1. Language is use. A language which is not used dies.
2. For language learners a "used language" means that the target language must have jobs to do !!
3. For most people language work is mostly speaking and listening. For a scholar, reading and writing may be more important.
4. In many countries foreign language learning is often not very successful because the language is only used in a classroom. If a Korean uses English (for example) with another Korean he may be criticized, even though they may both be trying to learn English! It is similar in China and elsewhere. Thus everyone loses a learning opportunity.
5. My job as a language teacher is maximize student learning productivity. In practice this means I will try to create situations where learners feel encouraged to use English, and to step in with help when they strike problems.
6. Learning the rules of chess is not sufficient to make a chess player. Learning the rules of football does not make a football player. Conscioulsy learning the known rules of English is not sufficient to make an English speaker. The way I learned to play football was to get out there on the field and start kicking the ball around. I made mistakes, but I gradually figured out what was going on. Sometimes other players gave me a bit of advice when it was needed. This was also how I learned to speak English as a child.
7. After many years of teaching English as a second language I am also pretty sure that direct, applied language use is a good starting point for most people to learn a foreign language. However, there may be practical barriers for early beginners to deal directly with native speakers. Firstly, native English speakers are often not available. Secondly, except under special conditions (e.g. romance) it can be very boring for native speakers to deal with people who have little or no language to work with. It is also embarrassing and frustrating for the learners. Therefore, a good English teacher will try to SIMULATE life-like situations for learners, where they can practice, make mistakes, reinforce their new laguage memory, and gain confidence. Teacher personality and ingenuity is critical to this process. In most situations, "text book teaching" alone creates very poor language simulations.
8. As people become intermediate or advanced, some of them (not all) may benefit from more formal information about the underlying rules. See my teacher seminar on Fluency Vs Accuracy. However, language rules (grammar as well as pragmatic rules) are best learned as "aha" solutions to speaking, listening, reading or writing problems which have already arisen for learners. That is, explanation should usually follow experience rather than precede it. It also does no harm for learners to discover that language "rules" are in fact statements of probability, not like laws of physics.
9. What about the details of a teaching program? This depends very much upon the clients, their particular needs, and their abilities. In China from 1998 to 2000, where my students were nearly all studying PhDs and Masters degrees, they liked to be challenged with quite difficult communication tasks. In Korea, where I spent three years teaching two-year college students of very low academic ability, and to some extent also in Zhengzhou, China from 2007, the trick was to overcome the students' sense of failure and engage them in calibrated language activities (mostly dialogues) where they could succeed. Korean graduate students in Pusan, like the earlier Chinese classes in Wuhan, preferred more challenge. The children I have taught, even very bright children, have been happiest with very concrete activities like songs, games and tasks where the language itself was just a supporting tool.
10. Not all students are willingly in a classroom. This is not ideal for teachers or students. In such situations the successful management of students requires establishing a good atmosphere before learning can proceed productively. My own solution to this is to receive as well as to give. That is, I seek to learn from students, actively and explicitly. Perhaps they can teach me their language, their culture, whatever they love. Push-teaching engenders resentment, resistance and ultimately revolt. To learn willingly and curiously from students is to offer them genuine respect. Then they will also learn from me. My experience has been that reciprocation never fails, regardless of age, gender or education level.
11. A detailed record of my teaching & lecturing experience may be seen at http://thormay.net/docsite/teachingexperience.html
- Thor May
2012