1) It's a good thing the allow every student 30,000 mistakes. I've certainly cashed in on my share. Just like children have to be allowed margin to err, so language learners must allow themselves such margin. When a 2 year old says, "We go to store!" we accept it, possibly repeat the idea correctly, and generally encourage them to keep trying. That's what we're experiencing here.
2) Short-cuts are for adults only. When a child is learning language they have nothing to compare it to. Not so with adults! So, even though 95% of class time is in Hebrew, we do occasionally diverge into explanations to "short-cut" the learning process. These explanations or grammar, etc... are not language acquisition but they can be helpful.
3) Stories are not just for children. Movies, novels, and even our music today is testimony that people of all ages love stories...and especially language learners. We might spend 45 minutes working through a 5 minute story in class, telling it from the present, telling it like it's past, guessing what will happen next, pulling in the craziest vocabulary to keep the story rolling. Right now we're at an intermission in the epic drama of the donkey and goat who took a boat ride to Greece... (spoiler - they got shipwrecked :-)
4) God made us language learners. I've been extremely refreshed by learning the language of Biblical Hebrew as a living language that people used to hear and speak, read and write. People of ages past used this language to express their greatest joys and deepest sorrows. They used it to worship the one true God of the universe. They employed it to record his word and deeds for the next generation to read aloud and obey. I am very thankful to be here now.
