subject: How to Quickly Learn Spanish – the 80/20 Rule [print this page] When a foreign language educational program functions properly, familiar material helps construct logical connections i.e., contextual links to new material, leaving more time and effort to concentrate on the remaining 20%. News in Slow Spanish utilizes several techniques to implement the "80/20" principle. For example, the program uses world news in the main portion of its weekly show to create familiar context. Because most students already know what happened in the news in the past few days, they are "primed" to receive these news in Spanish.
