Alexander Mynzak: Start your own language school
Kris Broholm interviews Alexander Mynzak, a polyglot with a PhD in linguistics, about his journey opening a language school. They discuss transforming language learning passion and skills into a full-time career, offering an alternative to traditional certification paths. Mynzak shares his experience teaching English and translation studies.
July 28, 2018 · 1 hr 0 min
EP 124: Alexander Mynzak: Start your own language school
0:00 / 59:54
Guest
Alexander Mynzak
What You'll Hear
- 1 Meet Alexander Munsach: Polyglot & School Owner
- 2 From Academia to Language School Entrepreneur
- 3 How Alexander Became a Multilingual Learner
- 4 My Polyglot Journey Transformed My Teaching
- 5 Gamifying Language Learning with Stickers & Levels
- 6 Starting Your Own Language Learning Business
- 7 Discover Your Perfect Language Learning Method
Links Mentioned
Questions Covered in the Show
How did Alexander Munsach become a polyglot?- 4m
What are the key differences in Alexander Munsach's teaching style before and after becoming a polyglot?- 27m
What are Alexander Munsach's three main goals for his students at his language school?- 31m
How does Alexander Munsach help students become independent language learners?- 34m
How does Alexander Munsach keep young students engaged and motivated, especially those who might typically be reluctant to learn?- 36m
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Hello everyone and welcome to episode 124 of the actual fluency podcast. I am your host Kris Broholm as I have been for all the episodes, I believe. So, today I'm joined by Alexander Munsach, who's a 32-year-old polyglot from Ukraine, who speaks nine languages to various levels. And he also has a PhD in linguistics in the field of lexicology. He's been teaching English and translation studies, and he most recently opened his own language school in his home town, which is a really interesting way to look at how you can use your languages or your passion for language learning to turn it into an actual full-time job or life, really.
Um I'm always keen to have people on the podcast who have taken that interest or that route. As I think a lot of people listening to this probably have the interest of languages or maybe even talent or achievement, but sometimes lack a little bit of well, what do I do with it, you know? Uh now that I speak five languages, is there anything that I can use it for? Unfortunately, many of the jobs and careers require you to have a certified level or at least some kind of diploma, which is not unreasonable. You can go to, you know, there are sort of different companies around the world, there's the Goethe Institute for German. You get an Institute for Russian as well. I think it's called something like T K R I or something. I can't remember the name of it. But if you get that certificate then you can work on it. Uh for me personally, that's it's difficult to reach those levels because it's a very all-encompassing level. Whereas I think for instance my German is quite good at speaking, but it's not a certified level, at least not yet.
But anyway, so Alex's way of doing it, I think is a really clever way. I previously had other people on the podcast talking about how they sort of turned their hobby into a full-time gig. And so I hope you enjoy Alex's uh story today and hope you take something from it. And before I jump over to that interview with Alex, I just wanted to thank a quick chance to thank the show's sponsor, which is Glossika. And it's G L O S S I K A. And uh they are basically providing audio courses for 50 plus languages, and it works with spaced repetition. There's a lot of different games and tools you can use to play with the content and the levels. And they also use grammar points in every lesson, so you kind of get the feel of the grammar of the language without actually studying any grammar points or rules.
So if you want to give Glossika a little attempt, go to try.glossika.com, so that's T R Y G L O S S I K A .com and uh you can get started for free and if you like it. It's a it's a monthly subscription. It's not the cheapest in the world, but I think they do provide a lot of value to the user. And if you are learning more than one language, it's it's absolutely it's an absolute bargain suddenly because you can access all 50 languages, so give it a try and uh let me know what you think. And otherwise enjoy this episode with Alexander Munsach. Alex, welcome to the show. Do you want to start out by giving the people listening just a brief story of how you got into learning so many languages?
Well, first of all, I my languages, this is my job, yeah. I I majored in English, and English is not my native tongue. And I majored in English, then I graduated from the university, majored in English, and then I just went straight into PhD studies, yeah. I wrote my PhD uh it's was about lexicology about vocabulary in English. Legal legal terminology, I mean, the the the terms you use in uh legal text. And after that, I was teaching at university, I was teaching actually it was the highest position that you can teach English. It was I taught English to English major students, yeah. So not just students who want to learn English, but they're majoring in English and they were majoring in translation. So I pretty much had a lot of experience with English. But I was not a polyglot at that time, I just spoke well, I spoke, I'm bilingual, Ukrainian and Russian. I spoke English and we I could speak some German, yeah. But this is not being a polyglot because I was bilingual, so four languages, but it's not actually in fact was a being a polyglot.
So, uh after that, I was teaching a lot. I like teaching. I used some I tried to use some creative ideas. Uh I also worked as an interpreter for quite a long time. Uh it was like a freelance or part-time job. And uh well, I I I can't say I liked it, but uh I did it for the money because conference interpreting is is brings more money than teaching, but it's more it's more exhausting, really. It's more exhausting. I really I really sympathize the translators, the conference interpreters. This is a hard job. It's a stressful job, yeah.
And uh after that, uh in 2014, I decided to go to China. I had a good I had a good position there, and they invited me. And then and there the story started actually because I went to China, I had to learn Chinese, of course. This is actually one of the aims to go to China is to learn Chinese. And uh this this this this were the fun started because I think the Chinese uh I know there was uh Vladimir Kultery from Slovakia, yeah. I share his opinion. He told like uh that uh he had he speaks many languages, but he said but he said like the Chinese was really a nightmare for him. And he has a good idea of saying that Chinese is really a foreign language. So if you learn or very distant language, Chinese, Arabic or Japanese. These languages are really foreign languages, yeah. Because not they are difficult essentially, but they are I uh so different. Everything is different. The sound is different, the writing system is different, grammar is different.
So, uh this uh uh so this is where started. And it was really uh I mean even rewarding and at the same time disappointing experience because uh I was learning Chinese every day for four hours. It was six months and I still couldn't speak it. I still couldn't speak it. Well, I did writing, I did listening. I tried then I started like my polyglot project, I start listening to different podcasts. To your podcast, I found you. First, I listened to some minor podcasts, then I found your podcast. And I read I read articles how to learn other languages. Well, it helped, I think so, because after a while I just began to speak more speak. So I spent two years in China, I could speak I I can speak I could speak Chinese quite well, but the listening comprehension was still poor. It's still poor for the Chinese. I can speak well, but I cannot I cannot uh listen that well. Hear what the people says that well.
So I went back to I went back to Ukraine, and I wanted to go back to university and to go back to my teaching teaching at university. But then uh then they said, oh, you were in China, we don't want to because you you it was a break. It was it was complicated. So I what I did uh then I met a guy, an American guy, in my city, and he said like uh he he opened he it was an American guy, and he opened a language school in my city. And uh he invited me, oh, can you just you can be a teacher at my at my at my school. Then I said, really, why do I have to be to work for somebody? I have to work for somebody. I speak well, I speak quite a few languages. I I'm rather I think I'm good at that. So, uh no, I said, okay, I better start my own school. Yeah, I better start my own school.
And I went back to my hometown, uh and it was really a small town, it's like the population of 10,000 people. Yeah, this is where I live. And where I was born and well, where I live, where I have an apartment. And um I decided to start uh school, yeah, to start my own school. And uh just to work for myself, not to work for somebody else because when I was working in China, they I still have to stick to the plan, to do the things that they ask, right? And the university is the same. You I can't I couldn't realize uh my own ideas, yeah.
And um what I did uh uh what I did, I just rented rented rented an uh rented an office, yeah. And uh make some it was no, actually this was a good thing for me because there was no language school in my city. There was there wasn't. So I didn't have a competition at all. So I I I just thought, oh, maybe I could have 30 students, 30 students, and it will be good. Now I have like more than 80, yeah. I have 80 students. And I I I I could have I can have more I could have more, but I I don't have the the capacity because I'm the only only teacher. I I I run everything. I I run I run the process, I run the management, and yeah, I'm I'm I'm I'm quite busy, but uh I'm the only person in the school and I do all the stuff, yeah. So, Yeah, well, uh I could I I would like to I would like to hire somebody, but uh well, I don't think that somebody could do better than me, yeah. So because I'm very devoted to my job. This is my business. This is my this is my thing. So, yeah. And um
Did you always knew you were gonna go into uh you started with uh you picked English as a major, did you always knew you were gonna go into a a language-focused uh education path or was there some kind of
Yeah, I think so. But I I I I wanted to be to be more like a higher university level. Uh so yeah, I always positioned myself as a teacher, uh maybe at the same time as an interpreter, but to do to do a translation you have to do only translation, I think so because you want to be a professional. You can't do both like teaching, then writing academic papers, uh you you you can't, really you can't.
Right.
Uh so this is this was the idea and this is how I how I just realized it. So, it's it's a small business, I run it. And what I mean is uh is that um there are a lot of language enthusiasts, polyglots who don't have a job or who don't want to change something in their life. I think having a school is a good opportunity for them just to I don't know, to to do something to do something because it's it's it's good because you you're connected still I'm connect I like languages, I'm connected with the languages. So, um
I think that's a great idea and I I I know for sure we'll get into a little bit more about the specifics on how to actually design your own program, like what when into that, but before I just wanted to talk a little bit about your um development from so you're studying you're majoring in English, you went into a PhD straight away. Where did you start to get interested in more languages than English on and how did that, you know,
Uh well, it was in China.
Okay.
It was in China because I started learning Chinese, this was the first year. And uh I then I spoke then I decided to brush up on my on my German, yeah, because I I didn't speak it for a long time. And uh then I it was the same time. I was quite like a B1, B2 in Chinese. So I decided to start uh Spanish. It was my dream to learn Spanish, just from scratch, yeah. And it was the second year, uh I had a lot of time in China because in China you have a good job, you have a good job, you don't work long hours, and you have a good pay. So it's quite it's it's it's quite a good environment to stay there for a polyglot, I guess. If you if you want to learn Chinese, so you have a job, you earn money, and you learn a language. Yeah.
And uh I started at the same time I was learn I was learning uh I was learning Chinese, yeah. And I started Spanish from scratch. And uh well, I learned two languages simultaneously for like uh I learned two languages simultaneously. So it took me six months uh until for until my first conversation in Spanish with a I talking tutor, yeah. Uh and it was half an hour, it was a trial it was a trial session. And it was good. We we I didn't use English at all, so it was uh 100% in Spanish. I was struggling, but I felt happy. I I know that feeling. I hate like all this I don't really like the process of of learning a language because this is very long. You have to take at it, but I like this moment when you start to speak the language the first time. Even even even even not very even not a very good level. You're still struggling, but the person understands you, you get the feedback, yeah. And this is this is the greatest this is the greatest feeling you can you can get, yeah. And it's very rewarding. But it takes a long time to that.
So after that I went back to I I left China, and I went back to Ukraine, and I I wanted to pick another language. And I I started the American Sign Language. Yeah. Because it was different language. It was a different language and uh uh I didn't get I the problem with this language, I don't have the people to communicate. I have Chinese friends. I can find a lot of uh a lot of uh Spanish people. But wait, where do you use ASL? And the problem, it was disappointing because the sign language is different in every country. In Ukraine is different. You go to other European countries, it's different. Even in small communities, it's all different. So, and you don't have much material. I mean, the same you have dictionary of uh signs, and this is what you have. You don't have books, you don't have movies. So and you don't have people to to practice the the ASL. So, uh so that's why I just stopped. I learned like uh 500 signs on on memorized course. This is it. So.
Right.
It's good it's it was a good experience just to learn the language how the language is is structured. It's has the same uh you know, it's like uh when uh when a native speaker speaks fast, right? You can't understand him. So that the the the the deaf the deaf person can also sign very fast. Yeah. They can sign very fast and make like contractions. One sign goes to the other. And it's it's it's also it's all interesting. They also have some type of grammar and the structure how they use it, how they show tenses, how they show the the the time, future. So yeah, it was a good intro into into and it's actually the language is quite neglected neglected. I mean at the gatherings, I haven't seen many people who who have have have or I don't know,
I only know a few, that's it out of maybe 500 people. So it's definitely not huge, but as you said, it's you know, it's a it's it's an interesting experience because it's so different to the other languages that we speak. But at the same time, like you mentioned, it's also very hard to find practical use for. Like I would love to be able to speak to any deaf person in my community if there were any, but honestly, I haven't met any yet. So that just shows to me that if I were to learn, let's say ASL, the chances of me actually meeting someone to use it with is very small. Unless I, you know, sought it out or or something. So for me that's always been a barrier. I'm also really curious about sign language, but I just I just can't see, it's like learning Welsh or you know, Gaelic or something. It's like you the chances of me meeting a speaker is ridiculously small. I mean I know it was just in Wales over the weekend so I would know but, you know, it's just for me it's it's too it's it's too rare in a way here here where I live anyway.
Oh. Yeah, so, uh after that, I just uh saw a lot of people were got interested in Esperanto, and I I wished I had learned Esperanto earlier. This is I heard a lot of people saying this. I wish it was my first I say I wish I it has been my first native first first uh foreign language. Yeah, it it really serves as a springboard. Uh the problem I learned Esperanto after Spanish, yeah. Uh and I when I when I first when I started to speak Esperanto, I I spoke Spanish, yeah. Not Esperanto. Because there it's very first it was uh confusing. Now it's getting better the more you practice I get. So this was Esperanto. I learned because oh again because of the community, this is a relatively big and friendly community of of Esperanto speakers. By the way, Esperanto is really under underestimated at the linguistic and linguistic branch because I'm I I I I I I I did a lot of linguistic papers. Nobody spoke about Esperanto. I knew this language. I knew that it existed, yeah. And nobody, no other linguists, they just have some kind of contempt about the Esperanto. I mean the academic linguists, nobody nobody mentions it, or any other conlang languages. Any other conlangs. So, I don't know why, they just learn natural languages. Yeah, nobody. I have never seen I've read like hundreds if not thousands of academic papers, when I was writing my PhD, no mention of Esperanto, nobody, yeah. This is this is kind of strange.
They've even studies on it at some point so, you know, there's I've seen like I think three studies or something, but those are all from the I think they're either 80s or or later, a little bit later maybe, about the pro uh pedagogical advantages of teaching school kids Esperanto first and then in this case they were teaching them French. I think they were English students. Um and the class that had Esperanto before French actually were further ahead in their French even if they had a year less than the other group. So with those kind of results you'd figure that some PhD student somewhere would do more with it because that's quite significant results I would say.
Oh. Uh yeah, but very few people know this. Uh so, yeah, it's people even don't know what this language is, yeah. So what's what's that? Yeah. And uh uh this was uh yeah, I wish I wish I would I had learned this. I heard a lot of people this I I think there was even a talk about this at the gathering that uh name naming like uh I wish I had learned Esperanto earlier, yeah. And he was talking about his experience. Yeah.
Uh so, um what uh what I mean here is uh how my how this uh my love for the languages helped me in teaching. Because before, so I can say like before being a polyglot, my teaching before, before my my teaching before being a polyglot and my teaching after being a polyglot. So, uh before being a polyglot, I was when when the student uh for example, I asked my student like, oh, you have to learn like 20 words or 50 words. And when the student when the student uh didn't learn those words or struggling with those words, I said, I I was a bit of angry like, how can you learn these words? 20 words is so easy. Then but after being a polyglot, when I was when I was teaching English and I was learning for example, Chinese or learning Spanish, I became more understanding, yeah. Because when the student I gave students now now that I'm giving students like 20 words or learn some learn some vocabulary or do some exercises, I become more understanding. If they say, I don't understand it or I can't learn it. So I try I I become more understanding, yeah. So because uh I can I'm I'm I'm also a learner, but I'm not learning English. I'm learning another language. So I can understand you. I know it's hard for you, it's hard for me, yeah. So it's it's it there was this there was this change. I mean, methodological change, uh of uh of my teaching uh techniques, yeah. So before and after being a polyglot.
So, uh one thing, and what what what happened after after like becoming a polyglot is I when when I was learning languages, I learned a lot about uh different apps, different resources that can help, yeah. I never I never knew about Duolingo, but now I'm using Duolingo and my students are also using Duolingo, yeah. Uh like I never heard about spaced repetition software, yeah. Now my my my my first graders, uh primary school students, they're also using Memrise and they're happy with that with that, yeah. So I never knew about Goldlist method. Now I ask my students also to use Goldlist Goldlist method, yeah. And uh many many many such things. For example, I even use like uh you know, Pomodoro method or time boxing, yeah. I use this I use the same thing in class. So I give them I give them I give I give my students a task, right? Like to do this crossword, and I set the timer, 10 minutes, and they see the timer. It's like time boxing. And I really like this technique, uh Pomodoro method or time boxing. It helps me to concentrate. And it helps them. I give them time, okay, guys, you have to do it. If you don't do it, you're not gonna you're not gonna make it.
Hey guys, just taking a quick break from the episode to talk to you about this show's sponsor, which is Glossika. I'm super excited to have Glossika on board, a really reputable and trusted language course producer. They're producing courses in many, many languages. I think they're over 50 to choose from at the moment. And you get access to all of them with a single subscription. And if you want to give it a try, you can go to try.glossika.com in one word, and uh yeah, get started for free, see if it's anything for you.
What I really like about Glossika is the hands-off approach to the learning. So they they give you a certain number of repetitions you need to do every day. And each sentence in those repetitions, it has some grammar elements that will mean that you slowly understand the language in context. And you build a a repertoire of sentences that you can sort of refer to when you get a similar pattern of sentence in the future. Um so that's really cool. And there are some other language learning tools you can use on Glossika. They have a few different games, a few different ways of revising that's not just the the main reps. But that's by far my favorite feature that you can just kind of sit back, let the software do the repetition for you, and then do one segment a day, you know, takes like 15 minutes, maybe half an hour if you want to do a little bit extra. And you're well on your way to rapid progress. So go to try.glossika.com, give it a try, say how much you like them for for sponsoring the show, and and hopefully they'll bring us uh they'll come back for the next season.
So then I I know that I understood that uh a key to progressing is listening, is a lot of intensive and extensive listening. So I also encourage my students to listen, yeah. So this is this is how my um teaching teaching teaching and learning philosophy just merged into one, yeah. So this this this this is my main idea of the of the of the show today that uh if you are a polyglot and you begin to teach, to teach, you're I think you're far more better teacher than uh for example, a monolingual teacher. So we have like monolingual and poly polyglot teachers. Not necessarily like native speakers, but native speakers can also be like polyglots, yeah. Uh so yeah, this is uh this is uh this is uh this is the main idea.
So when I when I started my school, I my I had I always have three goals. I have three goals for all my students. So the main goal is to foster the interest to foster the interest of students into learning. Because if you're interested in language, you're gonna learn it. If you're not, you don't have an interest, you cannot find the passion. So not. So what I do, how do I do this? Since I have a lot of children, so I have students first from uh grade seven from uh from seven from seven years old to like to 20, 25 and even students, yeah. But the majority is is kids, yeah. Kids and teenagers.
So what I do I do I use a lot of games. Yeah. I use a lot of activities, uh I first start the class with a warm-up, yeah. And then I use the games, yeah. Different games, board games, I find activities, I I I serve the YouTube, serve the internet, and I find some activities, I change the games. So they they they they like games. Everybody likes games, yeah. So I want to foster foster I want to foster their interest into this. Then I the next goal is to help the students to do a lot of self-study. You have to become uh to do self-study and uh what I do is I um give some measurable chunks of of language. And I try to track it. For example, again, I always track Duolingo. Duolingo is a great resource for teaching because you have a scoreboard, yeah. And you see the you see the points, yeah. And you have a Memrise, you also see the points and how many you learned, how many you want. So I I give them self-study, okay, this is Duolingo, this is self-study. Again, it's fun. It it it it encourages you to learn, yeah. And the the ultimate my ultimate goal would be actually to be an independent learner. This is very important. So if you can become an independent learner, you you're not dependent on the teacher, on your tutor. So you're gonna be successful with the language. So these are the three main goals that I try to to achieve.
Really cool. How do you um differentiate uh or I I guess initially it must have been hard to become a learner yourself because you you come from such an academic background where most of the the information is, you know, reading and memorizing in a way. So how do you how was there any challenges initially kind of separating the two and and have you still do you still fight with that to you know, you know, the biggest criticism of language learning in universities today is that they're mostly about reading and, you know, understanding, but not speaking.
Not fun. Not having fun.
Not having fun, yeah, you're right. So how how do you?
Well yeah, well I I and first of all the motto of my school is learn as you play, yeah. I call learn as you play. And yeah, it when when I was teaching, even when I was teaching at university, and uh I I realized that uh something is wrong with this because you're you're teaching language as as as a source of as as as a block of information, yeah. Not as a tool. Well, they say, okay, this is grammar, you have to learn grammar, these are rules, this is the vocabulary. You have to learn it, you're gonna speak it. And then I I began to realize there's something wrong with this. And I tried to do something more functional. I was teaching uh I was teaching uh legal translation uh legal translation, yeah, translation for for legal text, yeah. And again, they gave a tag, there was a textbook, and they asked students to cram those texts, to learn the vocabulary. And I thought it's not fun.
So what I did at university, I I I I came up creatively and it was, yeah, it was a long time ago. I found on YouTube or I found the the films with the court scenes, right? The court. What is happening in the court, the judge, the lawyer. And I showed them in English. And they try to translate it, yeah. Or they tried to listen, they tried first they tried to repeat that, yeah, to repeat the words because this is quite the terminology there, the vocabulary is quite difficult there. So uh they tried to repeat, then they would they try to then I gave them the script, yeah, I found the script online, I gave them the script, they tried to read the script, then they tried to translate, yeah. We did different activities with this video. So even at that time, I realized that it's something wrong. Reading a lot of reading and cramming, I hate cramming. And nobody told me about space repetition software. And nobody nobody suspected about this. So yeah, it was it's the old way when they they taught languages as not as as information, like math, yeah, or like, I don't know, like math, really. You have to learn rules. No, this is different approach.
Actually, I think this this change happened in China. Uh well, in China, we had a very big class like 50 students. Uh they're very big very huge, 50, 60 students in one class. So I realized that we I had to do something different because what can I do with 50 students? And then I came up with the idea of of giving some activities, some games. So trying to speak, to role play, I did a lot of role play. So yeah, this this change gradually, then I I went on YouTube, I read information the structure of the class about the communicative method, um and gradually. I don't I don't think it happened just overnight. It's still I'm still in the process of of of changing like teaching techniques, yeah. So
Needs to be permanently evolving, I guess, like.
Yeah I'm still evolving now, I'm still I think in five years it's it's gonna be different. My teaching style, my my class will be different, yeah.
Well, you have more experience, you know, you maybe you can you build up an archive of materials, games, you know, it'll become easier in that sense. And you can focus on really just improving and and developing. So I'm sure that'll be you just keep getting better for sure, more effective too. Just the important thing.
Oh, yeah. This is this is this is what I'm trying to do. Yeah, so this this is a good a good field to develop because I'm I'm not in a hurry to hire somebody. I want to do it myself because well, uh and uh yeah, yeah, trying to improve. Yeah, the the disadvantage of this is actually I'm teaching a lot and I don't have time for the languages, yeah. Even if I do, now I have time, but when I come home like at 8:00 or at 9:00, I I I I I spoke English the whole day, this language. And then I have to again to learn to go to to go back to languages, yeah. And this is uh you know the same thing. It's it's it's the same the same the same the same information in in teaching and then I'm the same information I'm learning. So
Yeah.
Yeah. So this is the this is probably the biggest disadvantage this so far.
But I think it is really a business model that anyone can do and and the cool part, well, I mean, you obviously need to have a one language at least that you're good at. It might not be English, it could be any language, I suppose. Uh the cool thing is you can build into it as well because you can start out, you know, putting a flyer in in your coffee shop, you know, I'll I'll tutor you in whatever language for a smaller amount, and then you can grow your student base, and then when you have 10 students, you're gonna hire your first little room somewhere or maybe even the coffee shop if you you know, make a deal with the owner that they'll buy coffee there, and you just get a you know, room in the corner. And eventually you will have uh 80 students like yourself, and and you've got your whole week booked with uh with classes and preparation.
Yeah, that's what I think grow grow grow like in a in a stable business and and a good model. Yeah, I never thought about this. Even you gave a great idea about the coffee shop, yeah.
Just to start out, you know, just to start out.
Yeah, well this is what the people Yeah, actually, yeah, this is what the people those just who don't want to rent because you have to pay like pay a deposit maybe and you're not really sure, but this is this is yeah. Yeah, right.
Find a few private students to start out with and uh eventually borrow the room. And and then when you have, you know, 20 students, you have money coming in to to rent that office or or meeting room or whatever you want.
Yeah, and you see this is the idea with the coffee shop is very new because nobody did it. And the students I think the students would learn much better in like not in a classroom like ordinarily classroom because you know, all these when the students come to the classroom, they the regular classroom they think, oh, this is again school, we hate school, we don't want to learn. Yeah, and the coffee shop it will be fun, yeah. You don't have the the whiteboards, so it it it's uh yeah, it's a nice idea.
Yeah, actually I got it from um from a from a guest on the show. So, so if if people are interested uh they can check out that episode as well. And it's about a Canadian polyglot uh Keith uh who who does this as a sort of a full-time thing and uh he has has gotten a lot of success with with that. And it's a lifestyle business, you know, of course you're always gonna be limited about because you're just you and you just have your time. But with the it's gonna be a very enjoyable business to have and you're in full control and you're helping people in a very fast way because you're getting instant feedback. They're there practicing and they've got I think the most important thing, which you also mentioned, is you're bringing real language learning experience to them. So you're you're not teaching them, you're just teaching them how to learn in a way.
Yeah, well, yeah, this is this is the part which is missing actually in traditional classroom. They uh they teach your language, but they don't teach you how to learn it itself, how to become an independent learner. What you can do, how to use mnemonics. Nobody taught me mnemonics at university or in school. My life would be much better with mnemonics. While I learned it later, yeah, but my life would be easier with mnemonics, yeah. And yeah, nobody taught about all the resources about different methods and techniques that you can try and resources and approaches, yeah. So, yeah, this is this is it's all there.
It's all there. What how do you how do you get people to become independent learners? You know, you show them the methods, you show them the the apps.
Okay. Uh first of all, I usually well, it's all it's I think it's possible only usually with like a bit uh high school students maybe, yeah, because teenagers are not too busy with the games that they play, yeah. So high school students are more can be are becoming independent. For example, learning uh writing. For example, uh I ask the student to write something, and then to post it on uh on iTalki, yeah, for for the corrections, yeah, for the corrections. Yeah. And yeah, they they they they can get this. Or um for example, if you want to talk, you download the app HelloTalk for example, where you can get where you can get access to to to to the to the other learners.
And uh or for example, I give I give a student a text, yeah. And then I ask him to uh it the text full of unknown words, very difficult text. I ask the students, you have to to put down five unknown words that that that are very essential to the text, yeah. And then they do this. And then I show, okay, this is a good word, this is not a good word because it's only used once and you can understand the text without it, yeah. And I think like you should you should rewrite the word you should copy the word, you should learn the word that is used more often. There's no need to to learn to to look up every word because it's gonna take time, yeah. And uh and like this, yeah. And uh step by steps like this, I I try to do this. This is not an easy thing. Uh it took me a long time to be an independent learner, yeah. So, yeah.
It's not easy. Do you ever have uh problems with uh you know, you said that you have a lot of uh of young people, your kids in in your school. Do you ever have uh kids let's say they're a little bit older, maybe young teenagers who are just put there by their parents and who don't want to be there at all?
No, actually not. This is strangely, but not because uh what I changed actually the principle that I put school is is way different from traditional classroom. First of all, I only have six students. Six students in the classroom, six, seven, yeah. I don't have physical space for more, yeah. I don't have enough chairs. I just have six chairs. That's it. Six, seven chairs. If if there is if there is a seventh student, I give I give that student my chair.
Right.
So, uh yeah, and another thing I use a lot of gamification of the process, yeah, of the learning process. So even with a homework, I uh I I I always give for the homework the sentences to write some sentences, yeah. And uh and uh when they uh for example, how many sentences? They roll the dice. I have I have different types of dice. I have like small dice with six, uh six, uh bigger dice with 12, with uh 20, 30, 60, and big some bigger dice. And they roll it. And they roll it for example, you can you can roll one, you can roll 12. And you have to do 12 sentences. And they really enjoy it. Like, oh, it's oh, you have one, I have two, you have three. And if somebody didn't do, for example, if somebody didn't do the homework, yeah. And for example, he rolled a small dice. If if that person didn't do the homework, he has to roll uh bigger dice. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they, oh, yeah. They have to be again, they can get one. They can get one, but they can get 20 sentences. So they they try to do this, yeah.
And uh another thing that I changed, I don't use the grades in the classroom. This is because the grades is spoil a lot of things. But then I then I realized the first year I had no grades, but then the second year, I realized that you should have some assessment and grading system. And uh grades no, it's not it's not what because they have grades at school. And uh what I what I did is I used some I I went to give some reward for for the work. I I wouldn't pay them, of course, yeah. And uh what I did, I I I I I made some stickers. I uh I can show you actually here. So these are the stickers uh of um Marvel characters, Marvel and DC characters, yeah. So, if they for example, and I'm a ranking, like levels in the game, you know. Like first level, the first level is a Daredevil, yeah. The first level is a Daredevil. So, and you have a big a big sticker, a big sticker of a Daredevil and it's written here 10. Yeah, it's a big stick, yeah. So, if to get to get to get to get this to get this sticker, you need uh you need small ones. Yeah. You need small ones. And you stick them. So to get like a Daredevil, you need 10 small, yeah. To get 10 small. Then we have a next next character is Wolverine, and Wolverine you need like 15 15 15 small stickers. I mean logos, it's logos of the of of Wolverine.
And uh I have like a lot of I have 12 I had this year I had uh 12 characters. And they had to collect these. So how do they earn it? For example, for the homework. They got it for the homework. They got it for the task for the activities in the classroom. So I always make it competitive, yeah. The competition and they enjoy it. For example, they work in two teams, they have to find for anything. For example, looking up looking up a word in a dictionary. I give them a list of words in dictionary, or checking the spelling with the dictionary, or or or describing a picture. It it's almost for Duolingo. I give them the points for the stickers for for the Duolingo for Memrise. And on the board, on my whiteboard, I have their names. Like six names of the students. And I put magnets. And one magnet is one sticker. So when the student is doing great in the class, he can end up having like uh five stickers, five or six stickers. So I but I try to give other students, if the student is not very successful, he's still struggling, I still try to encourage him and to give him, right? To give him sometimes I give him secretly, okay, take it, take it, so they they will not see it. Because I want him to get something, he came to the class. So they this system really worked now great, yeah.
For the next year, I'm planning to change uh I'm planning to use uh World of Warcraft theme. World of the game, World of Warcraft theme. And I'm going to divide the class, to make two teams. So one one one group will have two teams. So uh one team will be Alliance, and the all the other team will be the Horde, yeah. And they will have to compete against like two to to to to enemies, yeah. And they are going also to work for the to to gain uh the these stickers with the but different, of course, different characters, yeah. So it it it they're gonna be more interesting. And then I I'll have a wallpaper uh wallpaper on the on the on the on the wall and see all the all the statistics, who who is winning, yeah. And it will be the for the whole school. I have like 15 groups, yeah. 15 groups, uh so they will be it'll be the the overall ranking on the leaderboard. Yeah, I'm trying to do this this this this year. So,
That's cool.
They enjoy it. This they enjoy it actually. Even even even the teenagers like 13 year-old, they like it. They they're fighting for this. Oh, why why didn't you give me? I I I did this. And and they because the grades, you know, at school this is different. And this is this is uh what they they're they're excited about, yeah.
Yeah, well it's it's psychology, isn't it? Where if you get a grade, let's say for a school year, you're getting a grade based on some potential or arbitrary knowledge level. Whereas if you get a sticker for actually doing something, you're reinforcing that doing, you know, the actual activity. Um which which just helps to build that because it's a reward system. You know, it's like the uh it's like the um what what was the experiment? I guess it's like the dogs Pavlov's dogs, you know, they get a treat every time they they get it produce saliva, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So every time you give them a sticker, they get more excited about learning. They don't know it of course, because for them it's just a game. They just keep learning and they don't really think about the learning itself. And I I think that's a really good idea to have the sticker system. I don't think giving people a grade saying, oh yeah, this year you've got a seven out of 10. I mean, what it doesn't really do anything, you know? So I I think that's something that a lot of people could take away from that.
So, uh what I want to come up maybe with another idea. So when they level up, they get they get a big sticker. And I want them just to give a card, the card. And this would this card would give you some kind of a bonus. For example, uh like uh teachers' help, you will have like teachers' help, yeah. You will have like the card like change places. For example, I don't want to sit to this guy. He has a card like change places, I want to change or double somebody's homework. For example, you can use this card. You have this card. I got this a good idea from the uh from the from also from from another game. I found this about the cards. Yeah. Hearthstone. No. Hearthstone Blizzard Hearthstone. So I play computer games. So Hearthstone, I use this, they have cards. And they just they just want to do this. Using different cards, so they can just compete against each other using those card to to help them in learning process or like the card no homework, yeah. You have this card, I gave. The student didn't do the homework, he says, I have the card, no no homework. And then I have to take I have to discard that card. I have to take away that.
Free pass, yeah.
So, yeah, it sounds like fun. This this will be it will be additional motivation to level up, you know? Because you get a sticker, what what should I get? But sometimes they have, oh, so what's the point of this, all this? I get a sticker, so what's the point? So this will be the point. You'll get a card and you can use it. Some bonus, yeah.
Bonus cards, got it.
So, uh how I came this up, actually I used the same system not the same system, of course, some some some reward system, when I was in China and I was really I I didn't I I worked on Chinese like two, three hours, but I needed to force me to work more. So what I did, I always I always keep track of time how long I I learn the language every day. This is really helps to to to to track the process. Even with even now, for example, today so far, I spent like 110 minutes on on my Polish because I use Pomodoro method. It's 25 minutes, it's very easy to track, yeah. So, uh what I did in China is that, uh I converted this time into money, yeah. For example, I want to buy something. For example, I wanted to buy something some some some good stuff, some I don't know, PlayStation 4, for example, for example, which which cost for example, I don't know, 400, 500 dollars, yeah. And I converted the the time that I spent into uh into money. For example, $500, this is $500. So if you're not I, of course, I have the money. I have the money, but uh I don't allow myself to spend the money on for example, on a game. For example, on a PlayStation that I really want to buy. So for this reason, I need to work hard to reach 400, 500 hours, yeah. And this is actually helped me a lot in China, and I worked like four, five hours a day on on on on on my language not all the languages, yeah. So it worked for me, yeah.
It's really cool, yeah, and I think people can definitely use that for their own language learning at home. Uh just uh put some kind of systems in place and I think something like the Pomodoro method definitely something that helps. It's the principle of getting started, just doing a little bit and then you have a break, you feel a little bit refreshed. Come back to it uh just after the break is over and suddenly you've spent hours on it even though it feels like you've only done a little bit just because the adding up.
Yeah, sure.
I think that's uh really cool. And the principles from the school as well is something that people can definitely use and I I really encourage people who might not know what they want to do, maybe they want to try abroad, move abroad a year or so. I think this idea about becoming a tutor to start with and then building it into somewhat of a language school, I think anyone can pull off and I think it's something that if you're looking for uh a let's say a self-made career path, then languages can definitely be a quick gateway to that.
Yeah, sure. And here when you were uh what I mean is uh learning habits, your learning learning learning habits really resemble your teaching techniques, yeah. And approaches, yeah. So uh no, this is because of me. I am this type of learner. Maybe if somebody else started the school, uh they would use a different type because they're they're learning learning learning methods and learning habits are different, yeah. So that person may organize the school in a different way and he'll have for example, I some people using SML for example. I I don't I don't use it because I never tried it, but they like SML, so they can use SML in in their classroom. It's still possible to use. I mean, the dialects and all the system, yeah. So, yeah, this is this is the way.
And uh same thing, uh we traditionally have like three types of teaching three teaching methods. So we have grammar translation method, yeah. When you read and translate, yeah. And you have uh structural structural approach to teaching a language when you learn the structure, you learn the grammar, how the language structure structured. And then you have the communicative this is the new one, not the new one, very popular now, uh when you focus not on the structure, but on the on the function. So, uh I I I try to use actually all these three methods when I teach structure. I use sometimes uh I try not to use grammar translation method, but sometimes I have to because it's easier to to example, in for example, I say in Ukrainian, this is like this. Yeah. Explaining it. But this is only when I'm explaining. I don't encourage the students to translate everything that they read or that they listen. You have to first understand it, yeah. Yeah.
So, um another thing that I discovered, I tried to link uh for example, the the grammar with the vocabulary. For example, when I when I teach present simple, when I teach present simple, I also teach the vocabulary for present simple. This is very few textbooks do. For example, yeah, you learn present simple, the structure, this is the structure, yeah. And then I give them like the vocabulary. So what is what is the vocabulary for present simple? This is the daily routine, first of all, yeah. The daily routine. I get up, I go to bed, I brush my teeth, I change clothes. So, then we learn present simple, we learn the vocabulary and I I ask the students to link to link it with uh with with this grammar and vocabulary. This is very few people, I mean the the very few textbooks do give this. They they do actually, but they don't focus mainly on it, yeah. So or past simple, we talk about for example, maybe history, yeah. And what happened in this year, yeah. And I sometimes I give when I teach past simple, I ask the students like to write the dates very important historic dates, yeah. And then make true or false. They read the three facts, one, two, two true and a lie. They they read two true facts and one is a lie and then they have the students have to guess which one is true, which one is a lie, yeah.
It's it's good. Yeah. I I really I really like that. And and I I think what you said before is also really important to reiterate is just there's no I think you would agree with me, there's no like perfect method. There's no one way to do anything. It's all about who your target audience is, what age are they, what kind of learners are they, what kind of learner are you, and then you need to get inspiration from from everything. And that's what I'm trying to do with the podcast there is to not try to find the answer to language learning, but maybe bring in inspiration from all sorts of people, like like yourself you you've been extremely helpful and knowledgeable today to share what works for you and what works for your students. But I might have had a hundred other people come in with a hundred different methods and a hundred different perspectives. Um so I think it's really cool that people can get a lot of input, a lot of ideas and then hopefully hopefully they can sort of build their own method and and uh become successful that way.
Well, yeah, this is this is I I completely agree with you. This is actually when I tried when I began to listen to your podcast. I was looking for a perfect method. I say, okay, this maybe in this method, maybe in this episode, or maybe yeah, this this guy is right. No, then now this guy is not right, the other guy is right. Then I just realize, no, come on. It's it's it's not that way that you can find. It it works for those people. It just doesn't really work for me, yeah. And uh this is this is this is right. Yeah, so what I find what I find uh useful for me, I always change I always change my methods when I learn a foreign language. For example, for Polish, I began Goldlist method, yeah. I never used it for Chinese, for example, yeah. So then I'm trying to use Michele Thomas again. I never used it, yeah. And every day I try because I get bored with the same with the routine every day, yeah. For example, uh I cannot do for example, read text, don't do listening the whole day or do the whole thing. I first I begin the day with Duolingo, then I do Clozemaster, they can I can do Glossika. Then I can go to iTalki and write and and and this is all Pomodoro method. 25 minutes, I do this, 25 minutes this, this and this. So I get like uh sources information from different sources. I get information from different sources, yeah. And I try to develop to to work on all of them.
The same is in class. I have an hour class. We usually have two hours uh all the groups, all the six students. They come to my class twice a week for one hour. It's not a lot. It's not a lot. One hour and two hours per week, it's not a lot, really. And because I cannot accept all, yeah. I have 80 students and I can't. I work six hours a day. I have six I have six classes a day. So I So what I do, I have 50 or 60 minutes in a class. So what I do, I try to do a lot of at least four activities, yeah. Some warm-up activity, then the main activity, then maybe some game, then explain the homework, then explain some time a bit of grammar, maybe watch a video, and just listening comprehension, yeah. So, um I don't think that the students will be interested like doing one thing for one hour reading or translation one hour, yeah. They'll lose concentration. No matter how old they are, to be honest. Yeah. I also I do. I get bored I get bored if I do it more than 20 minutes reading or listening. I just began disconnected. So the same with the students, I tried to uh to very to make some verification, to make a lot of different things in the classroom. So they don't they they all they concentrated all the time, yeah.
So, uh for example, I if they get bored sometimes uh I I always write the lesson plan, but I sometimes I have to change it because something is going wrong in the class, okay, they're not So I need to uh I I go to the video. I find quickly the video on the YouTube. Okay, I show, come on, guys, let's watch this, yeah. Or I remembered some words I I remembered some words, and then there is a situation on YouTube for some sitcom, for example, from The Big Bang Theory, I say, okay, do you know Big Bang Theory? Okay, this this situation was in in in Big Bang Theory. And I showed them the video from YouTube. And they, oh, okay, they got they they they changed they they I have to change the the class the the class the lesson plan during the class, yeah. So, uh sometimes I sometimes I just invent the games. Okay, I I I okay, let's do maybe we should do like this. Okay, let's do this. game. Because I always try to make it to make the learning process competitive. Yeah. They get interested in this and the students try to do something to, for example, teams, right? Yeah. Sometimes I team sometimes I do the other thing. I don't do team. I do teamwork. Like, say, okay, group, six people, I give you one crossword. It's very difficult. You have to do it. If you if you do it, you all get the stickers. Nobody No. So you can do everything. I say, okay, you do you use Google translate, you use the dictionary, whatever. But I and but I and but then they they they they don't they can't do it. I say, okay, you you look up this word, you look up this word, and you write, yeah. Yeah. You have because because they don't know how to work in team, yeah. They don't work the school the traditional school doesn't teach them. So, uh I I say that, okay, you divide the work. You do this, you do this because if everybody in the class is going to do the same thing, yeah, one thing So you're not gonna make the time. I I give them the time. Yeah. So, uh I I I I try to develop the team work, not only like one man man against man man against other man, yeah. You're getting more skills into the classroom as well. Yeah. Not just language skills. And I I think that's also pretty good. Um it seems like the school systems of today are not really doing a really good job. So we need people like you to keep innovating and and keep the levels high. But um I just want to thank you for coming on the podcast. Uh the time has uh run out that we had. And just again thank you for sharing your tips and tricks. I like I said before, I really hope that somebody will um, you know, copy what you've done with their own inputs, their in their own country, maybe their own hometown, and and make a big difference because I know how valuable uh particularly English is today to learn as a foreign language as a first foreign language.
Yeah, well, sure. Not uh I'm also teaching. I just forgot to mention, I also teach uh Chinese, but only individual class, not in group. I'm not ready for the group. Uh because and I don't encourage the students actually to learn Chinese. I say, okay, first learn English, then it depends, you want to learn Chinese, it's it's it's a lot of sacrifice. Yeah.
Yeah. So that's a proper hard language, uh I can imagine from.
Yes, I know. I just started as experiment with that one student and still he's getting better. He's getting better. I I lead him I lead him. So I because I know I know my mistakes that I made when I was learning Chinese, yeah. So, the tones for example, I ask him to learn the tones, to do listening, to do repeating. I didn't do this, I didn't this when I started Chinese. And I then I don't make nice my mistakes, yeah.
So it's so what I what I mean by today's talk is you the other people they don't need to uh follow my model. It's my it's not perfect, it's perfect for me. Well, it's because I I I I don't have competition, for example. I everybody knows me, yeah, in my city. It's a small city. But for big cities can be different. They have to compete with bigger schools, yeah. It's maybe more difficult difficult thing to do, yeah. And uh just I just I just encourage to do to do if if somebody is interested in in speaking languages, likes languages and would like to make a career of it, I just give them all the inspiration. You can do it. You can do it. If you're really into it, you're professional, the people will know you. They will know you. They will follow you and they will like to learn the language with you because you're successful and they will they will also consider you successful. So this is this is the main idea.
That could lead to many other new exciting opportunities in the future. But if people wanted to reach out, maybe they have a question for you or want to uh thank you for today's episode. Is there any place online that they can reach you?
Well, uh this is on Facebook. I'm very active now on Facebook. Actually, I post my uh I have my Polish challenge. 40-day challenge on Polish to learn Polish in 40 days. And uh they can ask me there. I don't have a page because I'm I would like to have a page or some YouTube channel, but I don't have time for it. I I have time, but I don't have energy. Then I would think, oh, maybe I should have a blog. But I think, oh, no, I I I I better spend more time on learning other languages because it takes time, yeah. I run the school and I have to still brush up on my languages. So I'm just don't have time. So I'm I'm on Facebook. I'm always everybody is welcome. I can help with well, well, with what I can.
Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Alexander and uh have a great evening. I know it's a little bit later there and uh I hope to see you around the world in uh next polyglot event possibly.
Yeah, sure. I'll be there with more languages, I hope, yeah.
Well, I I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case, definitely so I will I'll see you around. Thank you so much.
Okay, thank you.
All right. Just uh stop the recording here. Hmm.