hear it, since her question throughout the process was, "When are you going to stop spending $3 for every $1 we're taking in?"

By 2006, his language series was the No. 2 best-seller in its category on www.amazon.com.

"It was raining success," Frobose said. "We had been working like demons, first reproducing the cassettes and later the CDs. I felt like I was living David and Goliath. I kicked the devil and they didn't like it. Those big companies consider this the flyover part of the country – the part you fly over between New York and L.A. How could someone from here possibly compete?"

Frobose felt he had now reached the point to sell the business.
He attended a meeting of publishing agents where, like speed dating, he got three minutes with a representative to pitch his product before moving on to the next agent.

"I figured my business was about in the middle of the spectrum of the people there," he said. "I had sold $42,000 gross for that December. The next thing I know, Macmillan Audio made me an offer for the concept, repackaged and remastered what I did on my computer at home and renamed it 'Behind the Wheel.'"
Two things definitely stood out to Macmillan Audio.

"First, what made Frobose's learning series so attractive was the success it enjoyed. It had healthy sales numbers and particularly that the user comments were positive and there were many of them," said Mary Beth Roche, vice president and publisher at Macmillan Audio. "What makes it popular is the elements of his program give people what they really want."

People don't get bogged down in grammar. They learn intuitive sentence building, she said.

"The second part was Mark himself," Roche said. "He's an English-speaking guide who uses English as a tool for people learning other languages."

Frobose now defines himself as financially independent, since he inked the deal with Macmillan on July 7, 2007, but he is not resting. He is doing presentations on Internet business, motivational speaking and consulting as well as being involved in real estate in Arizona.

"He serves as a consultant for us as the editorial director for 'Behind the Wheel,'" Roche said. "He has done radio tours promoting the series, and his passion comes through."

Macmillan Audio has aligned itself with Internet travel sites so that when someone books a trip to Italy, an advertisement will pop up for a free download of a 'Behind the Wheel' Italian lesson.

"We are delighted with the product," Roche said. "Now, Mark has the time to focus on the stuff that he loves – getting people to learn new languages."

High school students benefit from relationship with Frobose
DANVILLE – Schlarman High School Principal Bob Rice was impressed when he first met Mark Frobose, "The Language Guy."

When Rice found out Frobose had developed language-learning series, he invited him to speak to a school assembly.

"As a presenter, he's quite a motivational speaker," Rice said. "We had him talking with some teachers and foreign exchange students, and he was carrying on conversations in five languages."

When Frobose was ready to dispose of the first evolution of some of his "Language Dynamics" books, which preceded the "Behind the Wheel" CDs, he gave Rice a call to see if the school could put them to use.

Economics instructor Jason Woodworth is now using the textbooks with his students. They are building a marketing strategy, figuring how to set a price that can net the most profit and how to get others to buy and sell the books.
Follett Bookstore took some on consignment, Rice said.

"The class is learning about supply and demand right now, so that may lead to some additional ideas," Woodworth said. "Hopefully, we can take this opportunity and turn it into a good fundraiser for the school."

Getting to know Mark Frobose

Home: Danville.
Claim to fame: "The Language Guy," author of "Language Dynamics" and "Behind the Wheel," a language-teaching tool.
Age: 55.
Occupations: Consultant, motivational speaker, real estate.
Interests: Playing the guitar and singing, languages, travel and hanging out with his family.
Languages: Fluent in French, Italian and Portuguese and conversational in several others.
What's he reading: "Speak & Grow Rich," "Getting Started in Consulting," "Gone Fishing Portfolio," "Get Slightly Famous."
Advice: Keep it simple.

How 'Behind the Wheel' works

— Uses a flexible structure that makes even a 10-minute lesson effective.

— Teaches sentence-building techniques that allow listeners to create their own original sentences, rather than reciting phrases.

— Focuses on frequently used vocabulary that will be used right away to create sentences.

— Offers immediate English translations throughout every lesson, rather than forcing listeners to guess what they are saying.

— Features both an English speaker to instruct and guide the user and a native speaker to demonstrate authentic use and pronunciation.

— Offers a companion text with a transcript of the audio program plus additional practice exercises.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 135 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Hello Hello Language Learning Website

Hello-Hello Redefines Online Language Learning with Interactive Site and Proven Methodology

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/11/prweb3231704.htm


Hello-Hello.com, the world’s first free online language learning and social networking website developed in collaboration with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), will be officially launched during ACTFL’s Annual Convention and World Languages Expo. The conference begins Nov. 20 in San Diego.

Hello-Hello is a Washington-based free language training website that allows members to:

- Learn: complete the lessons online anytime, anywhere.
- Teach: help other members to learn their native language and get help from native speakers.
- Communicate: chat with people around the world to practice the language and make friends.

The Council is the largest association of teachers and administrators of all languages at all levels with more than 12,000 members. ACTFL’s tests are used by major corporations and the American government to determine language proficiency. Hello-Hello has training modules for English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Hello-Hello will be adding more languages, including German, Mandarin Chinese and Italian, in the next few months.

Hello-Hello co-founder Rakesh Gupta is a leading entrepreneur in the information technology and publishing sectors. Prior to starting Hello-Hello, Gupta founded Aptara, which is the world’s largest publishing services company. He is also a co-founder and CEO of KiwiTech, a leading technology firm that develops e-book readers for smartphones and provides mobile app development services.

“The market for online language learning continues to grow at a fast pace and there is a need to satisfy that demand with new innovative and effective online tools such as Hello-Hello,” Gupta said.

Sarah Gontijo, a Brazilian political consultant and co-founder of Hello-Hello, said the website addresses a critical need for people who want to develop better language skills.

“While there are many language learning websites available to people, Hello-Hello is the only site based on a proven methodology that will give users the necessary skills to be proficient in a particular language. I want to thank ACTFL for their critical role in ensuring the site’s content meets the council’s highest standards,” Gontijo said.

Other language learning software and websites try to replace, rather than complement, the hard work of instructors, Gontijo said. Hello-Hello’s intent is to serve as a complementary tool for language teachers and students around the globe.
ACTFL Executive Director Bret Lovejoy said Hello-Hello’s launch is occurring during an important time.

“As the demand for online language learning increases, it is critical that we have quality content available and Hello-Hello achieves this mission. The lessons have a conversational approach with real-life situations that will enable students to have interactions in the target language from the very first lesson,” he said.

About Hello-Hello

Hello-Hello is an interactive language learning website combined with social networking with a community of like-minded individuals who help each during the learning process. Our lessons were developed in collaboration with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), which is the largest association of teachers and administrators of all languages at all levels with more than 12,000 members. Hello-Hello is based in Washington, D.C.

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Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 100 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Part 2 - What does it Really Take to Learn a Foreign Language?

Use Additional Foreign Language Learning Resources

Yes, most certainmly you can still use additional resources to fine-tune a linguistic point, clear up a bit of confusion, add on an expression or two and push your vocabulary a bit higher if you’d like. I recommend supplementing your immersion experiences with a bilingual dictionary, a phrase book, a foreign language only dictionary, a CD, DVD or audio-cassette-based foreign language course of the tongue or dialect you’re actively immersed in and working on. For that matter, you can even contract a tutor in your foreign language to help get and keep you on track. Use any or all the added language learning resources you like. Just bear in mind, language learning methods number one, two and three are:

Get out there, do things, immerse yourself in the language and talk, talk, talk.

“But I’ll sound like an idiot.”

Well maybe a bit at first, but even when you botch something – and you probably will at times – the little old ladies, the vendor or the mechanic, among throngs of other native speakers of the foreign language you’ll engage, will answer your question, give you the information you want, and then likely correct your speech (after a chuckle or two, naturally). This is opposed to your sounding like an idiot while “practicing” with a classmate, who doesn’t know either, and their answering back – sounding like an idiot too. Neither of you knowing what you’re doing “wrong”. It happens so often it’s almost passe. Get off the foreign language learning merry-go-round and go for total immersion as soon as you can.

Foreign Language Learning Errors are Not Fatal

Hey, wanna hear a good one? Once, years ago on a brutally hot afternoon, I confused “Tengo calor” (I’m hot - from the weather) with “Estoy caliente” (I’m horny) while talking with a female co-worker. While this could also possibly mean I'm hot from a fever or illness, the look on her face was priceless. It also immediately told me I’d committed a serious faux pas. She immediately corrected me and explained the difference in the two sentences (which both can be translated to mean I’m hot, but are culturally different)– before a good laugh by both of us. Quite possibly, in a foreign language class, this “mistake” could have gone unnoticed and uncorrected. Foreign language learning errors are not fatal, at least the overwhelmingly vast majority of the time they’re not. By far and large they’re more humorous and occassionally a bit embarrassing, but you’ll live, to screw up yet another day.

Again, “The more you immerse yourself in it, the faster and more easily you will become fluent in any foreign language.” That’s my down-to-earth, hard and fast rule. Anything else you might say, do or be is just added icing on the cake.

Now suck up your courage, start packing your bags and get ready to make some dramatic foreign language learning progress.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 135 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

What does it Really Take to Learn a Foreign Language?

How Long Does it Take to Learn a Foreign Language?

“So, how long does it take to learn a foreign language?”

If I hear that question one more time I’ll just scream. Okay, so maybe I won’t scream, but I’ll give an answer similar to the one I’ve already seemingly given a thousand times or more. Only now, my stock answer is getting a lot shorter and more concise.

“How long it will take you to learn Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, German, Chinese or whatever other foreign language you’re attempting to dabble in actually depends on you.”

“The more you immerse yourself in it, the faster and more easily you will become fluent.”

That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.

Foreign Language Learning Immersion

As a veteran of several decades in foreign language learning of French, Kpelle, Twi (Akan), and Spanish to mention a smattering of tongues I’ve broached, I’m thoroughly convinced that the only sure way of quickly and successfully acquiring a foreign language is to immerse yourself completely and totally in the language and culture for as long a period – or series of periods if need be - as you possibly can.

Learn to Speak Spanish

Say or think whatever you like, but if you want to learn to speak Spanish, for example, spending six weeks of summer vacation in a non-tourist town or area of Mexico or other Spanish-speaking country, will allow you to speak far more Spanish than a full year or even more “studying” Spanish in a school.

Why?

It’s because you’ll have to function completely in the foreign language all day everyday, day in and day out. Everything you do will be foreign language vocabulary acquisition-based. From “Where’s the soap?” for your morning shower, to “What’s for breakfast?” and “Where’s the bus to Cuautla?”or “I’m hungry. Where’s a good, cheap restaurant?” – throughout the entire day, will be in Spanish.
You’ll ask a thousand questions with authentic language responses from one word answers to “full diatribes of innocuos discourse”. You’ll have to mentally process it all, extracting the needed information, wholly or in part, from each interaction.

Everyone will be your foreign language teacher

Everyone will be your foreign language teacher from the schoolgirl waiting for the bus on the corner to the little old ladies strolling out of the “tienda” with their woven baskets of ingredients for the day’s lunch. A grease-smeared car mechanic you pass by while walking down the block, a policeman, a vendor at the newspaper kiosk, a watchman taking a break in the shade of a home’s porch. They will all teach you Spanish. It might be one word, an expression, a gesture or the sight of a new food. “What’s that?”, “Where is this?” and “Can you tell me ...” will become your calling cards. All in the foreign language that you’re learning, of course.

“Open your books please to page 86, exercise 2.”

“Be sure to study your list of verb conjugations from today’s vocabulary practice.”

“Review the false cognates from the reading in your textbooks.”

How would you rather acquire your foreign language communications skills? By learning and practicing what you need to know and learn on-the-spot, or from a list of lexical items?

Continuing in the next post we'll have more on what it really takes to learn a foreign language. See you then.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 135 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Whole Language Resources in English Language Teaching and Learning

Teaching English as a Foreign Language

While there are a number of commonly accepted, viable approaches to teaching English as a foreign language, there are elements of the whole language approach as postulated by Rubin, which lend themselves well to a broad range of methodologies and program types. It is important however, to consider how the inclusion of these will be viewed on the part of the English as a foreign language learners themselves.

English as a Foreign Language Learning Resources

• Listening Laboratory – used to play audio recordings for repeating, substitution drills and guided speaking practice individually or in groups of up to 50 foreign language learners

• Audio-visual auditoriums – these are designed for showing audio-visual presentations to medium or large groups of learners up to 100 or more at a time

• Computer rooms – relatively new on the didactics scene as a regular medium of instruction, computer rooms have earned an indemnible space in foreign language teaching and learning especially when combined with internet access

• Conversation clubs – when continual practice in speech fluency needs practicing on an on-going basis , a regular conversation-based series of sessions can be established for the EFL learners. This can also be a great venue for connected speech elements acquisition and practice.

• Cinema clubs – almost certainly foreign language learner will love videos, documentaries, shorts and full-length feature films in their target language.

• Poetry and literary group sessions – depending on your foreign language learners’ levels of course, rhythm, rhyme and rap in addition to poetry, can be a highly effective means of vocabulary, grammar, idioms and expression and other linguistics elements practice. Shakespeare has been a long-term favorite.

Foreign Language Learning Practice

Teachers can introduce, model and practice grammatical themes with their foreign language learners to a somewhat limited degree during class hours. The number of class contact hours though, can at times be severely limited. A minimum of five contact hours of class per week is an absolute minimum requisite for successful foreign language acquisition, although there are far too many classes in school systems and institutes which have fewer than this. In order in increment foreign language exposure, active and passive learning and provide regular foreign language practice, additional resources, as listed above, can be called into play. All the foreign language learning resources in the world, however, will be of little value if the learners do not avail themselves of these resources when and where available.
Why Ignore Foreign Language Learning Resources

But why wouldn’t foreign language learners avail themselves of such a plethora of linguistic resources, if they are indeed, effective in any way? To gain more insight, I interviewed a number of EFL learners on their attitudes and motives for using or not using additional language learning and practice resources.

Here are some highlights:

• Scheduled times are inconvenient – When specific hours are assigned for EFL learners to attend Listening Laboratory sessions, for example, the assigned hours may not necessarily be good ones that fit in well with learner class schedules in other subjects.

• Activities are repetitive or boring – pre-recorded listening laboratory activities can tend to be repetitive, quickly becoming uninteresting or even boring for learners.

• Lack of motivation – Learners can and do lack intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for foreign language learning activities. When such is the case, additional resources which may be available will typically be ignored or remain unused by these types of learners.

• Foreign language learners fail to see or understand the benefits of extra-curricular language acquisition and practice activities – It’s often a case of EFL or foreign language learners simply not understanding the real benefits that attending and participating in these types of extra-curricular foreign language or language acquisition and practice Activities can bring to their language learning efforts.

• Foreign language learners fail to have sufficient time to engage in extra-curricular foreign language learning activities – The case may simply be that the EFL learners do not have sufficient time outside of class hours to attend and participate in extra-curricular foreign language acquisition and practice activities despite their accepted benefits.

Foreign Language Learning Resources: What Can Be Done?

So what might possibly be done to help remedy or at least alleviate the main crux of this on-going problem of foreign language learners not availing themselves of valuable language practice and acquisition resources when available? In the following segment of this article, we’ll discuss some suggestions in more detail.

See you then.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 135 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

Ping your blog

PenPalAmis Language Exchange Website

Here's an interesting foreign language exchange website to consider:

I would like to suggest the following website: http://www.penpalamis.info/

PenpalAmis is a pen pal language exchange where anyone looking to learn a language, can find pen pals from around the world to practise with, which in my opinion is one of the most effective ways to learn a language, second to living in the target country itself.

Because the website currently has only around 300 pen pals including a broad range of countries, ages and interests, this doesn't mitigate the value of the website - the website is simple to navigate and doesn't require registration which makes it quick, simple and easy for those that want to use it - whether being someone who has hardly used a computer before. Most lanuguage exchange/penpal websites require that you pay to contact others, such as mylanguageexchange, however PenpalAmis is and will remain completely free. The whole purpose of the website is to find language exchange pen pals - not to make money. (Thanks to site owner Jake Stainer for that, especially in today's "profits-oriented" online world.


Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 135 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.

The Best Countries to Teach English In - Second Part

What’s the best Foreign Country to Teach English In?

So what’s the best country to teach English as a foreign or second language in? Your own personal interests, tendencies and personal goals will tell you. If you’re a francophone and want to delve more deeply into the French culture in all its forms, France is hardly your only option. Why not likewise consider Guadeloupe (a department of France), St. Martin or one of the French-speaking countries of West Africa, such as the Ivory Coast, Cameroon or Morocco on Africa’s north coast?

Equatorial New Guinea boasts Spanish as a major language right up there with Spain and Latin America. There’s also the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and I’d keep an eye out for some upcoming opportunities in Cuba too with the way things have been trending recently.

Teach English Abroad: “Lucky” Number Thirteen

Egypt may be an over-crowded oven, but other Saharan countries are woefully under-served. Many Arabic-speaking countries are also getting an undeserved bad rap. Contact the embassy of a country you might be interested in, in Washington, DC or your country’s capitol in order to inquire about pursuing possibilities. Whatever and wherever you may finally opt for, remember that there are 235 countries worldwide with more than 6912* spoken languages used among them, don’t get caught up simply “going with the flow”, expand your horizons, then give a non-traditional destination a shot. Finally, in case you’re wondering, the USA was “lucky” number thirteen on the UNDP Index.

For more quick info on teaching English abroad, check out this video clip.





Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, author and speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 135 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If you Want to Teach English Abroad, Here's What You Need to Know" by requesting the title at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Then E-mail me for further information.