SPEAK FIRST

There are countless recommendations on how to learn English, or any other language for that matter.

While a 'variety of methods' approach may lead to a balanced learning style, the problem is trying to focus on the one method that works the best.

If you think about yourself, or any other person for that matter, and how you learned your native language, you will recall that you learned to speak first.

Speaking a language on a regular, sometimes forced, basis is the single most effective way to learn a language.

This fact was driven home to me when teaching English in China. I found myself in front of 30 High School English teachers. I had come prepared with reams of material all geared for people whom I thought would have some grasp of English. I discovered, to my amazement, that they could barely speak the language.

Yes they knew grammar; some better than I, but the silence at the beginning of that first class was palpable. I quickly jettisoned all my materials and began to encourage them to speak. By injecting a lot of silly humour and many, many games they began to loosen up and speak.

So, if you want to learn English, throw out the grammar books, ditch the writing assignments and immerse yourself orally into the language. There are countless way to do this...just select the ways that are the most convenient for you - but remember: you must push yourself outside of your comfort zone if you want to make serious progress.

If you have any suggestions on how to immerse yourself orally into English, please let me know. I love to find new ways for my students to enjoy speaking English.