Hungarian Refugees Will Learn English by 'Language Research'

The President's Committee for Hungarian Relief has chosen the "Language Research" method to teach English to Hungarian refugees. The method was begun by University Professor I.A. Richards and Miss Christine Gibson of the Graduate School of Education.

Miss Gibson said that children are especially apt to learning languages and will probably do well. The refugees will be given intense conversational practice.

Harvard University language experts will teach English to incoming Hungarians at Camp Kilmer, N.J. They have only two weeks to complete the course, but expect at least some of the group to finish.

"We are going to give intensive instruction 12 hours a day, using film loops," says Miss Gibson.

"Hungarians will know that at a certain hour they can get lesson five, at another lesson six. We are also training teachers to give them intensive conversational practice."

The Harvard method, is being used in Britain to teach English to newly arrived Hungarian miners. It was also used on Channel 2 for teaching French and Spanish.

Richards, one of language research's pioneers, is a well-known expert on word derivation. He instituted the use of stick figures in language teaching and is the author of several widely read pocket books, including French Through Pictures.

Richards could not be reached last night to determine how many of his staff will be used in the project.