Low Language School

Low School

Charles Berlitz (1914-2003); fluent in 32 languages -- As a child, Charles was raised in a household

in which (by his father's orders) every relative and servant spoke to Charles in a different language: he

reached adolescence speaking eight languages fluently. In adulthood, he recalled having the childhood

delusion that every human being spoke a different language, and wondering why he did not have his own

language like everyone else in his household. His father spoke to him in German, his grandfather in

Russian, his nanny in Spanish.

To create a Low School the following is suggested:

(1) Adequate financing is secured and a place for classes to be held is found.

(2) An annual starting class of 30+/- children aged 4-5, each of whom are familiar with the 25 languages used in Low School are needed.

(3) 25 teachers whose individual native languages collectively span the needed 25 languages are required.

(4) The native languages of the staff members (to include the principal, assistant principal, janitor, etc. and excluding the teachers), as a group, should include the 24 languages used in Low School (excepting English or the native language used in the country in which a Low School is sited). The staff members should be available to converse with students daily in the playground during one of the two 40 minute recesses.

A Low School in due course should be divided into 2 nearby schools (grades 1-5 and 6-10) with separate, full staffs and separate playgrounds (however the teachers can remain the same for both schools). Thus, there would be a different set of 24 staff members for each playground during the recess periods. There should be an auditorium/tent which will hold the students from both campuses for special events. The proposed schedule is; class-class-recess-class-lunch-class-recess-class (8:00 am - 3:00 pm) with a 40 minute lunch period. To be prepared for Low School, a child should have routine exposure to suitable language materials from an early age.

Classroom instruction normally incorporates the complexities of grammar of the languages into the instruction. The same 25 courses are taught once a week for 10 years (39 or 40 weeks a year) and each course is permanently paired with one of the 25 languages. There are no lesson plans, formal exams or grading. There are 5 classes a day (25 a week in the 25 languages); 55 minutes each. The students are encouraged to work together to complete the needed translations and other work. To do this, they should use all available resources.

At least initially, the "homework" is to translate the work done each day in a class into another language -- a major responsibility of a teacher is to assist in these translations into their own language (which may require a lot of time). 5 languages are utilized each day for each of 5 days (25 languages each week). Each of the 5 sets of class room work is translated (daily homework) into one the 25 languages (these are randomly selected throughout the 9 month school year). The proposed pairings of languages and subjects is as follows:

Arabic -- Poetry

Bengali -- Astronomy

Chinese -- Ancient (bronze, jade, etc)

& modern manufacturing

English -- Computers, math

French -- Cooking (any type)

German -- Chemistry, physics

Greek -- Philosophy

Hebrew -- Business

Hindi -- Drama

Indonesian -- Mountains, islands, wild life

Italian -- Mediterranean related

Japanese -- Art

Korean -- Media

Punjabi -- Open (special guest/event)

Polish -- Agriculture

Portuguese -- Sailing, airplanes, rockets

Russian -- Mining, lumber, oil, grain, jewels

Spanish -- History (mainly ancient history)

Swahili -- Africa related

Swedish -- Snow related

Tagalong -- Oceanography

Thai -- Jungle related, wood, biology

Tamil -- Dance

Turkish -- Geography

Urdu -- Travel

It has been observed that children tend to acquire a language when it is part of an interesting or inviting activity and when other children enjoy the activity. If the situation is fun and exciting, the language being used should become a critical part of the events and not a burden.

The students can be involved in a party or other event each week utilizing a different activity and language. When possible, adult native speakers should be present at these events and should only speak using that language with the students. Upon graduation, it is suggested that a graduate might, as an option, spend 2 years doing an "internship" -- 6 months in each of 4 countries. Suitable activities in each country should be arranged for those involved.

The objective of Low School is to (gently) create diversely qualified multilingual individuals who are fluent in 25 languages.

Any of the staff (including the principal and the teachers) can be fired by a 3/4 majority secret ballot vote of the students in any class (no appeal, no tenure -- however a replacement teacher or staff member must be tolerated for one full school year). Teachers and staff are consultants not employees; there is no tenure; they should be retained by using the following consulting agreement:

Consulting Agreement

I, _______________________, of address: ____________________________, ________________, hereinafter termed the Consultant, contract, agree and fully concur with the terms and conditions of this consulting agreement with the Low School as set out herein below.

The Consultant is not an employee, partner or joint venturer with or of the Low School and/or with (1) its consultants, (2) its staff, (3) its students, (4) the parents and/or legal guardians of its students, (5) experts retained by the Low School and/or (6) persons (and/or organizations) conducting transactions with the Low School, said individuals hereinafter collectively and individually being identified herein as Third Parties. The Consultant is a consultant to Low School. This consulting agreement can be terminated by either party without cause by giving written notice to the other. Termination, when initiated by either party, is effective immediately.

The parties hold each other harmless for any act, omission, oversight, misunderstanding and/or mistake arising directly or indirectly from the execution of this consulting agreement. The standard of conduct of this consulting agreement is that of the utmost good faith. This consulting agreement is personal to the Consultant and can not be assigned

The Consultant is permitted by the Low School to use an unofficial second title with the express understanding that all written commincations with said Third Parties will contain a reference to the consulting status of the Consultant, said unofficial second title is hereby defined to include, but not to be limited to; “teacher, instructor, coach, counselor, principal, assistant (or vice) principal, secretary, administrative assistant, nurse, maintenance person, security person and janitor.” The unofficial second title or titles which is or are to be used by the Consultant in the execution of this consulting agreement is or are as follows: ___________________________________________. The duties and compensation for the Consultant are as follows:

_________________________________________________________

The Consultant specifically agrees to speak the following language, ____________, exclusively when in the presence of any Low School student regardless of the situation and that repeated breaches of this condition are grounds for immediate termination of this consulting agreement. The Consultant certifies that this language is the Consultant’s NATIVE LANGUAGE (used routinely in the Consultant’s household when the Consultant was a child). The Consultant futher agrees to use this language exclusively when conducting classes or when otherwise dealing with students.

IT IS EXPRESSLY UNDERSTOOD THAT THIS CONSULTING AGREEMENT CAN BE TERMINATED WITHOUT NOTICE BY A MINIMUM OF THREE-QUARTER SECRET BALLOT VOTE OF ALL OF THE STUDENTS OF ANY CLASS AT LOW SCHOOL AND THAT SUCH TERMINATION IS NOT SUBJECT TO APPEAL, REVIEW OR ALTERATION. ACCEPTANCE OF THIS EXPRESS CONDITION IS AN ABSOLUTE PREREQUISITE TO FORMING AND EXECUTING THIS CONSULTING AGREEMENT. Said secret vote will be conducted by secret ballot during normal school hours and will be supervised by 2 students and 3 adults (not including the consultant or the parent of a student) and a vote terminating this consulting agreement will be signed and certified by said 3 adults, said certified termination notice will be promptly given and/or mailed to the Consultant as may be convenient to the parties.

The laws of the State of Nevada control the intrepretation of this consulting agreement as regards conflict of law issues. This is the entire agreement.

Signed by: ____________________ (the Consultant), typed name: __________________

Date; _________

Signed by : ____________________ (for the Low School); typed name: ________________; title: _____________

Date: __________

Witnessed by: _______________________ ; typed name: ________________________

Date: _________________

-- End of Consulting Agreement --

Termination Notice:

You, _____________________, a Consultant for the Low School, are hereby given notice that your consulting agreement with the Low School was terminated on ___________ by a vote of at least three-quarters of all of the students in one class. This termination is effective immediately and you will cease all activities in relation to the Low School as a Consultant. There is no appeal, review or alteration of this termination.

Witnessed and Certified by:

Witness: _______________________: printed name: ___________________

Date; __________

Witness: _______________________: printed name: ___________________

Date; __________

Witness: _______________________: printed name: ___________________

Date; __________

-- End of Termination Notice --

Notices For Students:

Try not to mix your languages. It may be funny and it might

be easier, but a native speaker would never understand.

There is no minimum age for obtaining a US patent -- issued patents do not give a person's title

(e.g., Prof., Dr., Ms.). Grades and degrees can be important, but for the US Patent Office it is the first

to invent that counts. If it's novel, not obvious and useful you may have something of value.

If you claim a steel box, a plastic box does not infringe. If you claim a box, you

get any box -- but no bags. If you claim an enclosure, you get boxes and bags.

Having a patent means that you have the exclusive right

to make, use and sell the item or to use the process for 20 years.

The youngest UK inventor is Sam Houghton, age 5, for an improved broom (GB 2438091).

The youngest US inventor is Steve Olson, age 4, for an improved swing (US Pat 6368227 -- see it).

[Annual competition for students -- select a maximum of 5

words, each in a different language, to say something funny.]

[Low School Plays -- Format]

1. Four choruses (five students each). Three groups are usually standing, two are usually

seated. Each group has a different "standard" arm/hand motion when speaking (e.g., both

arms raised, arms outstretched to the side, one arm up and waving, one hand on top of the

head, hands over the ears,...). The echoed words may be sung by a chorus if they wish.

2. Each chorus is responsible for "echoing" in one of 6 languages (a different 6 for each chorus

-- the same language is used to echo for a given language -- e.g., Swahili for Punjabi).

3. About half the time, a statement of a cast member (at least 4) is "echoed" by a chorus.

Sometimes the echoing phrase is an exact translation, sometimes it is a parody,

sometimes it is ironic, sometimes it is contrasting (i.e., disbelief, ridicule, etc.).

4. Chorus groups can move around, and/or can dance and can deliver lines while standing in

the audience. Choruses wear colored shirts (a different color for each chorus).

5. "Plots" always have (1) something questionable/negative to say about someone's cooking,

(2) a concern about some article of clothing, (3) someone (or more than one) always goes

to sleep during the play, (4) something is always lost (and then found), (5) someone always

has a strange/absurd objective (e.g. to be a cook on the Moon), and (6) reference is always

made to an "expert" (who it turns out really is usually just guessing).

6. A given cast member can/does/should speak in each of at least 6 languages -- all 25 are

used during a play by the cast. The division of languages is somewhat logical.

7. The plot for a given (annual) play is developed by a Low School class as a class project.

8. (English is not echoed.) The other languages are paired (one echos the other); the pairs are:

Thai -- German

Russian -- Spanish

Korean -- Portuguese

Tamil -- Hindi

Punjabi -- Swahili

Hebrew -- Urdu

Swedish -- Tagalog

Chinese -- Polish

Arabic -- French

Japanese -- Bengali

Italian -- Greek

Turkish -- Indonesian

Orange Chorus

Swedish, Bengali, Chinese,

Greek, Arabic, Indonesian

Blue Chorus

Japanese, German, Italian,

Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese

Green Chorus

Thai, Hindi, Russian,

Swahili, Korean, Urdu

Red Chorus

Tamil, Tagalog, Punjabi,

Polish, Hebrew, French

9. There are no (or few) props. At the end, they all march off together chanting;

"All done, all done..." (in Thai).

[A teacher or non-student holds up que cards translating the

action for the audience. The cue cards are color coded to match

the choral groups; white cards are used for the actors' lines.]

[1st variation -- each chorus holds up its own cue cards; the

group of actors has their own cue cards.]

The Snow Water Corporation -- Baby Safari.US -- Akilo.Com

Charles Berlitz