Schools are great! I truly believe it. There are also intrinsic school limitations specific to formal mass education.
It also applies to teaching and learning foreign languages. The way I see it, the two most important confines are the lack of practical approach to contemporary issues and too much emphasis on grammar at the expense of vocabulary. In other words schools teach the theory of the language instead of teaching the language itself. Instead of having students speak the language, schools, as a rule, talk about it while the “learners” remain passive and unable to develop speech or simply use the language or just get to learn it for everyday practical conversations or "for real".
Habits are very difficult to change, especially in people in the position of absolute power like teachers or parents. It will take generations to change the official teaching philosophy.
What American English students can do in the meantime is to take destiny in their own hands. Talk, talk, talk, guys! In English, of course, even if it's so called "broken English". Wherever and whenever you can. Use whatever means you have available to you.
Watch American English language movies without translation. You will hear how people really talk in English. Subconsciously and effortlessly you will be learning the speech and dialogue patterns.
Get on the Internet and use it however you can and need to. Do your research in English – you might be surprised how much more information is available in English than in any other language practically in every possible field of knowledge.
For starters – compare the number of terms in Wikipedia to that in any other language – you will be shocked!
These are your vocabulary builders. People communicate using words. Grammar is secondary. You can express your ideas very clearly with limited grammar. You cannot talk at all without words. That is why it is so important to listen and talk. Even when you read a word you don’t know how it is really pronounced. This is especially problematic for languages with historic spelling and multi-ethnic roots such as English. This is the reason why American English is different from British English. … And the gap keeps on growing.
Languages are living creatures, especially American English. Just consider the fact that in the City of New York, NY 97 (ninety seven) languages are spoken by its residents.
One thing you cannot skip. It is the time. There are no shortcuts to learning languages. You have to “do the time”. Luckily for you, it is your choice how you do it, the hard way or the right way.
See ya ...
It also applies to teaching and learning foreign languages. The way I see it, the two most important confines are the lack of practical approach to contemporary issues and too much emphasis on grammar at the expense of vocabulary. In other words schools teach the theory of the language instead of teaching the language itself. Instead of having students speak the language, schools, as a rule, talk about it while the “learners” remain passive and unable to develop speech or simply use the language or just get to learn it for everyday practical conversations or "for real".
Habits are very difficult to change, especially in people in the position of absolute power like teachers or parents. It will take generations to change the official teaching philosophy.
What American English students can do in the meantime is to take destiny in their own hands. Talk, talk, talk, guys! In English, of course, even if it's so called "broken English". Wherever and whenever you can. Use whatever means you have available to you.
Watch American English language movies without translation. You will hear how people really talk in English. Subconsciously and effortlessly you will be learning the speech and dialogue patterns.
Get on the Internet and use it however you can and need to. Do your research in English – you might be surprised how much more information is available in English than in any other language practically in every possible field of knowledge.
For starters – compare the number of terms in Wikipedia to that in any other language – you will be shocked!
These are your vocabulary builders. People communicate using words. Grammar is secondary. You can express your ideas very clearly with limited grammar. You cannot talk at all without words. That is why it is so important to listen and talk. Even when you read a word you don’t know how it is really pronounced. This is especially problematic for languages with historic spelling and multi-ethnic roots such as English. This is the reason why American English is different from British English. … And the gap keeps on growing.
Languages are living creatures, especially American English. Just consider the fact that in the City of New York, NY 97 (ninety seven) languages are spoken by its residents.
One thing you cannot skip. It is the time. There are no shortcuts to learning languages. You have to “do the time”. Luckily for you, it is your choice how you do it, the hard way or the right way.
See ya ...
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