Becoming Equipped to Communicate: A practical guide for learning a language and culture

Becoming Equipped to Communicate (BEC) is a culture and language learning program. Its purpose is to equip people to communicate fluently and at a deep level in cross-cultural situations. BEC is a program designed specifically to lead learners, as they progress through the Levels with their associated activities, into broader and deeper relationships and deeper levels of community involvement. Toward the end of Level 4, people who have followed the program will have developed quite a few deeper relationships in their new community as a normal part of their process of learning. In this sense, BEC is not just a language learning program, it is a program in which people will become a normal part of the life of the community, and will learn to function in their new community - to speak, to listen, to interact in natural ways and to take part in people's lives. The BEC guide: Explains the foundations for relationship-centered learning Gives practical advice for learners at all levels Lays out a step-by-step process of culture and language acquisition, from the basics to an advanced level Takes participants through four progressive levels of community-based learning activities that focus on building relationships with others to grow to understand their lifeviews through their own cultures and languages It includes: Practical plans and time schedules Detailed step-by-step daily lesson guides Guided learning activities for reaching an advanced level of communicative proficiency Self-evaluations at the end of each of the four levels