Challenges in learning English ?
The challenges are tremendous because we are dealing with a foreign language-learning industry that has high failure rate in spite of millions dollars spent on linguistic research. Professor of Education from Harvard University, Catherine Show writes in her article: "The marginal product of two years of pain and suffering per high school graduate: less than one student in a hundred acquires fluency."
Here is the list of major challenges which should be realized by learners and teacher looking for a better way to learning English:
1. English is learnt by the learner; the teacher cannot transfer his knowledge and skills to the learner.
2. The more the learner relies on the teachers the less efficient and more slowly he will learn.
3. The learners are persuaded that their teachers, in some magic way that is called skilled teaching, are going to do the work for them. They are convinced that the more lessons they go through, the faster and better will be the progress they make.
4. As the learners sit in the classroom they are effectively paralyzed. It is only when they escape from school that they can truly begin learning - if they know how to do it the right way.
5. Language guides should be able to do two things:
• Show students how to learn English using mobile app.
• Answer questions about Active Training in English skills.
Questions of Active Learning English
Read the full article here
How to learn languages easily?
This question is often asked at Quora, for example, and most answers are confusing. For example, read Tanguy’s response in the above link; his answer is very emotional and uplifting, I completely agree with him. I also learned a few languages easily and approve of his explanation of “toning your brain for that particular task (subconscious speech pattern recognition.” However, the response to the title question should never be based on your own experience because it is pertinent to your unique personality, skills and aptitudes and would not be very helpful for the millions of readers if it does not explain the nature of the phenomena of learning a foreign language by adults.
I have studied the question posed in the title for thirty years. In the course of this I have made a few discoveries described in my three patents on subconscious training of English skills. Here is my answer to the title question. A child and an adult use different mechanisms for learning a language. All children are 100% capable of learning languages; they are visual and their brain toning works perfectly, they hear all phonemes (distinguishing speech sounds) of all the languages in their environment. That is why if a child regularly hears three or four languages in his environment, he will speak three or four languages with the native accent. So, every language that a child learns becomes native to him. A child goes through one-word and two-word stages before he or she starts producing sentences.
This ability of children to learn any language in their environment to the extent that it becomes their native language is preserved till about 12 years of age. Then this ability fades away and at about 18 years of age most adults encounter difficulties in learning a foreign language. There are a few reasons for this unfortunate transition:
1. Most adults lose their ability for visualization.
2. To comprehend the incoming information adults cross-translate it in their head into the native language.
3. Adults lose the ability for brain toning, i.e. recognizing the phonemes of a foreign language.
4. The majority of adults (about 95%) memorize foreign words as translations into their native language. This cross-translation concept is described in literature as “the tyranny of the mother tongue.”
Read the full article here.
A child and an adult use different mechanisms for learning a language.
Challenges in learning English as a second language ?
The Chinese Way of learning English is a classic example of passive learning English as a second language. It has survived for a long time because we still are not aware of what we can gain in our objective to speak English fluently when we move from passive to Active Learning of English. In Active Learning, we often do the opposite of what we are currently doing in passive learning and achieve much better results.
Teachers should address the expectations of today’s learners using the latest developments in methodology and technology. When educators change the teacher’s mindset - the learners’ expectations will change too.
I would like to describe the Active Learning of English Skills as an alternative to the Chinese way of learning English.
In Active Learning we often do the opposite of what we are currently doing in the Chinese way of learning and achieve much better results.
No lecturing about the language.
No flashcards or memorization of word lists.
No translation into the native language.
No grammar explanations.
No correction of grammar or pronunciation errors.
In Active Learning students acquire intuitive grammar, language patterns and ability to think in English through subconscious Active Learning of all English skills concurrently. The students learn better and faster with Active Learning since the teachers follow the new paradigm - training is a process; learning is an outcome.
The new paradigm puts the learners in the center, rather than the teachers: teachers become guides helping learners in their self-training process using blended learning — combining self-training with guided Active Learning through online or offline classes.
Read the full article here.