Pre-Field Training at MTI

Over the next several weeks (5 to be exact), my family and I are attending  two training sessions that will help prepare us for the mission field.  The first is a two week program called PILAT – Program in Language Acquistion Techniques.  This is program not  aimed at learning a specific language.  Instead, it focuses on providing us with tools and methods that are universally useful in learning another language.  For example, for the last two days we have practiced working with a language helper using  variety of methods.  Many people learning a new language will employ a language helper.  This person is typically native speaker of your target language whose main job is to help with language comprehension, pronunciation, and cultural understanding.  An example of training with a language helper might include walking around the room, pointing  at various objects, and having your language helper say the proper word.  In response, the learner may repeat after the language helper, with the language helper correcting the learner’s pronunciation.  Another example of how a language learner can help is in the area of gestures and contact.  For example, among the Jeh people of Vietnam it is okay to point your finger at someone, provided that your palm is up.  However, if you point your finger at someone with the palm down, you are accusing them of being a lair.  These are just few of the things we are learning in our training.  I am hoping to write a new post each week in order to keep you up to date.

In addition to the training that Bonnie and I are receiving, Joshua and Michael are having similar training, geared to their level.  They have learning games to help them learn new words and they are studying how our mouths move to make different sounds.  As might be expected, Colorado is beautiful, but we are much closer to winter than we would be at home.  We actually had snow yesterday, but it did not stick.  We are expecting much more during our stay since, according to the locals, Colorado always gets their biggest snow fall of the year in October.  Well, that is about it for now.  If you have any questions about what is going on, just leave a comment below or send us an email.  Look for our next update next week.