MSI Press Blog

  We regret to announce that on March 18, 2017, Boris Shekhtman passed into eternal rest after a long battle with cancer. His colleague and friend, Natalia Lord, wrote the following commentary on his obituary page: I have known Boris since 1982 as a colleague and friend. He was a genuine trailblazer in foreign language teaching, caring not only about what bits of language his students had acquired, but also focusing on how to help them effectively use their language in face t o face communication with native speakers. His belief that an instructor is responsible a student's proficiency, spurred him to come up with his Rules of Communication and eventually his own method of teaching. He continued to learn from his student's challenges and pass along the findings to the broader foreign language teaching community through his writings. The full significance of his contribution to the field probably won't be understood for quite some time because he was so far ahead of most of

  Boris Shekhtman has been considered a national authority on teaching students to use foreign languages effectively in communication with native speakers. He has developed a unique set of tools designed to enhance an individual’s communication in a foreign language environment, which he describes in  How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately . Boris Shekhtman presented his communication rules at numerous seminars for a number of U.S. Government agencies including the Library of Congress, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Agriculture and Air Force. His clients included correspondents of major news organizations such as ABC News, CBS News, BBC, NBC News, New York Times , Washington Post , Los Angeles Times , Chicago Tribune , Time Magazine , and Associated Press. The content of the seminars is well described in his books. The most popular of them are:  Developing

  excerpt from  How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately  by Boris Shekhtman -  Some Words about Boris Shekhtman and This Book I met the late Boris Shekhtman when I became the Russian Language Training Supervisor at the U. S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute. He had been enjoying remarkable success as a Russian language instructor of diplomats—they glued themselves to him as one would to a prophet. And perhaps he was sort of a language prophet. He earned teaching awards and established and taught an immensely successful advanced language course. He did not fit into the mainstream of language teachers, though. His methods were his own—no labels for them that fit with current thought. Today, one might point them out as transformative, and the advance course structure did give rise to what today is called Open Architecture Curriculum Design. His approaches and techniques in the 1980s are only now, 40 years later, entering the consciousness of the mainstream of L2

Excerpt from Working with Advanced Foreign Language Students (Boris Shekhtman) -  Preface  This little booklet is far weightier than many tomes four times its size. The nuggets of wisdom distilled in it come from more than two decades of extraordinarily successful experience in working with students at the highest levels of foreign-language proficiency. The quality of Boris Shekhtman’s instruction and his insight into advanced students’ learning needs is a subject with which I have had first-hand knowledge year after year.  Many years ago, in 1984, Boris, and a colleague, Natalia Lord, approached me, as their supervisor at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), with a request to develop a course for advanced students. Any student who had already reached Superior-level proficiency at that time and was returning to FSI for a refresher or enhancement course, was treated as a tutorial. However, Boris and Natalia saw the possibilities in grouping these students into small classes

  Continuing in what seems to be coming a trend -- we keep coming across videos of readers -- teachers and language learners -- who have fallen in love with     How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately  by Boris Shekhtman . The falling in love is not surprising; this book is the darling of diplomats and international journalists, both groups of individuals that Boris spent his life teaching. What is a little more surprising is the number of people who have quietly made videos about the book and its contents -- and which we stumble across upon occasion, such as today. The latest we have found is yet another one by Luca Lampariello, who has made several other videos about this book, illustrating the principles in video. "Want to speak with greater fluency?" he asks. "Create your own language islands," he suggests and gives practical applications of one of the most compelling and effective principles in Boris's book. You can listen to it  HERE . For more po

  Although Boris Shekhtman died several years ago, the sales of his book, How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately , continue to top MSI Press LLC charts. One reason for this may be that the book reflects his extraordinarily effective teaching methods, as attested to by journalists, diplomats, and others.  In testimony to Boris, upon his death, NYT journalist, Sam Roberts, who studied with him, wrote a highly insightful column about Boris and his methods -- and one that is enjoyable to read. An oldie but goodie. Here is an excerpt: “The first time I met Boris he didn’t talk at all about language,” Lucian Pugliaresi, a former National Security Council official in the Reagan administration, told The New York Times in 2001. “He talked about power relationships and fascinated me instantly. He said, ‘When you don’t speak the language over there, you have no power.’” Mr. Shekhtman’s methods were intended for everyday face-to-face exchanges — like “two guys on a park bench,” as Strobe

Summary of a review by Luca Lampariello, foreign language learning guru and tutor, of How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman: In a field where most books deal are colorful, well-produced, and full of information on one specific language, Boris Shekhtman’s  How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately  stands out for being almost the complete opposite—short, unassuming, and devoted to teaching the skills of language, rather than one language in itself. This unusual combination of factors leads to a book that is greater than the sum of its parts; a book that I believe every serious language learner should buy, read, and reread regularly. The book’s communicative tools shine as intuitive guidelines for improving language fluency  right now . With the advice in the book, you have everything you need to communicate your “current” level, navigate difficult conversations with natives, and  speak in a more fluid, natural way . Given the book’s short, compact f

  Recently released - the audiobook for Communicative Focus  by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka. In the current volume, the author describes in detail the theory and nature of the principles and practices used in his approach to language teaching. He is not afraid to talk about some aspects of language learning and teaching, such as the development of lexical and grammatical accuracy, as well as the need for memorization and the development of memory, that have been increasingly omitted from the classroom as a result of the rise in popularity of theories that debase their significance but which are very important, especially if students are to reach the highest level of proficiency. He also discusses some ideas, such as the unique nature of the connection between language and meaning that native speakers experience that non-native speakers must learn to deal with-in differing ways at differing levels of proficiency. His focus throughout is on communication and the nature of communic

Continuing in what seems to be coming a trend -- we keep coming across videos of readers -- teachers and language learners -- who have fallen in love with How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman. The falling in love is not surprising; this book is the darling of diplomats and international journalists, both groups of individuals that Boris spent his life teaching. What is a little more surprising is the number of people who have quietly made videos about the book and its contents -- and which we stumble across upon occasion, such as today. The latest we have found is an entertaining as well as informative video by an English teacher, Charles Wood and editor of Language Tutor Online, who talks about applying the every simple and very effective principles in the books. You can listen to it HERE . For more posts about Boris Shekhtman and his books, click HERE .

Quotes from Luca Lampariello 's review of How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman: "will immediately supercharge your speaking skills in a foreign language" "I highly recommend this book to any learner of any language at any level of skill" "In terms of actionable skills, this book provides the most bang for the buck of any language learning training book on the market." LISTEN TO THE EXCELLENT YOUTUBE VIDEO HERE . For more posts about Boris Shekhtman and his books, click HERE . 25% discount available on this book at www.msipress.con/shop with code FF25.

  Well, that title is a mouthful, but it says it all. Dr. Harold Goodman not only has analyzed and reviewed Boris Shekhtman's book, How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately, but also he studied Russian with Boris for more than 300 hours. Rather than regurgitate his words, here is the link to them. To read more about Boris and his books, click HERE .                                         Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter.

It is Thursday, and we are talking about the highest levels of foreign language proficiency as we do every Thursday.  One of our bestselling books for language learners, How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately , is not necessarily for Level 4 learners, but rather it provides guidance for learners and teachers at all levels of language proficiency. The author was Boris Shekhtman, shown above, the Una Cox Chapman (i.e. most outstanding) teacher at the Foreign Service Institute, where he taught diplomats at all levels of proficiency. Later, he taught foreign correspondents at the New York Times and the LA Times .  Another book, much lesser known, is his book, How to Use Your Russian in Communication Effectively , an MSI Press affiliated book.  For more posts about Boris and his books, click HERE . Read the full review  HERE . For more ideas about teaching at near-native levels (and to share your experience and research), check out the  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies