what is the ulat? important: most of this presentation is not timed. use your keyboard’s arrow...

What is the ULAT?

IMPORTANT: Most of this presentation is not timed. Use your keyboard’s arrow keys to move through the following presentation at your leisure.

1. What makes the ULAT distinctive?2. What principles guide the ULAT’s approach to language instruction?3. How does ULAT instruction actually take place?4. Is the ULAT all that a successful language program needs for its students?5. How can a teacher know what activities to do in using the ULAT?6. How much does it cost to use the ULAT in class or independently?7. Why use the ULAT instead of simply a textbook?8. What courses will be available as of August, 2013?9. How can one get answers about the ULAT or sign up to receive instruction?10.What are Mr. Nesbitt’s experience and credentials as a language educator?

CONTENTS OF THIS PRESENTATION

Click below to read answers to the following questions or simply use the arrowkeys to advance through the presentation:

“ULAT” stands for “Universal LanguageAcquisition Tool”. It is an online four-yearworld language program currentlycomposed of roughly 400 lessons inSpanish, French and English.

Universal Language Acquisition Tool

What makes theULAT distinctive?

Unlike most traditional world languageprograms, the ULAT respects the naturallanguage acquisition process. This meansthat it imitates the natural sequence(listening and speaking to reading andfinally to writing) by which a person learnshis or her native language.

Natural language learning process

Units 1-8 are oral in nature, Units 9 and 10 review Units 1-8 in written form, Unit 11 provides reading material and Unit 12 involves written composition.

SPEAKINGAND

LISTENING

WRITING

READING

WRITING

Listening to speakingto reading to writing

Many programs speak of placing muchemphasis on the spoken language and yet,when scrutinized, one sees that the writtenlanguage still remains their basis forinstruction. The ULAT goes to greatlengths to ensure that all initial instructiontakes place in a visual (images) and in anaural/oral fashion (sound files and oralexercises and testing).

Authentic oral emphasis

On the next screen, you will find a link to aSpanish replacement drill in a lessoncombining the reflexive verbs with thetelling of time. By clicking on the images,the student hears the correspondingstatement. Whereas these images mayseem cryptic to you, as you are seeingthem for the first time, they have been sowell reinforced from lesson to lesson that

they are highly familiar to the student(without any need to reflect in English ontheir meaning). You will note the differentcolored shirts, which are used to representvarying parts of speech in a very graphicfashion. The blue shirt corresponds topersonal pronouns and the red shirt to theverb. Click on the link below:

ULAT 2.19 (Spanish replacement drill)

In fact, with the exception of lesson 1.1,which explains how to use the ULATprogram, you will find no written text in theprogram’s first eight units, even in theTable of Contents. Depending on how theteacher decides to progress through theprogram, this can mean that the studentwill spend one entire year before everbeing exposed to the written language.

Delayed exposure to written language

Explanatory note:

This is only a sample portion of the Table ofContents for Unit 5. Lessons 5.1 to 5.4 deal with the imperative mood. Lesson 5.5 introduces a number of words useful for describing an urban environment. Lessons 5.6 and 5.7 teach the student how to give another person directions within a city. Lessons 5.8 presents more vocabulary on the subject of institutions and stores one might see in an urban environment. Lesson 5.9 introduces the simple past tense in the context of the errands a person ran while downtown. Lesson 5.10 further introduces the simple past tense as the author of the ULAT relates the timeline of major events in his past. Whereas the students do not see the topics within the Table of Contents in written form, this information is available to the teacher in the Table of Contents found within the Teacher’s section of the ULAT.

Experience has shown that exposing thestudent too soon to the written language,and making it the primary mode ofinstruction, condemns him or her to athought process steeped in translation andconsequently to slow, awkward, stilted andinauthentic speech, even more so if thelanguage’s phonics system varies greatlyfrom the student’s native language.

Harm done by traditional instruction

Indeed, the most effective way to teach reading and writing, just as took place inthe student’s native language, is to waituntil the student has a strong oral foundationin the target language. Once the oralfoundation is in place, teaching thestudent to read and write becomes a fareasier task than when one begins with awritten focus.

Success in written instruction

Explanatory note:This is merely a screen shot of a portion of lesson 10.14 concerning the written form of the imperative mood, so you cannot actually click on its images. However, within the actual lesson, the student makes the statement “Look at me!” which the student first learned to form orally in Unit 5, approximately one year earlier. The student is so well versed in these images by this point that their meaning is very clear to him or her and making the oral statement is almost automatic. After saying the command, the student clicks on the images and hears the command correctly said to verify his or her answer. Next, the student clicks on the small image to the right and the written form of the statement appears at the top of the screen.

Though a teacher using the ULAT programcan opt to modify it, the following is therecommended progression and emphasesthrough the ULAT’s 12 units:

Year 1: Units 1-4, 11 (95% oral, 5% reading)Year 2: Units 5-7,9-11 (50% oral, 25% reading, 25% writing)Year 3: Units 8,11,12 (33% oral, 33% reading, 33% writing)

Curriculum sequence

On the following screens, you can see theULAT’s Table of Contents with explanatorynotes regarding each unit’s contents:

Table of Contents

Unit 1 : Oral presentation of the 60 most commonly used verbs, the present simple tense, question formation, negation and vocabulary pertinent to the school environment.

60 verbs

Unit 2 : Oral presentation of vocabulary related to one’s daily routine, the use of reflexive verbs, telling time, numbers 1 to 9999, interrogatives and the use of modals (could, can, should, must, etc.)

Daily routine

Unit 3 : Oral presentation on one’s physical description, emotional state, clothing and colors, body, health and family relationships, as well as the use of demonstrative and possessive adjectives and pronouns.

Personaldescription

Unit 4 : Oral presentation of vocabulary related to the home, domestic chores, food and utensils, as well as the use of absolute negation, prepositions and pronouns which are the objects of a preposition.

Domestic life

Unit 5 : Oral presentation of vocabulary related to urban life, as well as the formation of a command, the simple past tense and the use of object pronouns .

Urban life

Unit 6 : Oral presentation of the vocabulary related to nature, as well as the present and past perfect tenses and the imperfect tense.

Nature

Unit 7 : Oral presentation of vocabulary related to technology and manual activities, as well as the future tense, the use of the passive voice and the present and past subjunctive moods.

Manual activitiesand technology

Unit 8 : An oral review of the vocabulary and grammar presented in Units 1 - 7.

Oral review

Unit 9 : A written presentation of the vocabulary and grammar presented in Units 1 - 4.

Written review

Unit 10 : A written presentation of the vocabulary and grammar presented in Units 5 - 7.

Written review

Unit 11 : Readings and written studies of a variety of books and videos in the target language.

Video andbook studies

Unit 12 : Lessons leading the student to write his or her autobiography in the target language.

Autobiography

What principles guide theULAT’s approach tolanguage instruction?

1. The respect for the natural language acquisition progression

The ULAT respects and simulates thenatural means by which a person learnedhis native language, starting with listeningand speaking and then, much later, toreading and then writing.

Natural progression

2. The presentation of structure andvocabulary within a visual context

The ULAT presents the learner withmoving or still images, accompanied bysound, that convey meaning withoutrecourse to the learner’s native language,thus simulating the observation andlistening stage of language learning.

Visual context

Explanatory note:The image above is a small portion of the second unit’s Table of Contents. Click on the number “1” and it will open lesson 2.1 in which you find a review of the 60 most commonly used verbs that were presented in Unit 1. The first image on the left will link to a video presenting the verb “to live” in context. The second image links to a video of the gesture the student is to perform in repeating the verb. The third image links to a sound file which contains the verb and the fourth image links to a sound file using the verb in a complete sentence.

2. The presentation of structure andvocabulary within a visual context (cont.)

The ULAT presents the learner with movingor still images, accompanied by sound,that convey meaning without recourse to thelearner’s native language.

3. The performing of representativegestures

The ULAT requires the learner to repeata word, or series of words, and to performa gesture that represents the word'smeaning, thus enhancing retention by theperformance of a motor activity. This useof gestures also reinforces one’s graspof the language’s syntax.

Gesturing

4. The use of still symbolic images

For the representation of actions, afterthe moving image has conveyed the verb’smeaning, the ULAT introduces the key stillimage from the moving sequence - the onewhich best symbolizes the action. Thisparallels “symbolization”, the mentalprocess we naturally perform when recallingan action we have seen.

Symbolic images

5. The building of a learner’s confidence

The ULAT intentionally gives no greaterattention to irregular aspects of alanguage than to the regular ones. Toogreat an emphasis on the irregular aspectsof a language gives the learner theImpression that the language is illogicaland that its mastery is beyond his grasp.

Balanced approach to irregular aspects

6. The rejection of translation

Except during the most elementaryreading activities, the ULAT will NEVERprovide a translation of a word's orexpression's meaning. Translation is theeasy way out for an instructor, and thecomfortable way for the student, but it dealsan absolutely fatal blow to the learner'slong-term goal of attaining fluency.

Rejection of translation

6. The rejection of translation (cont.)

Translation creates a mental bridge thatthe learner will mentally have to crosseach time he needs to refer to that wordin the new language. The use of such anunfortunate technique causes the studentto express himself in an undesirable andunnatural 3-step process.

First, he has a mental image of the concepthe wants to convey. Secondly, he assignswords from his native language to thatmental image. Finally, he translates thosewords to what he considers the equivalentterms in the second language.

The result is stilted, slow speech and,often embarrassingly inaccuratecommunication. The ULAT cultivates a2-step mental process in the learner whogoes directly from the level of thoughtto the target language.

7. Development of “linguistic reflexes”and not mere analytical knowledge

Once the student understands the imagespresenting a particular sentence structure,as well as the order in which the elementsthey represent appear in a statement, hemust respond to a progressivelyaccelerating PowerPoint show whoseimages drill the structure. As the rate

Linguistic reflexes

7. Development of “linguistic reflexes”and not analytical knowledge (cont.)

increases, the student is only givensufficient time to form the statement, yetnot enough to be able to reflect upon it orto translate it to his native language. In sodoing, the learner acquires the reflexnecessary to employ the structure withaccuracy and spontaneity.

Linguistic reflexes

How does ULAT instructionactually take place?

In the first seven units, vocabulary orgrammatical structure is typically laid outin pairs of lessons. The first of the twolessons presents the concept to be studied.The second lesson provides practice,drilling the vocabulary or structure andthen providing a test to measure thestudent’s learning.

Lessons for presentation and drilling

Below are links to two such lessons. You will find explanatory notes in yellow throughout the lesson. Be aware that they would not normally be found in a lesson, but they are there simply to help you understand the lesson’s composite elements.

ULAT 2.19 (Spanish presentation lesson)ULAT 2.20 (French drilling lesson)

Lessons for presentation and drilling

One of the more common forms of ULAT oral test is found at the end of the second of the pairs of lessons – the one in which the students have drilled the vocabulary or structure in question. It involves a timed test in which the students must say the word or statement indicated by the images. The test is timed so that the students do not have time to reflect in their native language.

Timed tests

Timed activities exist to develop “linguistic reflexives” in the student, as explained earlier. A “stop sign” is used to indicate the existence of an oral test. Click on the link below to open lesson 5.25, on the topic of object pronouns, and follow the explanatory notes in yellow:

ULAT 5.25 (Spanish)

Timed tests

Written lessons are found in Units 9 and 10.They expose the students to the identicalinformation covered in oral fashion in Units1–8. Click on the link below and read theexplanatory notes regarding lesson 10.14,which is a written lesson dealing with theuse of object pronouns in a command.

ULAT 10.14 (French)

Written lessons

Is the ULAT all that a successfulworld language program needsfor its students?

Almost, but not quite. The ULAT is only one of four pillars that need to be in place to support a successful, vibrant language program. For student interest and motivation to remain high, the following elements need to exist in any world language program:

Four pillars of a language program

1) Learning materials that are consistent with the natural language learning progression, such as the ULAT

2)A story line to maintain interest and around which to base conversation

3) Being in relationship with native speakers of the language one is learning

4) Personal application and sharing while making use of the vocabulary and grammatical structures being studied.

Four pillars of a language program

The ULAT can help, however, with the firstthree of those elements. We have already dealt with the ULAT’s approach at length, which corresponds to the first point.Unit 11 of the ULAT responds to the need for the second element, which is a story line. In it, one finds lessons built on a number of language specific videos and books.

Story line

Below you see links to sample lessons inUnit 11 regarding first, second and third year videos or books:

1st year (public school): Les Misérables (French)1st year (private school): Reto de Valientes (Spanish)

2nd year (public school): La Misma Luna (Spanish)2nd year (private school): Jean de Florette (French)

3rd year (public school): Le Petit Prince (French)3rd year (private school): Evangelio de Lucas (Spanish)

Story line

Thus far, the ULAT contains a complete set of lessons on the following videos and books:

VIDEOS: “Les Misérables” (French), “Jean de Florette” (French/Spanish), “Manon des Sources” (French/Spanish), Le Petit Nicolas (French), “La Misma Luna (Spanish) and, for private Christian schools, “Desafío a los Gigantes” (Spanish) and “Reto de Valientes” (Spanish).

BOOKS: “Le Petit Prince” (French), “El Principito” (Spanish) and, for private Christian schools, the Gospel of Luke (French/Spanish).

NOTE: The ULAT provides the lessons, but not the videos or books themselves. The school or individual must acquire them independently.

As for the third key element of a successfullanguage program, the ULAT facilitates the establishment of communication between American students and native speakers of the target language by means of its “Language Pals” lessons. The Language Pals lessons take the key elements of each of the ULAT’s units and uses them to shape an interview which the student can conduct with an overseas peer.

Relationship

The ULAT first helps the student master the questions he or she will want to ask of the overseas student. Thereafter, the lesson is consulted while the interview is taking place by means of a platform such as Skype. Click on the link below to see one such sample lesson found in Unit 1:

ULAT 1.46 (Spanish)

Relationship

How can a teacher knowwhat activities to do in usingthe ULAT?

The ULAT’s lessons are accompaniedby detailed lesson plans for the instructorand by an explanation to independentstudy students regarding the content ofeach lesson and the activities they are toperform. Click on the link below and readthe explanatory note at the top of thelesson.

ULAT 5.25 (Spanish)

Lesson plans

Additionally, a teacher using the ULATprogram receives an outline detailingthe pace of the activities to be performedthroughout each month of the school year.Click on the link on the next screen tosee such an outline. Be aware that thisoutline can be modified to suit theteacher’s own approach to proceedingthrough the skills of listening, speaking,

Year-long overview

reading and writing, as well as accordingto the dates of his or her own school yearand regarding the videos appropriate toa public or private school environment.Explanatory notes are provided andplease note and click on the tabs at thebottom of the overview’s screen.

First year overview (French)

Year-long overview

How much does it cost touse the ULAT in class orIndependently?

A school may use the ULAT program toteach French or Spanish in its world languageclasses for a cost of $15 per student for oneyear of access. In this case, each studentreceives his or her own User ID and passwordto the ULAT. This fee decreases to $10 perstudent for schools signing up at least100 students to use the ULAT.

Option 1:Use of the ULAT in the classroom

Schools signing up a minimum of 100students for Option 1 will additionallyreceive a free 8-hour training session, onsite, regarding the use of the ULAT. Forthose with fewer students, the cost of thistraining is $350 plus the trainer’s travelexpenses to your site.

Teacher training

Independent study can take place, with theguidance of a ULAT instructor for a cost of$420 per student. Students receive aschedule which specifies the daily lessons toperform. These daily lessons include fifty15-minute Skype sessions during which aULAT instructor meets with each studentindividually to interact orally, to answerquestions, to provide feedback and toperform testing.

Option 2:Guided independent study

Students wanting to do independentstudy with the ULAT, without the guidanceof a ULAT instructor, can simply do sofor the same $15 yearly fee mentioned inOption 1 for a student in class.

Option 3:Independent study

Why use the ULAT instead ofsimply a textbook?

There are several important reasons foropting for the online ULAT programinstead of a traditional textbook. Mostimportantly, a “book of text” is not whatis needed to lay a strong oral foundationto a student’s knowledge of a language.Having one’s ability to speak a languagedirectly tied to the written word is thesurest way to guarantee that a studentwill never attain oral fluency. Reading is

ULAT vs. textbook

not the means by which any person learnsto comprehend the spoken word and tospeak fluently. Secondly, no matter wherestudents are located in the world – inschool, at home, on vacation – as longas they have Internet access, they canstudy their ULAT lessons. Students willforget to bring home their textbook, butthe ULAT follows them wherever they go.

ULAT vs. textbook

Thirdly, textbooks wear out and needto be replaced, but the ULAT will not. Forno more than the average annual textbookreplacement cost, the ULAT does whattextbooks can never do to lay the rightkind of foundation to a student’s learning.

ULAT vs. textbook

What courses will beavailable as of August, 2013?

First year courses in Spanish and Frenchwill be available for the 2013-2014 schoolyear. It is not possible to begin ULAT study atthe second or third year level. Because of theunique method it employs, a studentrequires the strong oral emphasis of firstyear ULAT classes as a foundation forall that follows.

Course offerings

How can one sign up toreceive ULAT instructionor get answers to questionsabout the ULAT?

Simply send an e-mail to the ULAT attheulat1@gmail.com and indicate yourquestion or in which option you areinterested. In return, you will receive ananswer to your questions or detailsregarding payment terms, schedulingand log-in information.

Questions and how to enroll

What are Mr. Nesbitt’scredentials and experienceas a language educator?

• B.A. in French and M.A. in Curriculum and instruction from Michigan State University• Member Honors college, graduated with high honors, member of National Spanish Honorary Society, Phi Beta Kappa• 31 years of Spanish, French and English teaching experience in public and private schools in the United States and in Europe•13 years living, working and ministering in France• Invited by the president of the Michigan World Language Association to conduct a a workshop for fellow educators on the development of oral skills in beginning language students.

To see testimonials regarding the effectiveness of the ULATprogram and of Mr. Nesbitt’s work over the years, click below:

TESTIMONIALS

Mr. Nesbitt’s credentials and feedback on the ULAT

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