Re: [lojban] pedagogy and lojban

[Robert LeChevalier <lojbab@lojban.org>]

At 11:19 AM 7/31/02 +0200, G. Dyke wrote:
> I'm currently teaching Lojban to a Frenchman who knows very little English
> (and has no interest in learning it - English, not Lojban). I'd set out with
> the idea of translating the lessons, but I don't quite like the way in which
> they are presented (in addition to which, I find them a bit long for the
> purposes of teaching one person).
>
> I was wondering whether anyone had any opinions about the way to introduce
> various concepts.

Looking at what you are covering, I suspect that you might like the order 
and style of presentation of the minilesson.

Don't bother with the phonological adaptation of names early on.  It is a 
tricky subject, heavily tied to the student's awareness of phonology, 
rather heavy on technical aspects of the language that are only minimally 
"logical", and it doesn't much advance the cause of being able to say neat 
things in Lojban.

And that is the key thing involved in teaching small numbers of students 
informally: getting them to be able to say things, especially interesting 
things, and to understand what they are saying and how it differs from the 
corresponding French (or English or whatever).  The specific examples of 
the minilesson were designed for English speakers, and natives of other 
languages have found the minilesson unsuitable probably for that reason, 
but the informal and fast moving style of the lesson is a plus - the 
entirety of the content has been taught by various people (most recently 
Mark Shoulson at LogFest last weekend) in a single lesson of 1-2 hours.

lojbab

--
lojbab                                             lojbab@lojban.org
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA                    703-385-0273
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban:                 http://www.lojban.org