Cute name … but what is the NewLAT? The NewLAT is a space in which I am experimenting with some new twists to ULAT instruction, though still relying on the principles that have made the original ULAT effective.
Specifically, I am experimenting with replacing the often lengthy instructional videos in the ULAT with GIF’s (Graphic Interchange Format). GIF’s are moving images which I hope to use to visually portray the meaning of words which previously had to be acted out in the context of a full-length video.
This experimental version of the ULAT will also make use of AI voices which, through text-to-speech technology, may eventually allow me to teach languages that I myself do not speak. Does that sound a little crazy? Did you ever wonder where the ULAT got its rather grandiose name of “Universal Language Acquisition Tool”? Developing a program that could quickly be adapted to teach virtually any language, even ones I do not know, was the original vision which I believe God gave me to pursue way back in 1994.
If you are a subscriber to the ULAT, the NewLAT is definitely NOT where you should come looking for your lessons. Stick to the traditional ULAT, with its over 300 lessons per language and which you can access by clicking on Spanish, French or English at the top of this page. If you should happen to check back into the NewLAT sometime in the future and find new lessons and languages appearing there little by little, you will know that, after having spent 23 years of rather intensive work creating the ULAT’s Spanish and French programs, Mr. Nesbitt is simply entertaining himself in his NewLAT playground. And if you don’t see any further development, you will know that, in his elder years, he is simply out working in his garden.
Steve Nesbitt