QTalk vs SymTalk - what is the difference?

We have been receiving inquiries from teachers who are using SymTalk, the method originally created by Maurice Hazan in the late 1990's. The teachers are asking, "What is the difference between SymTalk and QTalk?"

Comparing QTalk to Symtalk? Consider these key points:

• Only QTalk offers 3000 new visuals including hundreds of concepts that are very challenging to visualize, as well as our unique "double card" concept.
• Only QTalk provides full interactive digital lessons with audio for Smartboards and other interactive whiteboards, including downloadable printable worksheets, teacher training and technical support with renewable maintenance.
• Only QTalk provides "cloud-based" online games and assessment tools, with online flipbooks including iPad support, allowing students to practice all aspects of the language.
• Only QTalk customers enjoy a dynamic relationship with a team of linguists that respond to all your needs and questions.
• Only QTalk offers an expanding series of tools for all ages, from toddler through adult, with new high school/college tools to practice levels 1, 2 and 3 topics.
• Only QTalk products, books and materials are tested and refined in our own classrooms at Tribeca Language.
• Only QTalk continues to expand our language instruction method to additional languages, age groups and topics.
• Only QTalk customers have direct access to the author (myself Maurice Hazan, maurice@mauricehazan.com) for onsite inservice training sessions, webinars, telephone and email discussions.

Here is a more detailed statement from Maurice Hazan, the author, to help explain the history of the two methods. This was posted on the QTalk website until we moved to the new website in 2015. We reproduce the statement in full, so that there will be a clear understanding of the relationship between QTalk and SymTalk teaching methods (created by the same author, SymTalk in the late 1990's and QTalk beginning in 2009 and continuing into the present and future).

Dear Teacher,
 Sometimes I am asked why I am no longer able to sell SymTalk products or books I authored years ago. It is of course possible to transition gradually. Please email me at maurice@mauricehazan.com any time.

I created the Symtalk series in 1992. I sold it to EMC Paradigm in 2004 and no longer have any affiliation with the company. I am sorry to say I can no longer personally guarantee the quality of the products or customer support. In 2006 I decided to open my own language school, Tribeca Language, in New York City. The past few years have been tremendously productive. I am now realizing my dream of perfecting my approach, now called the QTalk^® method.
With our team of linguists, language instructors and programmers, I have developed an amazing series of brand new concepts, incorporating new visuals, new technology, and new insights from my personal experience in the classroom for the past twenty-five years (and counting).
Over the years, teachers like you have contributed wonderful ideas, feedback and requests that guide all our QTalk product development. QTalk keeps getting better: Now we offer more stories, more intuitive visual mnemonics, and stronger support of the ACTFL standards.
And there's more coming soon: QTalk is preparing the next generation language learning technology as we continue to revolutionize the field of language acquisition.
As a teacher, education reformer, entrepreneur and author, I will never stop improving upon QTalk.
My goal is to make this method even more intuitive and effective for teachers and students.
My mission is to revive and awaken the language module within everyone.

Before and After the introduction of Maurice Hazan's visual method - research results in Chilean elementary schools

A few years ago, the scholars Ruth Juset Miranda Fuenzalida and Noelia Paz Trecaman Cayunao conducted academic research in three different elementary schools in Valdivia, Chile. Their study measured the effectiveness of Maurice Hazan's visual teaching method, in its earlier version called Symtalk. The purpose of the research was to document and determine the reasons for the method's effectiveness, in this case with Grades 5 through 8 for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes.

The results of this study, published in 2011, determined that at the beginning, the Chilean students were not able to speak English, even though they had been receiving formal instruction in the language. The teaching method was a traditional one, with teachers speaking a large majority of the time, and class "activities planned by teachers were mainly based on students' books, emphasizing writing and reading skills rather than speaking and listening."

Here's what the researchers found (in a nutshell):

Before:
As is typical in traditional Level 1 language instruction, the EFL teachers in these elementary schools spent a great deal of class time explaining contents of lessons rather than providing activities to prompt students' speaking and communicating. As a consequence, students' ability to communicate in English was extremely limited.

After:
Following the introduction of Maurice Hazan's visual method (his earlier version, called Symtalk), results were perceived immediately by the researchers. When students were given the majority of class time to speak and interact, with the teacher remaining in the target language, it was readily observed that students' vocabulary increased, the ability to understand and speak in complete sentences was demonstrated, and the students were observed to be enjoying their lessons.

Think about your school's language program. Even when teachers have the materials and tools to use the QTalk (or Symtalk) method, or a complementary immersion method such as TPRS, it's very important for the teachers to avoid slipping into the familiar habit - when a teacher is explaining, no matter how necessary this seems to be, the teacher is not following  the method.



It's a fascinating study, 93 pages, and is now posted publicly on the Internet. Check it out at cybertesis.uach.cl/tesis/uach/2011/ffm672s/doc/ffm672s.pdf and let us know what you think.