LANGUAGE IMMERSION, HOW CAN IT WORK FOR YOU?

Most people think that one gets immersed in a Language by simply travelling to a country where the target language is been spoken, but when critically examined, we will see that it is not really the migration that makes the difference but the mindset.

             First, we need to know the person's activities during his stay at the new location where he visits and also we need to know if the people he relates with are natives because language learning success depends on how well he spends his time in the country. Another factor to consider is to check the of program he or she engages in.  You do well to ask the following questions.

Am I traveling with a group of friends? 

Am I going alone? 

Is it a school arrangement?

Am I going with a language instructor? 

Let’s quickly consider these choices.

Sometimes, traveling with friends for language immersion can really be a waste of time because it’s difficult to find people with the same mind set as yours in other words, some of your friends might not be determined enough to achieve what you set out to achieve and if not careful, they might negatively influence you. But in some cases, they might be the ones to drive you . This goes a long way to show how important your choice of company is.

Traveling alone is a good decision if 

•  You have relatives in the country
•  You have enough money to survive 
•  If you understand the language to some extent, to reduce the early pressure of having to comprehend so many things at once.

                   In Nigeria, All 3rd year French students must engage in the language immersion program either by going to Nigeria French village at Badagry, Lagos state  or travelling to Togo and the program lasts for a year after which they will return to their different universities.

We are not going to discuss Nigeria French language village or even Togo but the point i’m going to stress is that  for every 300 level French students it’s a norm even though some don’t benefit from it.  Some students ,while doing too much of reading to boast their grades, lose the essence of  immersion. You can study even at home but what makes the immersion stands out is the oral aspect and once it’s not achieved, i don’t see the point of immersion.

Lastly, going with an experience language instructor is also a good decision because he or she must be able to help you in both written and spoken aspect. 

                Immersion is simply using the language you want to learn all the time, it means you should be able to read, write and even speak the target language for some time. The duration doesn't determine the success of the immersion program but what really matters is focus because one can encounter some distractions like holding daily conversations with one who speaks ones native language. In this article, I am going to give some tips on how to have a successful language immersion program alone.

1.      FAT BUDGET 

When you realize the importance of learning a foreign language as an adult, you can make the decision of travelling to a country where the language is been spoken but this step needs properly planning in terms of expenses. You can make your stay enjoyable anywhere.

2. READ A LOT 

You should have a good knowledge of French for example before going to Togo or Ivory Coast, it is even advisable to learn to speak  to an extent ,this can achieved by associating with French speaking organisations where you can meet francophones to communicate with in your local. Your goal is to improve not to learn from the scratch.

3.     KEEP YOURSELF OCCUPIED

You can decide to a course to take a course like economics or history in your target language during your stay in a foreign country.

4.   FEEL FREE TO EXPRESS YOURSELF

Always be ready to discuss with people , you can visit native speakers ,make new friends in short, socialize!