Guided Immersion: An Innovative Language Learning Method

Pioneered by Circassian language activist and founder of language learning company, OptiLingo, Jonty Yamisha, Guided Immersion is an innovative method to learning a language that is easy and accessible for anyone, no matter their language ability.

In fact, this revolutionary language system isn’t created by a language expert, academic, or professional researcher; it’s been created and refined over the course of a decade by Jonty Yamisha, a man who pivoted his sights from a lucrative Fortune 500 executive position to preserving one of the world’s most ancient languages on the planet.

An Introduction to this Revolutionary Strategy

The system is simple, but ingenious. By emphasizing high-frequency words and what Jonty terms, “essential universal phrases,” students can start speaking their target language, with minimal effort – fast. In fact, they can start speaking within their very first lesson.

There are several key features, which are outlined below:

Contextual Learning: Focus is on learning words and phrases in-context, as they are spoken by native speakers. By contextualizing words and phrases, students can more easily interpret meaning and significance by the content, and further, commit the material to memory faster than if the content was presented without context. We’re all familiar with this process. In fact, this process is not unlike how toddlers learn language – through listening, repeated exposure, and picking up on words that convey a level of “distinctiveness” due to their context within everyday experiences.

Spaced Repetition Systems: Using the OptiLingo’s Spaced Repetition System (SRS) study method in which material is broken down into smaller chunks, students study for 30 minutes each day to create a Five-Day Study Plan. The week’s course workflow may look something like this: Students begin Monday, or Day One for the week and review the oldest material that they have previously learned. On Tuesday, the student reviews the next oldest material before reviewing Monday’s material. Wednesday and Thursday, or Day Three and Day Four are similar, with the student learning new material and reviewing the oldest, previously learned material.

On Day Five, Friday, the student takes a self-test. Students are encouraged to monitor their progress and customize the self-test depending on what material requires further practice and review. This process encourages built-in repetition and faster memory recall with continued study.

Self-testing: Review sessions and repetition of the material is built-into the program. Through Jonty’s experience, reciting the material aloud is an invaluable process to further commit the information to memory. Through reciting the material, students can continue to play an active role in learning the language, rather than simply reading the material silently. It also assists with pronunciation practice all while reinforcing the learned material for easier and faster recall later.

Task and Goal-Oriented Study: The system’s Five-Day Study Plan naturally extends to a task and goal-oriented study process. Because the material is segmented, students can choose which content to review and which tasks to focus on in the form of task-oriented assignments, such as study sheets, hand-written notes, or flashcards. When students assign themselves tasks and mark them complete, they get a natural jolt of confidence which encourages them to stick with their language course of study and set future goals.

Flexibility: Students are encouraged to devote 30 minutes, daily to the course material. However, the system is designed to allow for wiggle room, depending on the student’s availability. Because the lessons include segmented, bite-sized content, students can always adjust the day’s lesson plan to accommodate their schedule.

Encouraging Active Participation for Long-Term Success

Many language programs that stress convenience and advertise that a language can be learned in 30 days, practically in your sleep. This is more than a slight exaggeration. The truth is, learning a language is hard – particularly when you’re only working within a narrow learning style or passively learning the language.

Optilingo emphasizes that the student must take a proactive role to attain the level of proficiency they desire, whether that level of proficiency be a beginner level or advanced. In terms of language apps and programs, all roads don’t lead to Rome, and you certainly won’t be speaking Italian if you ever do get there!

The reason?

Most methods emphasize one mode of learning, such as matching vocabulary words to images (Duolingo, Memrise) or listening and repeating phrases (Pemsleur). In contrast, Jonty’s program encompasses a variety of learning styles while encouraging the student to write out phrases as they say them aloud to strengthen the neural wiring in their brain, which has been proven to improve memory recall.

Learn Your Target Language with an Activist as Your Guide

Although Jonty was raised by Circassian-speaking parents, he never learned a single Circassian word. Approaching his 30th birthday, Jonty was disheartened because his heritage language was on the verge of extinction. Rather than sitting on his heels and wishing someone would come along and help to preserve his language, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

With over half of Circassians unable to read or write their language, including Jonty’s parents, he decided he would dedicate his life to understand, and later teach Circassian. Jonty not only gained near-fluency of the language he set out to learn, he went on to launch the Nassip Foundation, a non-profit organization on a mission to preserve and protect Circassian language and culture. Through a partnership with the Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), Jonty broadened Circassian’s influence, assisting those eager to learn his heritage language, as well as introducing powerful language learning techniques to help anyone learn, document, and preserve any language they wish.

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.