Comments on: 10 Secrets Language Schools Don’t Want You to Know

By: John Fotheringham

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 08:49:56 +0000

Glad you found a combination that works for you; self-guided immersion is what it’s all about!

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By: S

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 08:36:38 +0000

Hi John, I found your article very interesting. I attended a language school for 4 months, and although I feel it taught me the basics, I never relied on it fully as my only source of learning. I also listened to a audio CD, attended conversation groups and watched german films. The combination of them all has helped me to improve fast.

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By: John

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:34:02 +0000

Thank you for your feedback, Mike. I agree that the article applies just as much to learners and teachers, but I think schools should also take responsibility for setting expectations when creating curricula, choosing materials, and doing their sales pitch. Having worked on the “inside” as both a teacher and teacher trainer, and having also been a language student myself, I have seen few schools, teachers or learners who either follow (or would even agree with) the above. I just hope more teachers like you can help spread the good word. What do you teach by the way?

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By: John

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:18:46 +0000

Galina,

Glad to hear you are focusing on actually “acquiring” English now and not just memorizing explicit information about the language.

WIth regard to the font, are your referring to the body text or the headings? The headings use a special font replacement which I thought looked nice but maybe sacrifices readability too much… I will play around with it.

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By: Mike J

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:33:49 +0000

Very good points……. but the title and implication is quite wrong. These are as much misconceptions by students as by poor teachers and schools.

For example, most decent schools will encourage teachers and students not to do #5 and #7.

As a teacher, I have often been asked why I don’t do ‘reading out loud’ in class, and I am asked why there is little formal grammar training.

The article could serve a better and wider audience by changing the title. This is about learner / teacher expectations, not schools.

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By: Galina

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 07:18:47 +0000

Thank you! Very interesting and encouraging. Shame on me! I “learn” English many years and still can not speak fluently. Now I decided to forget about learning and begin to acquire.

There is a thing on the page I don’t like. It is the font. For me, it is difficult to read. Though, some say, when people read information that’s presented in harder-to-read fonts, they can recall it better (http://www.designlessbetter.com/blogless/posts/harder-to-read-fonts-for-better-learning)

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By: John

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 21:06:25 +0000

Thank you for your comment, David. Many learners do underestimate the total number of hours needed to learn a language, but at the same time, I think they often over-estimate the the number of years. If one is motivated and diligent, they will find the 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there every day, and make huge gains in a matter of months, not years.

I look forward to reading your article; it looks interesting.

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By: David the Philomath

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 03:04:12 +0000

Great post! One thing I’ll add is that they don’t emphasise how much work you will have to do outside of the classroom. In my experience the teachers are happy for you to learn some new verbs and practice some conjugation practice. They simply don’t encourage the right type of practice. Which keeps most people on a standstill. I wrote a post about practice sometimes not making sense you might want to check out.

Keep the great articles coming!

http://davidmansaray.com/when-practice-doesnt-make-sense

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