LEX Language Project Clubs

Membership & CDs

LEX Club Locations

For people in the Boston area who have had difficulty learning languages, the LEX program offers an informal way to acquire languages.

LEX Language Project provides a fun, relaxed environment where adults and children are surrounded by the sounds of more than seven languages. It is like playing in a "multilingual park", where families and friends can share the joys of discovering languages together.

Since 1981, LEX (formerly known as Hippo Family Club) has been investigating natural language acquisition. Based on this research, clubs have been established in Japan, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan and the United States. All over the world, people of all ages can acquire language naturally, in the same manner babies learn their first language. LEX Clubs create a supportive environment where various languages can be heard, used and developed casually with others. For a detailed History of LEX Language Project, click here.

The Paros Scholarship Fund provides financial support to individuals and families who would not otherwise be able to join Lex Language Project.

Letter from the President

Why So Many Languages?

In such countries as India and Luxembourg, people grow up speaking many languages. For example, a child in Luxembourg may be in a situation where his mother speaks French as her first language, his school friends speak English, the man at the butcher shop speaks German and his grandmother speaks Luxembourgish. Someone born into such an environment does not get confused; he can speak easily to anyone in any of these languages. Moreover, when he goes to learn a new language, he can acquire that easily, too. More...

Community-Based Experience

LEX Language Project, organized by LEX America, offers opportunities for multicultural and multilingual exploration to all people.

LEX encourages people to participate with family and friends, because when an entire family gets involved in the LEX language activities, the natural, total immersion environment that is best for acquiring languages is established. Family and community involvement in this program is essential to its success. Only in the richness of human relationships can real learning occur.

Languages are Like Music: Begin by Humming the Tune

At clubs we often say, "sing the sounds." This is more than just a metaphor. At first we try to sing the big wave of language, the rhythm and melody which constitute the "Chinese-ness" of Chinese, or the "French-ness" of French.

Babies love music. At LEX gatherings, even babies who can't walk yet will sway to the sounds of a song. Infants don't learn their native language by breaking the language down into little pieces of grammar and vocabulary or by looking in a dictionary, thus children or adults do not need to learn other languages that way.

Without understanding the meaning of another language, people can begin to speak all the words, as if in a song. There are no mistakes, only exploration. If one does not even know where the separations between words are, the "past tense" or "plural form" or "articles" are all hidden inside of the whole, and it is impossible to be confused by them.

LEX Language Project Tapes / CD's
Listening to LEX CDs is the first step toward creating that environment for ourselves. By playing these CDs as often as possible - at home while cooking, cleaning, or relaxing, at the gym, in the car - we can experience a natural immersion environment. Our main CDs are:

Kabajin Series (A HIPPO Boy): 9 CD's (or 12 tapes) Short stories about a family of hippos. "What am I?", "Where does the morning come from?" Each tape or CD has three languages on it. For example, on side A, English/Spanish and on side B, Spanish/French.	HIPPO Goes Overseas: 7 CD's (or tapes) A Japanese junior high school girl comes to live with an Ohio family during summer vacation. Each tape or CD has seven languages on it.	Sing Along Dance Along: 5 CD's (or tapes) Listening to these songs from various countries is just like traveling around the world. It's easy to sing along in all different languages!

We also have several auxiliary materials including HGO in 19 languages, Anyone Can Speak 7 Languages (a series of essays on language acquisition) in seven languages, and our newest story CD Multilingual Friends Around the World (a story about a group of young adults and their exchange experiences) in five languages.

What are LEX Language Project activities?

LEX Language Project is not like a school or classroom environment. While there are club facilitators, there is no teacher and no curriculum. The people who get together at LEX encourage and share languages with each other. Participating in LEX activities is just as important as playing the CDs. In addition to creating an immersion environment, we need a place to try out the sounds we hear, and people to receive those sounds as language. When we speak even a single phrase, everyone supports and praises us. When we make a mistake, we are never criticized. In this environment, we want to speak more and more.

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