Monday, October 22, 2007

12:45 PM

From TEFLtrigger.

I'll try and post further factors of success in regard to both teaching and learning English. Right now I'd like for you to make clear that---from what I've found along my research in TEFL---the most important thing for a learner of Englisn or any other language is for him or her to really and eagerly want to. In other words, what matters is the student's attitude: I know some people who have had success in English because they wanted to really learn! The teacher might be so concerned with teaching, not to sleep at night to prepare a big amont of material for his or her students, climb Sierra Nevada's highest mountain in Granada (Spain), however if the students don't use the means to learn English as their own motors and engines, not just as a dead weight, the teacher will achieve nothing or nearly. We've got to encourage our students, and motivate them, like you well know, as a class or better in individual and friendly tutorials. Thus those friends of mine's tried to use all the means at hand and with imagination to acquire this language. When I start a program or a course of English, I say to my students, after the polite and kind introduction and such, "I'm not here to teach you English... (a great silence among them) It's you who come here to learn English, you are the protagonists of the class, I can't learn for you, it's you who can and should invest efforts to learn English",or something of the like, adding a friendly smile.  Thank you for your attention.