MNASL Teacher Training
Why teach with MNASL?
Below, we give you 5 reasons why the MNASL training course is the best choice to train you as a second language teacher.
1. Success
In the theory developed by Dr. González Fernández, it could be intuited that this methodology overcomes the psychological-affective problems of learning second languages. Since it imitates the natural learning of the first language, the student first concentrates on understanding and only begins to use his first words once he feels comfortable, in this way the blockages that generate in students having to speak in the first classes when he is not prepared are eliminated.
In turn, by not having to study vocabulary (this is learned in context, through interaction with the teacher) or grammar (this is only studied at advanced levels of mastery of the language), the student feels much more motivated and involved in the class, taking the boredom out of learning second languages.
This theory has already been put into practice not only by Dr. Gonzalez Fernandez with excellent results but also by several teachers in different languages with the same success.
Below you can see what some of these MNASL teachers have to say about this training course. If you want to see some of the student reviews of these teachers click on see more information about each teacher:
Spanish
The MNASL course and coaching program are outstanding, I failed to teach Spanish years ago, mainly because it did not feel like my students were actually learning much when following the books and doing all those grammar drills. I thought it was me, but then Javier Gonzalez instructed me that it consolidated into a course. I was able to remove that limiting belief about being able to teach Spanish to others by helping my new students learn fast and well. This is the way all second languages should be taught because it is easy to deliver for teachers and easy for the students to pick up and carry on that momentum throughout the whole time.
Bruno Peris Martin
English
I have been with MNASL for about 1 year now and I have 10 students of my own. this is earning me a nice extra income now and they are loving the way that they are learning. On more than one occasion, I have had great feedback from their parents after my students had tests at school and came out top of their class. This shows it really works well. Also with the help from Bruno I have learned how to use the back office tools included in the coaching to earn extra income from promoting the coaching. see a payment I just got this week. If a 63-year-old man like me can do this so can anyone
I can highly recommend the MNASL approach of teaching and learning languages. I have completed the coaching and am now teaching English using this approach and really love what I am doing. The MNASL approach is logical and easy to follow, The coaching provides the fundamentals of what is needed to teach as well as much appreciated support and advice within the group community that is being built. Everyone should be learning languages this way!
Having completed the training course I was very impressed with the MNASL approach to learning a language. It is an excellent and easy way to learn the basic needs to be able to communicate very quickly and understand just as a child would do. You then like building blocks, develop your knowledge and understanding with every class ensuring that what you did previously isn´t just forgotten but repeated to ensure that the knowledge is always retained and extended. Many of us learn languages, however, are unable to speak and understand what is being said to us and are too often frightened to make grammatical errors. This method really does address this issue so that you can enjoy and feel confident in speaking.
Polish
I have been a Spanish teacher for 5 years. During this time, I have used several teaching methods and I can safely say that MNASL is the most effective and friendly method for both the student and the teacher. From the first class, emphasis is placed on understanding the foreign language. Thanks to this, the student starts speaking when he or she feels ready, thus avoiding unnecessary stress and negative associations with learning.
During classes, we learn the most useful vocabulary and expressions from everyday life, which allows the student to deal with the most important situations in the foreign language. A great advantage of MNASL is that it does not involve mechanically memorizing grammar rules, which makes learning intuitive and natural.
In my experience, students who use the MNASL method and who from the beginning become familiar with the language by listening to it, without writing vocabulary lists, understand native speakers much better and have more accurate pronunciation.
I highly recommend the MNASL method to all teachers who want to break away from outdated teaching methods, as well as to students who wish to learn effectively in a pleasant environment.
Katarzyna Kreja
2. No Grammar
As we mentioned before, MNASL does not teach metalinguistic elements (Grammar (morphology, syntax), phonetics, pragmatics, etc.) until higher levels. This is one of the factors that make many native speakers forget about the idea of becoming second language teachers because they believe that it is very complicated to have a high enough metalinguistic knowledge of your own language to be able to teach it.
Unless you want to teach advanced students, you don’t need to have such knowledge, you just need to know how we learn languages naturally and how we as teachers can facilitate that learning (just as parents facilitate their mother tongue).
3. Other methods and approaches are not as effective as MNASL
Nowadays there are many language teachers, that is, a lot of competition and also, thanks to online courses, we compete not only with teachers who teach in our area but also with teachers from all over the world.
However, the vast majority of teachers follow the same methods and approaches that we have experienced in our language classes.
An example of this is the famous Duolinguo. Although at first it is motivating because it has numerous interactive games presented in a very interesting digital way, after several hours we realize that we obtain similar results to other courses since Duolinguo is based on those same methods and approaches.
Almost all of us have had lessons in a second language. Do you think those lessons were effective? Motivating? Interesting? If the answer is NO, why are you going to train with a course that teaches you how to do the same lessons?
Even the most prestigious experts in second language teaching agree that such methods and approaches are not effective.
“An era when researchers of L2 acquisition and researchers of language education no longer believe in “methods.” Instead, researchers focus on elements of pedagogy and on responses in the language of students” (Lourdes Ortega, Georgetown University. General Editor, Language Learning)
For this reason, these experts recommend teaching second languages through an eclectic approach, that is, taking a little bit of all the methods and approaches. At MNASL we believe that this is the same as if you have a disease and the doctor tells you that he is going to give you a treatment mixing homeopathy, Chinese medicine, magnetic waves, hypnosis and Reiki.
MNASL is a methodology developed by Dr. Javier Gonzalez Fernandez through years of research into the different stages of language development in children, following the latest studies in evolutionary psychology and the characteristics of Child-Directed Speech (CDS or Motherese), which is the genuine way, with its own characteristics, in which parents or guardians of children interact with the baby or child.
MNASL maintains that the application of these methodological principles copied from said Child-Directed Speech facilitates the acquisition of a second language not only for purely linguistic reasons but also for psychological reasons. By being based on real communicative processes, and not like the communicative approach where learning syntactic aspects remains a fundamental pillar, MNASL reduces anxiety and inhibition in the student.
4. Training courses that do not prepare you
Depending on the language you want to teach, there are a lot of second language teacher training courses. Some of them are very prestigious, such as:
English: TEFL or TESOL
Spanish: Instituto Cervantes teacher training course
French: DAEFL
German: DLL
Italian: CEDILS or DITALS
Etc.
However, this prestige does not come from the quality of the courses but from the institution that teaches them.
All these second language teacher training courses have the same problems. Firstly, a lot of theory about these methods and approaches that are not very effective, and little practical training.
However, the biggest problem with these teacher training courses is that when problems arise in actual teaching, you are on your own.
In contrast, the MNASL teacher training course consists of 3 stages:
Introductory course to MNASL.
This course consists of 8 videos with an assessment test after each video to check if you have grasped the important concepts:
- Video 1 – Overview of the methodology
This video explains the fundamental principles and why other methods often fall short of achieving the same level of success.
- Video 2 – What to expect with MNASL
Because this methodology is very different from other methods and approaches at the beginner´s level, students need to know what it consists of and what they will find in class.
This video explains the importance of introducing the methodology to the student and how to explain it depending on the type of student.
- Video 3 – The Importance of Placement Tests
This video explains the importance of placement tests, to know what level our student(s) have, in order to place them in the correct level and prepare classes according to their level.
It also explains how to carry out said placement test with the specific characteristics of MNASL.
- Video 4 – Planning with Purpose
Learn the fundamentals of effective lesson planning.
This video breaks down key teaching concepts (objectives, content, methodology, procedures, and assessment) and shows you how to incorporate these elements into your lesson plans, aligned with the MNASL methodology.
- Videos 5, 6, 7, and 8: Practical Lesson Plans in Action
See how the MNASL methodology comes to life! These videos show four real-life lesson plans from a Spanish course for adult learners.
Through practical examples, you will see the activities in action, understand the logic behind them, and gain the tools to reflect on and adapt the methodology in your own lesson planning.
If you pass this evaluation test, you will receive a certificate that accredits your participation.
Link to purchase the course:
https://teachyourlanguagenaturally.mansl.org/mnasl-intro-course-order
Coaching (Mentoring)
A group coaching is a videoconference meeting with the creator of MNASL (Dr. González Fernández) once a week. In this meeting, the different aspects of teaching a second language through MNASL are discussed in depth.
Although teaching with MNASL is easier than with other training courses since it is natural, it takes 2 to 4 months to become a certified MNASL teacher, since this coaching addresses the different specific aspects of teaching second languages such as the age of the students (children, adolescents, adults), level of the students (beginner, intermediate, advanced), type of teaching (in-person, online), class format (individual, pairs, small group, large group), etc.
When you feel ready, you will have to prepare a lesson plan and carry it out. If you complete it successfully, you will be accredited as a MNASL teacher.
Link to purchase the Coaching (Requirement: having completed the introductory course):
https://teachyourlanguagenaturally.mansl.org/group-coaching-and-community-david
Community.
Once you start teaching with MNASL, we are also there to help you. If you join the MNASL community, you will have access to the group meeting where you can:
- Ask Dr. Gonzalez Fernandez your questions
- Help future MNASL teachers with your experience
- Access and collaborate with the bank of activities and materials for MNASL classes
Link to purchase the Coaching (Requirement: being accredited as a MNASL teacher):
https://teachyourlanguagenaturally.mansl.org/grads-community
5. For everyone and all second languages
As MNASL imitates the way we learn naturally our mother tongue, it works for all languages. The results are the same for all languages and for all types of students (children, teenagers, adults) and in any format (in person and online). We already have MNASL teachers of English, Spanish and Polish who teach all kinds of students both in person and online.
This training course is aimed at everyone, whether they have experience as second language teachers or want to start teaching.
Teachers who already have experience in language teaching have an advantage, that is, they can be trained as MNASL teachers much sooner, as long as they understand the shortcomings of other methods and approaches, and agree with the theoretical foundations of MNASL. Some experienced teachers who have followed the training have not been able to change their mindset and have not been able to adapt to this new methodology.
In this regard, it should be said that the low effectiveness of the classes of second language teachers is not their fault but rather the fault of the methods and approaches that existed before the development of MASNL. The creator of MNASL, Dr. Gonzalez Fernandez, had been teaching Spanish and English for 20 years using these methods with the same low effectiveness as the rest of the teachers.
As can be seen from the content of the introductory course, MNASL teacher training is designed for people who have no experience in teaching second languages, explaining step by step and in a simple way the basic concepts of the methodology and of teaching itself.