Watch an introductory video!"When it comes to languages, conventional courses don't work well for me. Without LEX, I wouldn't have found the motivation to start learning Japanese and eventually feel confident enough to realize my childhood dream of living in Japan."
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Our Language ClubsLEX Language Project is a transnational network of community-based language clubs in which children and adults engage in fun activities with the end of acquiring multiple languages simultaneously. The underlying concept is that anyone, at any age, can acquire new languages, given time, motivation, and a conducive setting for language acquisition. Though languages are superficially different, there is an underlying universality among all human languages, and this is demonstrated in the speed with which a multilingual person acquires a new language.
LEX Language Project clubs are not classes. They have no structured curriculum, students, or teachers. Instead, we are creating a multilingual immersion-style environment, similar to what you would experience as a child growing up in a multilingual part of the world, or as an adult living in such a place. |
We create this multilingual environment through a combination of audio materials with songs and original stories on them, which members listen to at home, and by getting together on a weekly basis in multi-generational, community-based language clubs, where we share the languages we are acquiring from the audio materials. Language is nurtured through relaxed encounters with all different kinds of people who are also members of the club and the world around you.
Weekly Activities
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At LEX, we recognize that language is nurtured in people-to-people connections. In addition to listening to LEX audio materials, members get together in community-based clubs at least once a week to share the sounds of language we are internalizing from the audio materials. We engage in activities including playing games, dancing, singing, listening activities, and speaking in various languages. We absorb new language at the club meetings, while encouraging each other to speak in a fun and supportive environment.
Each club meets once a week. If you are a member of one club, you can freely attend the meetings of any other club in the area or around the world at no charge. Family and community involvement in this program is essential to its success. Listening to the audio materials and participating in the club meetings are both equally important in the natural process of language development. Only in the richness of human relationships can real learning occur. |
Creating an Immersion Environment |
The LEX audio materials help establish a multilingual environment where you are surrounded by the various languages on a daily basis. Everyone, from children to adults, can enjoy the contents of the audio: songs from around the world and stories created by LEX. All members purchase a Starter Set of audio materials from among several different options. Just as a baby in a multilingual country begins to understand and speak several languages before beginning to read, LEX Language Project members acquire more than one language naturally through an immersion-style setting.
In order to create a multilingual environment, we use these language audio materials recorded by native speakers which include stories about everyday life. We create an immersion environment for ourselves by listening to these audio materials like background music while doing other activities – at home, in the car, anytime and anywhere. We also spend some time listening more intentionally and mimicking along with the stories, catching the natural rhythm and melody of the language. In the beginning, the stories in different languages may sound like noise, unfamiliar and incomprehensible. But, before you know it, they will become beautiful music that you can sing along to. “Singing the sounds,” is important at LEX; it is a process of mimicking the audio stories and is similar to humming or singing, or even the babbling of a baby. At first, like a baby, you try to imitate the sounds on the audio materials and those being spoken around you. Gradually you will be able to say the words or phrases that the people around you are saying. As you see how words and phrases are used in context, their meaning becomes clearer. Emphasis is placed on maintaining the rhythm, melody, and natural patterns of a language. As we absorb the sounds through repeated listening, mimicking, and interaction with other members, we will acquire more and more language. |
Languages |
21 available languages include: Arabic, Cantonese, English, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Taiwanese, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
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