• Home
  • About
  • Study Italian With Me
    • Practice Conversation
      • Chiacchieriamo
      • Italiano Mordi e Fuggi
    • Study Grammar
      • Ti aiuto io!
    • Self-Study
      • An Italian Practice Book for Your Summer
      • Giorno dopo giorno
  • Blog
  • Contact

Instantly Italy

Italian speaking practice and grammar tutoring

Polyglot Gathering Berlin 2016

05/12/2016

Polyglot Gathering Berlin 2016: my experience and what I learned at this amazing event

Subscribe to the Vespa rides and get full access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of language learning materials that you can use to practice Italian.

If you love learning languages, you should go to the Polyglot Gathering at least once in your life.

But I have the feeling that, if you go once, you can’t help but go there again. And again. At least, that’s the feeling I have after being there for the first time this year.

I remember hearing about this event, briefly checking last year’s program, asking a friend if she was interested and then deciding to go, hardly knowing what to expect. I just had the feeling it was a good thing and I am glad I was right.

But “what is the Polyglot Gathering?”, you may ask. 

The Polyglot Gathering is – I quote from their website – “an annual event that brings together Polyglots from around the globe for 4 days of lectures, activities, and seminars about language learning, which take place in every imaginable language”. Basically, it is heaven for language learning nerds and language freaks alike. And yes, there are a lot of people like that out there.

With people coming from all over the world, some of which speak up to 20 languages if not more, you basically have the opportunity of practicing all your language skills. What I loved the most is that everybody is super nice and willing to communicate and, no matter if you are fluent or just a beginner in a certain language, you never feel left out or embarrassed.

The Gathering is not only a chance to practice languages but also an amazing opportunity to learn new things as well. 

During the four days of the conference, there are a lot of interesting talks – some of which have been really eye-opening for me. The one I loved the most was by the lovely Lýdia Machová, a conference interpreter and Ph.D. student from Bratislava, who shared with us the amazing results of an English project she led at her university.

Basically, she moved from a standard approach, where the teacher teaches and the student has to learn, to a different and more responsible approach to learning. In this new approach, the teacher becomes a mentor and a sort of a coach, while the student takes full responsibility for his/her own learning process.

The project itself was geared towards improving English language presentation skills and students could choose the method they preferred to practice the language: from watching movies to binging on series, from listening to favorite songs to whatever they felt like doing. Lýdia would meet their students once a week, keeping track of their progress with an accountability sheet and being there to help and motivate them.

The students had amazing results and studied far more they would have done in a standard approach.

They felt fully responsible for their own learning process and were motivated to reach their goals, proving the great power a teacher has when he or she decides to become a coach rather than a professor and works together with his/her students, making learning an interesting process towards a common goal.

The speech was called “Don’t teach me, make me learn” and, being a teacher myself, I found it full of food for thought and gave me a lot of ideas for my own language courses.

Yet there were many other interesting talks. 

There was Elisa Polese, who introduced us to the incredible world of multilingual courses – she teaches up to 10 languages in one single course. Alex Rawlings, famous for being nominated Britain’s most multilingual student at the age of 20 (he was fluent in 11 languages), who delivered an entertaining and thoughtful speech about the forces that drive us to learn a language, what he calls the “need principle”.

I discovered the existence of something called Globish, a simplified version of English consisting of basic grammar and just 1500 words. Thanks to Mo Riddiford, who gave a speech about the subject, we could reflect on how vital it is to find a shared language, an easy means of communication that gives people the opportunity to connect and overcome their language barriers.

These were just a few of the many incredible talks hosted by the Gathering. I have learned a lot and got useful ideas for my work, but I have also been changed a little as a human being. I am kind of a shy person, I live in a secluded area, I do not speak with many strangers on a daily basis. I could say I almost always speak with the same people every day.

This event gave me the confidence and the joy of reaching out to strangers and speak to them, for the pure pleasure of hearing what they have to say and learn more. Because there’s always to learn from others and sometimes we tend to forget it, immersed as we are in our lives and jobs and ordinary stuff to do.

This simple thing can be applied to language skills as well: no matter how fluent you are, just speak. Don’t be shy, the only thing that can happen to you is that you learn something new! 

Share:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
«
»

Filed Under: Learning languages 4 Comments

Comments

  1. Bryan says

    05/16/2016 at 3:59 PM

    I’ve been reading a lot about the Polyglot Gathering lately, I wish I could have been there! Maybe when I’m one myself… I need to focus on learning Italian though, with a lot of help from this site!

    Reply
    • cinzia says

      05/16/2016 at 4:18 PM

      Well, I hope I can help you more in the future, I have more posts about Italian language coming soon.
      And yes, the Gathering is amazing. You have to go there one day!
      Ciao
      Cinzia

      Reply
  2. Kristen says

    02/07/2019 at 1:31 PM

    Lýdia Machová’s practice sounds just like the unschooling form of homeschooling that many “homeschoolers” embrace. 🙂 I homeschool my daughter and try to follow a similar path but it’s not always easy, but I think it has a lot of value.

    Reply
    • cinzia says

      02/07/2019 at 2:14 PM

      You are right, it doesn’t seem that easy but surely has a lot of positive aspects!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Ciao!

My name is Cinzia and Italy is the place I call home.

Books feed my soul, music fills my days and travelling makes my life richer. I am a day dreamer, tireless walker and believer in the power of little things.

I’ve created Instantly Italy to take you to Italy with me and explore together this crazy but “oh so lovely” country. Read More…

Latest from the blog

This post is about Al di qua del fiume by Alessandra Selmi, a historical fiction book that tells the story of the Crespi family

[Italian Books] The Story of an Italian Family, of a Business, and of a Whole Town

The perfect book to practice Italian this summer

[Italian Language] I Wrote a Book and it’s Perfect To Practice Italian This Summer!

Things I blog about

  • Books about Italy
  • Italian culture
  • Italian food
  • Italian language
  • Learning languages
  • Life in Italy
  • Visiting Italy

You can find me here

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS

Subscribe to know more about all things Italian

Copyright © 2023 · Instantly Italy - Cinzia Ferri · Vat #01658340094 · Site by Francesca Marano · Powered by WordPress and Genesis

Copyright © 2023 · Adorn Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in
Reimposta le tue preferenze cookie

Enter your name and email to join the Vespa ride!
If you sign up, you'll get updates about Instantly Italy and access to Your Italian Toolbox, a library of Italian language materials.
Your information will never be shared or sold to a 3rd party.