If you’ve ever said, “I’ve taken a few years of Spanish but I can’t really speak it at all.” (This one’s for YOU)

fluency fox logoOne first learns to understand a language and then to speak it.

(Research suggests that second language acquisition first occurs through comprehension which then naturally leads to production.)

So how does someone go about doing that?

First, you’ve got to understand what you hear.  If you cannot comprehend what you are listening to, well…there is no meaning to it.  Nothing gained unless you understand something.

Second, it makes sense to learn the words that are used to most.  Every language has certain words that are used more frequently than others so the logical approach is to concentrate on those words first.

Third, learning a language requires repetition.  Practice, practice, practice…but if we accept the first two ideas that there is a need to understand what we hear and that focusing on the most common words makes sense, it would appear that there must be a better way to practice learning a language than just picking up a dictionary and starting with A and going through it until we reach Z.

Finally, stories help us process and remember information.

Let’s do that.  Let’s make sure we understand what we hear, focus on the most common words first, and practice with those words using stories.

BTW, we are not talking about starting with the numbers, colors, greetings, etc.  Been there done that!!!

Oh, one more thing, we want to do it as quickly as possible.  (Don’t waste my time and I won’t waste yours.)

How on earth are we going to do that?

Keep reading…

Fluency Fox is based on comprehensible input of high frequency words using repetition and recall of stories.

Fluency Fox is designed specifically for some one who has had a any previous exposure to Spanish language instruction, but who is frustrated at the lack of practical results resulting from that previous instruction (primarily grammar instruction) and doesn’t feel they have a competent grasp of understanding Spanish conversations nor can they adequately engage beyond common greetings, the use of simple words and/or phrases, or at best simple sentences. 

Fluency Fox resolves this problem by offering the Spanish language learner the maximum comprehension gains with a minimum time effort via a rapid paced audio software program focusing on a manageable/comprehensible progression of the most frequently used Spanish vocabulary in context starting at the advanced beginner and progressing to the middle intermediate level.  

This is accomplished through the telling in Spanish of one continuos story while constantly asking questions relating to that story which prompts the user to mentally or verbally answer those questions guided by the teacher/student role play audio. 

To further assist learners, the spoken Spanish audio is accompanied by both the onscreen synchronized Spanish text and optional English text translation which serves both audio and visual learners alike.   

Also, each chapter lesson has a content rich image relating to that chapter’s content.

Additionally, the embedded quizzes serve to hold learners attention since they know that a question will be asked regarding the story content.

The reason Fluency Fox is so effective is that it offers the needed aural repetitions in context of the high frequency words (HFW) presented throughout the program so that the learner will become familiar with Spanish syntax (word placement) and to realistically integrate those words into their active vocabulary usable in any scenario.  

As the story builds, references are continually made to previous accounts in the story which provide the learner to both visually recall earlier events in the story for review purposes and to solidify that previous learned material as well as a continuous combining of what’s been learned and requiring that knowledge to be applied to the new material that is presented in each successive chapter lesson. 

Most Spanish language learners “get lost” due to a slow mental processing speed of the incoming language.  The primary cause of this is that the not understanding the bulk of the words that make up roughly 80% of spoken Spanish  prevents the listener from using context clues to understand instances of exposure to genuinely unknown vocabulary that would be available to them if they understood (in context) the majority of the HFW. 

The best analogy would be individual bricks representing words while building a wall which is the overall representation of comprehension.  The less bricks in place result in a less solid wall or worse, a collapsed mess of bricks on the ground. Fluency Fox’s concentrated focus on on knowing the HFW in context gives the listener the best chance of overall understanding in the least amount of time.   

Fluency Fox provides this vital link or nexus of the central components of the Spanish spoken language used during normal Spanish conversation. (I.E. the HFW comprehensibly presented repeatedly in Spanish in a multitude of varying and engaging contexts.)  

This method is required in order to increase the learners mental processing of the incoming language.

These comprehensible repetitions throughout the story increase your Spanish language processing speed and expedite the learning curve so that what remains is only the need to decipher uniquely new or unfamiliar vocabulary. 

Herein lies the benefit, while the HFW are practiced in Spanish and understood in context via Fluency Fox, the learner can use what they have learned previously to make sense and respond appropriately to statements and questions made by anyone speaking Spanish.

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