Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In many classes, students are forced to speak, while the whole (hol) class listens. Of course, this
makes the student feel very nervous. However, it gets even worse. As the student speaks, the
teacher will sometimes identify their errors and correct them--while the whole class listens.
Of course, this feels terrible. Its embarrassing. Its super stressful. It makes the student feel stupid.
And its doesn't work. Research shows that error correction has NO EFFECT on accuracy
(akyrs). That's right-- absolutely no effect. For example, we divide a class into two groups.
In group 1, the teacher constantly corrects, every error, the students make.
In group 2, the teacher never, corrects errors.
At the end of one year, we test both groups of students. The result (every time): there is NO
difference, in accuracy... NO difference, in the number of errors that students in each group make.
Error correction, seems logical, but the truth is--it is totally ineffective.
In fact, error correction is worse, than ineffective-- it actually damages, the students.
There is another result, we find when we compare Group 1 and Group 2: They both still make the
same number of errors, BUT, Group 1 speaks more slowly.
In other words, error correction kills fast speech. Error correction causes students, to think
ABOUT English. Error correction causes students to always analyze and translate, before they
speak.
The method says, that any attempt to speak (or even think about language), before automatic
(aromaric) speaking comes, will cause damage and limit final results! In other words, the method
uses, a very long "silent period".
During the "silent period", students focus only on listening. After 6 - 12 months of intensive listening,
students begin to speak spontaneously and naturally-- without effort and without thinking!
Now imagine that not trying to speak' was the child's secret. It makes sense that listening to things
that are always right, would build the language right, while saying things that are always wrong,
would build it wrong.
What would happen if adults were to do the same thing children do, (that is, just listen for a year
without trying to say anything).
In 1984, the AUA language center in Bangkok started doing exactly this in its Thai classes. The
students just listened for as much as a year without speaking at all. We found that adults get
almost the same results that children do. If adults understand natural talk, in real situations, without
trying to say anything, for a whole year, then, fluent speaking with clear pronunciation will come
automatically.
It seems that the difference between adults and children is not that adults have lost the ability to do it
right-- but that children haven't yet gained the ability to do it wrong (that is, to destroy it with forced
speaking).
Forced speaking damages adults. Consciously thinking of one's sentences with translations, rules,
substitutions, or any other kind of thinking prevents you from speaking like a native.
Natural speaking (speaking that comes automatically) won't cause damage (not even when it's
wrong). The damage doesn't come from being wrong; it comes from thinking about the language.
What we're suggesting is this. The reason that children always end up as native speakers is
because they learn to speak by listening. And the reason that adults don't, is because they learn to
speak by speaking.
Adults talk too much.
The formula is this: Listen', Don't speak', and Be patient'. And now it appears, that this is not only
the child's secret. It's everybody's secret. And while children do it more faithfully, adults can do it
faster.
"Kick ass" is a very common slang phrase, and one of my favorites. It has two meanings, depending
on the situation.
In this situation, it means to succeed or to do a fantastic job. For example, if you do very well on a
test, you can say, "I kicked ass on that test".
So, to "kick ass" with English means you do very well with English -- you have a big success with
English.
"Kick ass" can also mean to beat or defeat someone. For this meaning, we usually add an object. For
example, if Arsenal beats Manchester United, we can say "Arsenal kicked Manchester U's ass".
If I play a video game with my friend and I win, I might laugh and say,
"I just kicked your ass"! This means that I just defeated him.
A Kiss
"A Kiss" is the name of the first Lesson Set on the Effortless English Club Album. The central story for
"A Kiss" is about a boy who gives his car to a girl to get a kiss from her.
"A Kiss" is a mid- beginner level lesson. The vocabulary is simple. I speak quite slowly in this lesson
set. I pronounce more carefully and clearly.
Many intermediate and advanced members may want to skip this lesson. They might think,
"This is much too easy for me." But I think that is a mistake.
In my experience, most advanced English students NEED simple practice with very basic English. I
have taught many students, for example, who have large vocabularies and great TOEFL scores--but
who constantly make mistakes with common past tense verbs.
For example, many advanced students will use "go" when they should use "went". They know that
"went" is correct, but "go" is stuck deep in their brain. They know the grammar rules, but they do not
FEEL the grammar automatically.
To correct these very basic speaking problems, you need to use the easy lessons. These lessons
will teach you to use correct grammar automatically. You'll also learn to use common vocabulary in
the correct way-- without thinking.
Remember, Effortless English is a DEEP LEARNING system. Just knowing a rule or definition isn't
enough. You probably know most of the rules, but you still constantly make mistakes when you
speak. You don't need to know rules, you need to FEEL the correct forms Deeply and Automatically.
I recommend that ALL members start with The "A Kiss" Lesson Set. And I recommend that ALL
members use every Lesson Set for a full week (or more). By listening to the lessons and answering
the questions, you learn deeply, and teach yourself to speak correctly without thinking. English
speaking becomes AUTOMATIC.
So, whether you are a beginner... or have a huge English vocabulary... start with "A Kiss"!
Storytelling
TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling)
"Suppose you want to remember a list of words... you will more readily remember the words if you
make a sentence or sentences connecting the words in the form of a short story. You would
remember it even better if the story was easy to visualize and best of all if you could picture a story
that was dramatic, or vulgar, or comic, or in some way involved your emotions.
A story is in fact a good mnemonic, and the more elaborate the story the better. A story links words
to be remembered and it causes you to build up scenes that have visual, aural, and sensory
associations for you." (Collin Rose, 1985)
While Effortless English is simple, it is also, in fact, designed according to research-proven methods.
The major emphasis of the Effortless English approach is to help students acquire English
thoroughly and effectively.
One way to do this is with mini-stories. At first glance, the mini- stories may seem silly. They are
usually kind of foolish and are quite simple. Another thing that may seem strange is that I ask a lot of
questions as I retell the story. These questions can seem redundant, ridiculously easy, or pointless.
But they have a purpose.
The mini- stories are structured to help you more deeply remember the new vocabulary. I use silly or
exaggerated stories because they are easier to visualize; and visualization aids memory. I use short
and fairly simple stories because they are also easier to remember and picture. They are also easier
for the learner to repeat and retell.
The questions, likewise, have a purpose. First, the questions provide (proporcionan) more repetition
of the target (objective, purpose) vocabulary. Repetition is important.
Various research shows that we need to hear and see a new word about 30+ times, in a meaningful
(significant, significativo) and understandable (comprensible) context (situation), to remember it and
be able (pueda) to use it. The questions increase your exposure to (contact with) these new words--
getting you (llevndote) closer to the needed (necesarias) 30+ repetitions.
Another purpose of the questions is to force your brain to participate in the story. As you listen
(mientras escuchas), you should try to immediately answer the questions as I ask them (como les
pregunto). This will trigger (activate, turn on) your memory more quickly than if you just passively
(not actively, without energy or action) listen.
By working through (a travs) all of the Effortless English system you will learn new words, phrases,
and grammar forms more thoroughly. Read the articles and scan the word list. Listen to the articles
several times. Listen to the vocabulary lesson a couple of times. Listen to the mini- story several
times- and quickly answer the questions as I ask them. After completing the mini-story, stop your
iPod and try to retell the story out loud, in your own words- trying to use the new vocabulary as much
(como) as possible (sea posible).
By following all the steps, you will learn the new material thoroughly and completely -- not just at a
surface level.
You will then find it much easier to actually (realmente) use what (lo que) you have learned.
Good luck!
Success Stories
"I would like to say you're fanstastic. Just through a few lessons If feel more confident in speaking
English. Two weeks ago we had a party celebrating Christmas Eve, and I met two Canadians and I
said hello to them. You know they turned around and asked me: "Where did you learn to speak
English?"
I think that my pronunciation was the same as theirs so they were surprised. And one more thing, I
watched TV on an Australia network and can you imagine that I was able to understand what they
said-- almost all of the news about an ancient culture... and recent news about the new coach for
England's football team (Capello). I am so happy and am enjoying my natural improvement. Thank
you so much. God bless you." --Ha Nguyen
I love success stories! Every week, we get emails from excited English learners. I really appreciate
these emails.
To be honest, they make me very happy- - and they motivate me to keep improving. When you send
me an email like this, I feel very happy. It feels good knowing that so many people are using our
English conversation lessons to speak excellent English! Its great! Congratulations to all of you!
This is why I started my own English teaching company. I wanted to help enthusiastic students. I
wanted to make and sell my own lessons. I wanted to encourage students to enjoy English, to
improve quickly, and to feel happy.
Because Im very busy now, I sometimes don't realize how much we are helping. Your emails help
me to remember. Your happy emails energize and excite me... and make me want to help more
students.
In the future, I will include more member emails on this blog. I try to put member comments on the
Effortless English Homepage, but we get too many emails to include them all. So I'll start adding
them here.
If you have an English success story, email me! Tell me what you did and how you improved. If your
email is great-- I'll include it here on my blog. If you send a picture of yourself, I'll also include your
picture :)
Thanks for all your great emails.
Obviously, number 1 is Fluency. What is fluency? Fluency is the ability to speak (and understand)
English quickly and easily... WITHOUT translation. Fluency means you can talk easily with native
speakers-- they easily understand you, and you easily understand them. In fact, you speak and
understand instantly.
Fluency is your most important English goal.
The research is clear -- there is only ONE way to get fluency. You do not get fluency by reading text
books.
You do not get fluency by going to English schools. You do not get fluency by studying
grammar rules.
To get English fluency, you must have a lot of understand able repetitive listening. That is the
ONLY way. To be a FANTASTIC English speaker, you must learn English with your ears, not with
your eyes. In other words, you must listen. Your ears are the key to excellent speaking.
What kind of listening is best? Well, it must be understand able and must be repetitive. Both of
those words are importantUnderstand able and Repetitive.
If you don't understand, you learn nothing. You will not improve. That's why listening to English TV
does not help you. You don't understand most of it. It is too difficult. It is too fast.
Its obvious right? If you do not understand, you will not improve.So, the best listening material is
EASY. Thats right, you should listen mostly to easy English. Most students listen to English that is
much too difficult. They dont understand enough, and so they learn slowly. Listen to easier English,
and your speaking will improve faster!
Understanding is Only Half The Formula.
Understanding is not enough. You must also have a lot of repetition. If you hear a new word only
once, you will soon forget it. If you hear it 5 times, you will still probably forget it!
You must hear new words and new grammar many times before you will understand them
instantly.
How many times is necessary? Most people must hear a new word 30 times to remember it forever.
To know a word and instantly understand it, you probably need to hear it 50-100 times!
That's why I tell my students to listen to all of my lessons many times. I tell them to listen to the
Mini-Stories, the Vocab Lessons, The Point-of-View Stories, and the Audio articles everyday. I
recommend that they listen to each lesson a total of 30 times (for example, 2 times a day for two
weeks).
So, the two most important points are: listen to easier English and listen to each thing many
times.
1. Practice? Narrow Listening? Narrow listening? Means listening to many things about the same
topic. This method is more powerful than trying to listen to many different kinds of things. Students
who listen to similar things learn faster and speak better than students who listen to different kinds of
things.
For example, you can choose one speaker and find many things by him. Listen to all of his
podcasts, audio books, and speeches. This is powerful because all speaker shave favorite
vocabulary and grammar. They naturally repeat these many times. By listening to many things by the
same person, you automatically get a lot of vocabulary repetition. You learn faster and deeper!
Another example is to choose one topic to focus on. For example, you could read an easy book,
listen to the same audio book, listen to a podcast about the book, and watch the movie.
I did this with my class in San Francisco. We read? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Then we
listened to the audio book. Then we watched (and listened to) the movie. Then we listened to
interviews with actors in the movie. My students learned a lot of vocabulary in a short time, and their
speaking improved very quickly.
Which is better: to listen for two hours without a break, or to divide that time during the day? Well,
dividing your listening time is best.
By dividing your time throughout the day, you remember more and learn faster. So its much better to
listen 30 minutes in the morning, then 30 minutes in the car or train, then 30 minutes coming home
from work, then 30 minutes before sleep. In fact, that is the exact schedule I recommend to my
students!
iPods are fantastic. You can put a big listening library on one. Then you can carry your English
lessons everywhere. You can learn English while walking, while shopping, in the car, in a train, while
cooking,..
With an iPod or MP3 player, you dont have to worry about CDs. Also, you can find a lot of English
listening on the internet. You can find lessons, stories, podcasts, TV shows, interviews, and audio
books. Simply download the audio, put it on your iPod and learn English anywhere!
4. Listen To Movies
Movies are great for learning English BUT you must use them correctly. Dont watch all of an
English movie. You will not understand it, and therefore you will not learn anything.
Only watch one scene or segment per week (maybe 2-3 minutes). Follow this method:
a) First, watch the scene with subtitles in your language. This will help you understand the general
meaning.
b) Second, watch the scene with English subtitles. Pause. Use a dictionary to find new words you
dont understand. Write the new sentences in a notebook.
c) Listen to the scene a few times, with English subtitles. Do not pause.
On the second week, go to the next scene/segment and repeat again. It will take you a long time to
finish a movie. Thats OK, because you will improve your listening and speaking VERY FAST. This
method is powerful-- use it!
Listening and Reading together are very powerful. While you listen to something, also read it. This
will improve your pronunciation.
Reading while listening also helps you understand more difficult material. Read and listen to learn
faster. After you do this a few times, put away the text and just listen. You will understand a lot more
and you will improve faster.
Always try to find both audio and text materials.
To start, you can read my blog and listen to my podcast at: Audio & Text
http://www.EffortlessEnglishClub.com
Another great idea is to get both a book and its audio book (ie.the above example of Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory?).
6 Months To Excellent English Speaking
Follow the above suggestions (and the 7 Rules in my email course) and you will speak excellent
English.
I have been teaching over 10 years. Every student who follows these methods succeeds. Always!
The Effortless English method is the key to speaking excellent English. It is the key to fluency.
You only need 6 months-- 6 months and you will speak easily to native speakers. 6 months and
you will speak quickly and naturally. 6 months and you feel relaxed when you speak English.
You have tried the old ways. You tried text books. You tried schools. You tried grammar study.
A.J. Hoge
Director
Effortless English
Identity
Identity is a powerful thing. What we believe about ourselves- and how we define ourselves- will
determine our speed of progress, our enjoyment of a language, and our ultimate success or failure
with a language. A negative identity can destroy our motivation and thus our ability to learn a
language quickly and easily. A positive identity can do exactly the opposite- it can be rocket fuel for
our language acquisition engine.
Tony Robbins, an inspirational speaker, talks a lot about the power of identity. In a CD of his called
"Lessons In Mastery" he makes the following point:
"See, to get to where we wanna be we gotta take on a new level of thinking. We gotta know that what
we've done up until now has been great- there's nothing wrong with it, its fantastic.
But to get to the next level we've gotta look at life in a new way, and one of those new looks is we
gotta perceive ourselves in a different way. Not just our capability, but who we are right now. Not
someday. Today.
That shift begins the minute you begin to consciously define yourself, instead of letting the
environment do it for you. Because think about it- how do most of us define ourselves? Where do we
come up with our identity anyway? Well, it comes from a variety of environments but maybe the best
way to answer the question is to ask a different one: How do you define the people around you? How
do you know if they're a friend- if they're a good person or not?
The way we define other people. The way we discover their identity is we watch them. We listen to
them. We judge people's identity usually by their behavior. Isn't that true?
I mean, think about it, somebody treats you real harshly several times, each time you're around
them-- pretty soon you go, "I know that person. That person's a jerk."
You know what the challenge is? Once you decide that they're a jerk, and if that becomes a belief- or
worse, if that becomes a conviction where you KNOW they're a jerk-- nothing's gonna change your
opinion about it. Then even if they're a really nice person later on, they were just having a horrible
day, maybe they were being a jerk that day, but that's not who they are.
Once you define them that way, guess what, nothing they can do can change it.
So you gotta know that sometimes we do the same thing to ourselves. That's the danger. "
Tony makes a good point. Defining ourselves can be very very dangerous. For example, for many
years I defined myself as "a terrible language learner". I had failed to learn a language in High
School. In college I took two semesters of Mandarin and I didn't learn anything. I failed to learn
Japanese while living in Japan. And I failed to learn Thai while in Thailand.
These experiences built upon one another. Each time I started a language, I already had the belief
that I was a bad language learner. When I failed again, this identity was strengthened. In Thailand, I
began telling people that I was a good language teacher, but a horrible language learner.
As long as I had that identity, I was sure to fail at any language, I tried. But luckily, I chose to change
that belief. I began to realize that I was not "bad at languages". Rather, I had had bad teachers in the
past, and had used ineffective (and horribly boring) learning methods when studying on my own. I
began to read research about language acquisition in order to become a better teacher- but this
information also helped me change my learning identity.
Then I began to talk to successful language learners like David Long and Steve Kaufman. The
methods they used were totally different than those I had tried. After one conversation with Steve in
particular, I had an epiphany. I was not a bad language learner. With the right approach, I could learn
a language just as effectively as Steve, or David, or anyone else.
I changed my identity. Suddenly, Spanish became exciting and fun. I've been learning it for four
months now, and I'm more motivated and more excited than when I first started. I'm making steady
progress. I don't know if I will be fluent in one year, or two years, or when-- but I do know that within
the foreseeable future- I will be fluent. I have no doubt that I will be successful. I have a new, chosen
identity-- I am an enthusiastic and successful language learner!
Another self-defeating identity we can create is a nationalistic one. If we identify too much with our
native country and culture, we will be closed to other cultures-- and thus other languages. For
example, if an American goes to Thailand and avoids Thai food, makes no Thai friends, lives near
Sukhumvit Road with other Westerners, and constantly complains that "America is better"-- what
chance does he have to learn the Thai language.
Likewise, if a Japanese student comes to America-- but lives with other Japanese people, has only
Japanese friends, eats only Japanese food, and constantly wishes they were back in Japan-- what
chance do they have of mastering English? Very little. And even if they do, it will require a herculean
effort of willpower.
To my mind, the whole point of learning a language is to connect with other people and other
cultures. Why would I learn Spanish if I didn't want to travel in Latin America, meet Spanish speakers,
learn about Spanish football, read about Latin American history, etc. I mean, I'm dying to take a trip to
Mexico, or Ecuador, or Venezuela. I've already got a long list of places I want to visit. That's what
makes the language interesting and alive.
But to do this, I must let go of my "I'm an American" identity a little. Of course I was born here and I'll
always be an American. But its only a small part of my identity. I like many things about America, and
dislike many things too. Likewise, there are many things I love about Thailand, and Japan, and India.
These beliefs may not seem to be directly related to language learning- but they are. By redefining
our identity- as language learners and citizens-- we can radically improve our ability to learn another
language.
So forget your past beliefs. Forget past English "trauma". Forget all those boring classes and terrible
teachers and tests and grades and criticism. None of that matters. Its not you. You are not bad at
English. You are not bad at languages.
You are an enthusiastic, engaged, successful language learner-- if you choose to be.
Likewise, I have a comfortable environment when teaching online-- my apartment. I open a big
window to let in the light and air, kick back, and enjoy myself.
The most frustrating thing about the educational "culture of ugliness" is that its so unnecessary.
Beautiful things don't cost more. In fact, funky fabulous furniture can be bought from thrift stores for a
fraction of the cost of the sterile stuff favored by most schools.
Most cities have an art/design school or two-- why not hire a couple of students to beautify the
school?
I keep asking these questions but I think I already know the answer. The "culture of ugly", after all, is
not an isolated problem. Its just a small component of the "school as factory" mentality. This mentality
goes very deep into the core of traditional educational. Its a mentality that values control,
standardization, numbers, detailed syllabi, tests, grades, authority, and obedience. However nice the
individual teachers and administrators are, they all become infected with the "factory virus". Students,
too, become infected.
The safest and most effective cure is quarantine-- that is, removal from the school environment.
Though it takes time, learners who leave school and embark on self-directed study do recover. They
recover their curiosity. They recover their enthusiasm. They recover their motivation, energy, and
passion.
Teachers who leave often recover as well. They recover their humanity. They recover their joy. They
recover their passion and enthusiasm. They recover a sense of purpose and a love of learning.
The power of environment and aesthetics goes well beyond a few touchy-feely vibes. The
environment has a massive impact on our expectations, our beliefs, and our attitude. A learner in a
school environment behaves much differently than a learner in a coffee shop.
Perhaps the simplest solution to the myriad evils of traditional education is simply this: leave.
Wow. I love that quote. It's from a speech by Jerry Dai, that I found on Tony's blog. Jerry is a Chinese
immigrant who lives in Toronto. He speaks near perfect English and sounds like a native speaker
(though mispronounces the word "pronunciation" ;) Before mastering the language, Jerry, like most
foreign language learners, suffered through years of traditional language education. As in most
countries, Chinese educators are obsessed with grammar. As a result, so are the students. Jerry
arrived in Canada at the age of twenty with years of English study under his belt, but he could not
communicate effectively. Frustrated, he embarked on an intense two year period of self study.
What did he do during that time? He did not study grammar or vocabulary word lists. He focused on
listening & reading & pronunciation.
David Long, director of AUA's Thai language program, by all accounts speaks excellent Thai. Though
I can't judge this directly, I've been told by many Thais that his speech sounds natural, effortless, and
fluent. How did he learn Thai? By listening intensely for one year. In fact, David did not speak Thai
during this entire "silent period". His Thai language program uses the same approach-- students
listen first. There is absolutely no grammar instruction in the program.
And then there's me :) By all accounts, I seem to have mastered English ;) How did I do this? When I
was a child, did my parents teach me grammar? Did I learn about the past perfect progressive tense
in elementary school? No. In fact, I never knew what the "past perfect" was until I became an English
teacher. Walk around SF and ask any native speaker "what is the present progressive tense" and
they will give you a confused look. Of course, any native speaker of any language (unless they are a
language teacher :( will usually give you just such a response if you ask them grammar questions.
Grammar, especially the obtuse, analytical, incredibly complex mish-mash of "rules" used in English
language education, is not only useless-- it is harmful. Grammar, you must understand, is an artificial
construct. Grammar is a model. It's a model developed by academics to analyze languages. If your
goal is to get a Phd. in Linguistics, and become the next Noam Chomsky, grammar is indeed
something you should study intensely.
But if you actually want to master English, or any foreign language, grammar is not very useful.
Grammar study ingrains a lot of very bad habits. The worst is a tendency to analyze the language
rather than acquire it. I see this all the time with students-- they'd rather analyze and debate minute
grammar points than truly understand, acquire, and use the language in a natural and intuitive way.
Grammar study causes them to analyze and translate every utterance producing stilted, unnatural,
painful speech (painful for them and painful to the person they are trying to talk to).
As Steve Kaufman, Jerry Dai, David Long and others have noted, the language education field is
filled with teachers and researchers who have never actually mastered a foreign language. They also
note that much of what passes for "language education" is counter productive, and serves mostly to
prop up the perceived authority of the teacher and school.
I have not mastered a foreign language. But I'm determined to master Spanish. As I reviewed my
learning plan, I realized I had a very clear choice. I could follow the advice of traditional educators--
people who sound very authoritative, but who have rarely mastered a foreign language themselves.
Or I could follow the advice of people who have actually mastered another language-- who did so as
adults, and who speak the language fluently, naturally, intuitively, and without hesitation. Since my
goal is to speak Spanish, not obtain a Phd. in Linguistics, I've chosen to follow the advice of the latter
group.
We can all judge the end results for ourselves, in a couple of years. But I'm already convinced.
Already, I'm experiencing great benefits. I'm thoroughly enjoying the process of learning Spanish. My
motivation is growing week by week. I can feel my comprehension improving, even though I'm still not
able to communicate much. Perhaps most importantly, I can imagine myself as a fluent speaker.
The tragic part about this is that so many students blame themselves. They think there is something
wrong with them. They think, as I used to, that they don't have a talent for languages. They think that
mastering English (or another language) is impossible. They think the teachers and schools are right,
and therefore they must simply be bad students.
In the end, I agree with Jerry: Grammar is the biggest joke in language education.
This was a bad idea. It was impossible for me to do this at a normal speaking speed. As such, I
ended up missing lots of words. Also, I realized that I will never train myself to think in Spanish if I
continue to translate back and forth in my head.
So recently I've taken a different approach. As I hear the Spanish, I imagine pictures in my head.
When I hear "puerta", I picture a door. I do this deliberately and consciously, trying to avoid English
altogether. It doesn't work perfectly. But since starting to do this, I've found that my listening
comprehension has improved. I'm able to understand more Spanish at a faster rate.
To further enhance direct comprehension (without translation), I sometimes try a little "personal TPR"
(Total Phisical Response). As I hear the Spanish, I not only make images I also move my hands
around to imitate the action. For example, if I hear "controlar el ganado" (control the livestock), I
make a gripping gesture with my hands (control) then make horns on my head using my fingers
(livestock). Yes, it makes me look like a crazy person.
But this is San Francisco, city of freaks! So I can actually get away with doing this in public and no
one even looks at me!
I find that these gestures and images help the vocabulary sink in and help me move more quickly to
direct (without translation) understanding of the words.
Heretics
After a nice break from blogging, I took a peek at Steve's Linguist Blog and whoa. its jam packed with
fantastic and interesting posts.
One general theme I picked out was his frustration with the established ESL "Industry". including
most academics.
I share his frustration. In fact, I'm almost to the breaking point. Though I generally enjoy teaching at
the school where I work, I increasingly question the efficacy of the traditional school environment.
Also, as seems inevitable, small, innovative, interesting places grow-- and without fail begin to take
on more bureaucracy and regulation. My school just hired a "teacher supervisor" who will begin
regular observations of our classes. Usually these sorts of administrative bureaucrats favor the
typical "industry" approach-- ie. plenty of tests, grammar-analysis, contrived exercises, and artificial
textbooks. I'm trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but my gut tells me it will soon be time to
move on.
Luckily, my private teaching opportunities are suddenly taking off. I'm having an amazing time
working with The Linguist, and am getting private students here in San Francisco and on the internet
as well. What I love most about these opportunities is that they allow me to use and encourage
learning methods that are more fun, more interesting, and more effective. No matter how much
money I'm paid, I simply can't enjoy a job unless I feel good about what I'm doing and believe its the
best possible approach.
The ESL/EFL industry approach is not the best. Not even close. Its a massively expensive and
inefficient system. This industry has a horrible success rate. Learner (ie customer) satisfaction rates
are abysmal. Students are made ever more dependent on the industry. A massive number of
textbooks are sold at outrageous prices. Countless tests are created, taken, graded, and passed.
Students learn a dizzying array of complex grammatical terms.
And after all is said and done, their progress with English is much poorer than Linguist students who
pay a fraction of the price, ignore complex grammatical terms, have no teacher-bosses, use no
textbooks, and are extremely independent & autonomous.
For the price of an ipod, a $35/month Linguist membership, and access to a computer lab, a learner
can learn more quickly and effectively than one who spends $600+/month on school fees, $50 for a
textbook, and endures a tremendous amount of boredom and nonsense in the process.
In the ESL/EFL industry, folks like me, Steve, David Long, etc. are considered heretics. So be it. I
long ago tired of wrestling with entrenched teachers and bureaucrats. I'm not very interested in their
dogma, to be honest. My concern and enjoyment lies with enthusiastic learners-- those who are
actively learning a language. whatever their level. These folks are where the energy, innovation, and
enjoyment lie. The school industry is peopled by the undead. Don't become one of them.
Abandon industry dogma. Abandon expensive schools. Abandon irrelevant and boring textbooks.
Abandon large classes. Abandon teacher/administrator as boss.
Its a good word. Though "trauma" is too powerful a word for me, I realize that I too have many
negative experiences with traditional language education. These bad experiences relate to both my
language teaching (English) and language learning attempts (Japanese, Thai, Spanish).
In general, my encounters with the language education industry have been overwhelmingly negative.
Most schools and most classes, quite simply, are overpriced, ineffective, boring, wasteful, and
demotivating. At worst, they are "traumatic" for the learner, and for the enthusiastic teacher as well.
But I have found a couple of exceptions. One is my current school in San Francisco. While it is
certainly constrained by some of the challenges that face all schools/classrooms, on the whole it is an
excellent place that I have loved working at.
Due to prior negative experiences, I admit that I have constantly been waiting for the other shoe to
drop. I've had a nagging feeling that things were too good to last, and eventually my school would
turn a corner and become just like every other ESL/EFL factory.
In my last post, I bemoaned the hiring of a new teacher supervisor and predicted that this was the
feared moment-- when the school's energy, enthusiasm, freedom, and innovation would die. Time will
tell, of course, but I'm happy to say that my dread appears to be unfounded. Today I talked with the
new "head teacher" for the first time and she turned out to be a delightful person with interesting and
creative teaching ideas. She in no way struck me as a typical grammar-analysis textbook slave. Quite
the contrary.
Which just goes to prove that however bad our past experiences with learning or teaching, we should
not let them destroy our present attitude. We've got to let go of those experiences and start anew.
We've got to have faith in our own abilities. We've got to find renewed enthusiasm for the language,
and for learning & teaching.
After today's meeting, I am cautiously optimistic that my school will continue to be a great place to
teach. And while school is never enough by itself, I'm optimistic that it will also continue to be a great
place for English learners.
I base this optimism not so much on the new coordinator's linguistic background, or teaching
methodology, or experience. but rather on the far more important attitudes that she seems to radiate:
enthusiasm, flexibility, curiosity, energy, and creativity. For teachers and learners alike, these traits
are FAR more important than so called "linguistic factors".
The second exception to traditional schools that I've found is the AUA Thai program in Bangkok. This
program is as close to an "ideal language school" as I can imagine. To my mind, the program is
exactly what a school should be-- a fun and interesting source of comprehensible input. In my
observation journal for AUA, I criticized some of the weak points of the program.
However, I've rethought many of those criticisms. I now believe that most of those weak points were
my own, and not the school's. My problem was that I relied solely on the school. I showed up with a
passive attitude. I sat there and expected the AUA teachers to "teach me Thai".
But a school program, however good, is never enough. You must take control of your own learning. I
should have been reading and listening to Thai outside of class. I should have been listening to
interesting content repeatedly. I should have taught myself to read Thai, starting with baby books. I
should have had Thai friends create audio versions for those books. Instead, I went to AUA and
became frustrated at the slow progress. If I'd taken responsibility, the AUA program would have been
much more powerful for me. It would have been a more effective learning resource.
Someday, I plan to return to Bangkok to finish what I started-- and do it right. Until then, I'm applying
the lessons I've learned to my current Spanish learning plan. This time, I'm taking full responsibility
for learning the language. I understand that I and I alone am in charge. I understand that no one can
learn this language for me.
I am the one who must put in the listening hours and reading time. I am the one who must find
content that interests me. I am the one who will make the process interesting and fun.
The Flywheel
Today I went to Borders Bookstore at Union Square and scanned a booklet called (something like)
"Good To Great for Social Organizations". Basically, this book takes the principles of "Good to Great",
which is a business book, and applies them to schools, non-profits, etc.
The main thrust of the book revolves around the distinction between"bad", "mediocre" and "good"
organizations on one hand, and the truly great ones, on the other. The book outlines what the author
thinks are the most important factors that help an organization (or person) become great.
The first factor identified by the author was passion. Great organizations have a passionate mission.
They are driven to be more than ordinary. No problem. I've definitely got passion.
The second factor is what he called "Great People First". This means that great organizations
(companies, schools, whatever) make talent recruitment and retention their number one mission.
Stocking the organization with enthusiastic, excellent, passionate, amazing people is the first and
most important secret to eventual greatness. Systems, policies, rules, budget issues, and all other
concerns come way behind this principle.
Unfortunately, very few schools follow this principle. Most consider policies, rules, and procedures to
be far more important than teachers. Most will readily sacrifice great teachers to preserve a
bureaucratic rule, or a bosses ego. Most consider "policy" to be the driving force of the school, not
people.
But since I'm an organization of one, I don't need to worry about such problems!
The next factor mentioned struck me as very important. Great organizations (or individual performers)
have what Tom Peters calls a "dramatic difference". They don't try to be everything to everyone. They
don't do what everyone else does. They identify what they can do with total excellence (Wow!) and
that's what they focus on.
This is a principle that most schools (and teachers) neglect. They try to please everyone. If a student
complains that they aren't reading enough in class, the administration will send out a memo to
teachers to "do more reading". Then another student or two complains that they aren't getting enough
speaking time, so admin extols the teachers to "get the students talking". Some students want
traditional textbook grammar-based instruction and complain that there is too much talking & reading
and the textbook isn't used enough. So teachers are told to "use the textbook more". But this makes
many other students, who hate the textbook and consider it useless, unhappy. So they complain.
In the end, the school does a little of everything and a whole lot of nothing. The results are the same
in almost every language school in America, Japan, Thailand, Korea, etc: Confusing grammar study,
heavy reliance on commercial textbooks, and a dash of contrived "communicative activities". Boring.
Ineffective. Mediocre. Useless.
Far better for a teacher, or school, to do what they strongly believe to be most effective-- regardless
of what student's expect or are used to. If a school is truly convinced, due to research and practical
experience, that comprehensible input is the engine that drives language acquisition- they shouldn't
waste time doing other useless activities just to seem more conventional. Rather, to be truly great,
they should focus on providing the most comprehensible input possible in the most interesting and
effective way possible.
This is my mission as an individual teacher. I've made some progress. But now I'm working on the
last principle mentioned in the book: The flywheel.
A flywheel is a metaphor for momentum. Imagine a large, heavy wheel. such as a gigantic Tibetan
prayer wheel. To get it to move requires great effort. At first, it takes tremendous energy to turn it only
one time. It happens very slowly. But you can't stop, you've got to keep pushing very hard to get it to
turn a second time. and a third. Initially, and for quite a while, it seems you are making a lot of effort
but not doing very much.
But very gradually, the wheel begins to turn faster. And faster. As it speeds up, it becomes easier to
push. The wheel gains momentum. Eventually it gathers tremendous energy and moves at great
speed. At this point, it only takes a little bit of effort to keep it going.
This analogy applies to any person or group striving for excellence. For example, as I push to
improve my teaching, its seems that I'm getting better at a very slow rate. I try many things, and most
fail. I get tired and frustrated and feel I'm making a big effort but not much is happening. Progress
seems to be quite slow.
But I have made improvements. When I compare my teaching now to my teaching two years ago, I
realize I have improved a lot.
The challenge is to keep pushing, keep improving, keep gathering energy, keep innovating & trying
things-- until these efforts gather momentum on their own. The trick is to push for excellence even
when nothing much seems to be happening.
This, in truth, requires faith-- faith in yourself-- faith that you will eventually build momentum and
make a breakthrough-- to greatness.
In short, stay focused on what you do best, maintain your passion, and persevere until you make a
dramatic breakthrough.
My very best students almost always have a passionate interest in American (or UK or Aussie)
culture. I've got one student, for example, who loves the Beatles. She's crazy about the Beatles.
She's a musician and wants to write and sing songs in English. She's a great student.
The best students engage the culture. They become interested in the country's art, or history, or
music, or sports, or food, or dating norms, or geography.
Another example- my friend Wat, who is Thai, taught himself English on the streets of Bangkok--
selling jewelry to foreigners. He never used a textbook and, in fact, can't read English. Of course he
listened carefully. Of course he was patient. But what sustained him and drove him was a passionate
interest in two aspects of American culture: Native American jewelry- and American motorcycle
culture. He loved to talk to tourists about these subjects. He incorporated many elements of Native
American art into his jewelry. Of course, he rode a motorcycle and was a member of a motorcycle
"gang".
Now he's in America, living in San Francisco. He seems to connect with people very easily because
he is naturally curious. He's already made several connections with artists and other jewelers. He's
already visited a Harley Davidson souvenir shop-- and is eager to visit a shop that sells bikes. As he
walks around the city, he's always checking out parked motorcycles-- and chats with the owners if he
gets a chance.
Contrast this with the students who obsess only about exam scores. Their progress is typically slow,
and even worse, its painful. They exhibit no joy or passion for the language-- or the cultures/countries
where its spoken. For them, English is a chore, an ordeal, a test score. Many of these folks spend
YEARS in test prep courses just to boost their TOEFL score a few points. They are chronically
frustrated-- and can often be heard to say, "I hate English". I can't help but think, "Then stop torturing
yourself and quit."
Which brings me to my own Spanish study. Recently, I've taken an enthusiastic interest in soccer (ie.
futbol). It started with the World Cup. Our school showed most of the games, and our students were
filled with passion. I got caught up in the spirit and began taking an active interest in the players,
teams, and tactics.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, I bought the FIFA 2006 videogame for my Sony Playstation. It hooked
me. Wat and I have been playing it like crazy. Not only is it fun, but by playing it I've learned even
more about futbol-- especially the Spanish teams of La Liga.
This, in turn, led me to read about La Liga on the internet. I started reading articles on ESPN.com, in
English. However, since a new season just started. and I'm craving new Spanish language material.
I've decided to start reading & listening to articles about soccer-- in Spanish. I copied the first story
today-- a recap of the game between Barcelona and Celta Vigo. I used Speechisimo to create an
audio file (and used Audio Hijack Pro to convert it to an MP3). As I've become more passionately
interested in the Spanish League-- my desire to understand Spanish articles and broadcasts has
increased.
Likewise, I'm an avid traveler- which is why the travel, geography, and cultural articles in "Read &
Think Spanish" are so interesting to me.
The point? To learn a language more quickly, more effectively, and more thoroughly, forget the damn
test scores. Connect emotionally with the language-- with some aspect of the people, places,
cultures, & countries. Investigate new, strange, and different elements of those cultures. If you are an
English learner, become an American Football aficionado, or a maniac about Harley Davidsons, or a
fan of some kind of American music, or movies, or writing.
Sigmund
This podcast presents a real, unscripted conversation I had with my best friend Kristin. I recorded the
conversation in her apartment.
Kristin has a cat named Sigmund (nicknamed Siggy). Unfortunately, Sigmund was diagnosed with an
incurable form of sinus cancer. My brother-in-law is a vet, and he said that there is no cure for this
cancer. Neither surgery nor drugs nor chemotherapy can cure it. He said that most cats only live
about three months once this particular kind of cancer is diagnosed.
Kristin has a very close connection with Sigmund. She's had him for over 13 years, since he was a
kitten. She was very upset about Sigmund's diagnosis. But she has decided not to give up. Since
traditional medical science has no cure, Kristin has decided to try to treat Sigmund with natural herbs,
supplements, and remedies. She researched cat sinus cancer on the internet and found a few
suggestions for natural treatments.
Flax Seed Oil: Many natural vets recommended flax seed oil as an overall health booster. Some
claim that flax oil has anti-cancer and immune boosting properties.
Blessed Thistle: This is an herb. It increases appetite and boosts general health. Kristin got a liquid
tincture and adds it to Sigmund's water.
Licorice Root: This herb (also a liquid concentrate) thins mucus and thus helps Siggy breath (since
the tumor partially blocks his nose).
Digestive Enzymes: Cooking food destroys natural enzymes in it that aid digestion. So Kristin gives
Sigmund a digestive enzyme capsule after every meal.
Fulvic Minerals: This is a multi-mineral and trace mineral liquid supplement that Kristin adds to his
water-- which is supposed to boost his general health and immune system.
Raw Food: Kristin adds a bit of raw cat food (not cooked, bought at a pet store) to Sigmund's canned
food. The raw food is supposed to contain a lot of healthy enzymes, vitamins, minerals, etc.
Essiac: This is an herbal blend that is rumored to have immune boosting and anti-cancer properties.
Terramin Clay: This clay is rich in minerals and is also supposed to have de-tox properties. It is added
to the water.
Kristin has been following the "standard plan" for about a month. It seems to have helped Sigmund.
His general health seems good and he seems generally happy and comfortable. The swelling around
his eye and nose, caused by the tumor, has not increased.
However, it has not decreased either. So Kristin bought the additional supplements (Q10, Shitake,
Cats Claw, Clay, & Essiac). This Monday, she gave him all these new supplements on the same day.
It was too much. Sigmund vomited (threw up) shortly after getting all these pills.
So, when I went to Kristin's apartment, we discussed this problem and what to do about it.
AJ: Yeah, so anyway I think that. I think that, you know, we've established a pretty good routine with
his, uh, you know, the raw food.
just the Blessed Thistle in the water, the licorice stuff in the water. The Transfer factors I think are
pretty good. Flax seed oil is supposed to be really good, and.
AJ: Oh yeah, the minerals in his water. You still. you got those in his water again?
AJ: Ahhh.
Kristin: That's why yesterday I gave him a syringe-full of, ahh, minerals, the Blessed Thistle, and the
Licorice Root.
AJ: Yeah, I think that the minerals are also supposed to be diluted in water maybe.
Kristin: Oh.
Kristin: They usually are, that's the first time I've done that cause (AJ: Cause he was.) Kristin: I hadn't
given him any in a few days.
AJ: And he was drinking it all down fine before right? When it was in his water.
Kristin: Yeah
AJ: So, you know, maybe go back to all that routine. and then just the other stuff is just kind of maybe
a little extra supplement. You know, one extra thing a day-- either the Cat's Claw or the mushrooms or
the Q10 is probably plenty.
AJ: Yeah, like maybe, maybe tomorrow just do the standard thing. I mean, go. maybe when the clay
is. when you're done with that, go ahead and put that. the minerals back in his water. And then, uh.
Kristin: Yeah
AJ: Yeah, just do the basic stuff, for tomorrow and. then maybe after that you can test him with one
thing, one of the pills. of the pills., with food.
Kristin: So all this time he's been throwing up in the past several days.
AJ: Yeah.
AJ (to Sigmund): Hey Mr. Sigmund. Whatcha doin boy? Hello boy. Ooohp, he's gonna eat some
Catnip.
School, in particular, teaches us a lie. The lie is that in one semester, or four years, we can take all
the required courses, pass all the required tests, and then receive our degree as proof of our
"mastery" of a subject or subjects.
But this is a farce. Its a farce in most subjects, not just language education. In fact, formal school is a
very poor place to master any subject or skill.
I got my undergraduate degree in journalism. I graduated with honors. I took all the required
journalism courses and was near the top of my class. I thought I knew this subject well.
But upon graduation, I realized that I knew almost nothing about writing or journalism. I was told by
many reporters and editors that journalism school was almost useless- and that the only thing that
mattered was developing one's skills independently, through experience.
Several years later (still clueless), I went back to school to get a Masters degree in Social Work. I
took classes, passed tests, and endlessly analyzed obtuse theories of social work. At the end of my
program I had an internship. I was placed in an agency that helped abused and neglected teenagers.
After just one week there, I realized that I had no idea what to do. My Masters degree program had
not given me any practical knowledge- nor usable theories.
Everything I learned as a social worker, I learned on the job. I learned by trying things, examining the
results, formulating new ideas, and then trying more things. Relentlessly, over several years, I
improved as a social worker. The Masters degree was a ticket to higher paying jobs- but it provided
nothing useful beyond that.
The truth is- school is not a good place to learn. Life is where you learn and that learning is a lifelong
process. There is no end. There is no graduation. There are no "permanent grades" or records.
True learning, true skill, true mastery, come from the process that Anthony Robbins calls CANI-
Constant And Neverending Improvement. The Japanese call this "kaizen".
The truth is- learning never ends. Most language learners, including me, are still stuck with a school
mentality. They think that if they take enough courses, they'll get a certificate that will prove that they
speak the language. Then they try to talk to a native speaker and discover that their certificate is, in
fact, useless. Many language learners also have a "graduation" mentality. They think that if they study
hard enough, in one year, two years, five years, etc. they will finally "graduate" from English and be
finished.
But there is no graduation. I am a 38 year old native speaker and I'm still trying to improve my
English speaking ability. I'm trying to work on the rhythm of my speech. I'm also trying to reduce the
number of fillers that I use (for example, "Uhm", "you know", "like"). As a writer, I still have a lot of
improvement to make. I need to develop the clarity and power of my writing. And I'm still learning new
words.
The point is- I will always be improving my English ability. I'll never be "finished". I'll never graduate.
English learning is a life long learning process.
And though I'm starting 38 years later than I did with English, I'm beginning to realize that Spanish is
also a life long learning process. I'm trying to shift my attitude from a "graduation" mentality to a CANI
mentality. There is no finish line- there is only constant and neverending improvement- for as long as
I live.
A CANI attitude can help your motivation because it takes off the pressure. So many language
learners view learning as a race. They are desperately trying to get to the finish line as fast as
possible. Instead, try adopting a mindset of Constant And Neverending Improvement. Don't worry
about finish lines. Instead, be sure that every week, you improve just a little bit. You might learn a few
new phrases. You might make a tiny improvement in listening comprehension, or pronunciation.
The next week, be sure to make a few more improvements. They don't need to be big. They don't
need to be dramatic. Small, even tiny improvements are enough- as long as they are constant and
neverending.
I'll end this article with a challenge. For the next few months I challenge you to forget all your "finish
line" goals. Forget TOEIC and TOEFL scores. Forget certificates or degrees. Forget any idea of
"finishing" English. Instead, for the next few months, make Constant And Neverending Improvement
your only goal. Decide that every week you will make a very small improvement with your English
ability. And you will do this every week.
Most semi-intensive schools in San Francisco charge between 400-1000 dollars a month, for about
16 hours of classes per week. Let's say the average is about 500/month.
For 500 dollars a month, you get a class with 8-20 people in it-- or possibly more. Some of the
learners in the class are serious and motivated, some are only a little motivated, and many are not
motivated at all.
Also, some students will be above your level, and some will be below your level.
At the typical English school, the teacher will use an eclectic mix of grammar analysis, textbook
based explanations, textbook drills, dialogue formulas, and contrived "communication activities".
Much time will be spent discussing, debating, explaining, and questioning linguistic jargon such as
"transitive vs. intransitive verbs", "countable and uncountable nouns", complex rules for using
"definite and indefinite articles", verb tenses such as "the past progressive, the present perfect, and
the past perfect progressive".
You'll spend hours dissecting incredibly complex explanations for such simple phrases as "listen to
the music", or "hear a sound", or "that's a lot of information", etc.
You'll waste a lot of time. You'll waste time while the teacher takes attendance. You'll waste time while
students come in late. You'll waste time while the teacher explains something to another student that
you already understand. You'll waste time taking exams. And you'll waste tremendous time on super-
complicated explanations that you will quickly forget.
As an independent learner, you can do VERY well spending only 100 dollars a month, and can
succeed paying half that much.
For 48 dollars, you could learn English with The Linguist. With The Linguist, you could chat with
native speakers, and learners all over the world, using Skype. You would have access to a huge
audio and text library. You would be able to use the Linguist system to find the meaning of new
words, save them in a personal database, and review them. You could submit writing samples and
have them corrected by a native speaker.
With your remaining 52 dollars, you could buy study guides, audio books, English magazines, English
audio magazines, books, tapes, etc. every month. In other words, you could build a library of REAL
English materials- not textbooks.
Not only would you have tremendous resources, for only 100 dollars a month, you'd also save a lot of
time. Independent study is much more efficient. You choose exactly what YOU want to read and
listen to. You choose when you want to study. You waste no time on lengthy and complicated (and, in
my opinion, useless) linguistic explanations- instead concentrating on the real, living language itself.
You don't have to wait while other students get explanations. You don't have to feel frustrated by
rushing ahead too fast. You set your own pace.
It is my belief- a belief shared by Steve Kaufman (of The Linguist)- that one hour of intensive
independent study is equal to four hours of classroom instruction.
You will make the same progress by studying one hour a day on your own, if you use effective
methods, as you will sitting in a typical English class for four hours.
Thus, the independent learner pays much less, spends much less time, uses more interesting
materials, generally has more fun, and learns more quickly than the student who is stuck in a typical
English classroom.
If you are serious about wanting to learn (or improve) English, supported independent study is the
best way to do it!
There's no doubt that quantity is important. To learn a language well, you have to put in a lot of hours.
You need hundreds (thousands) of hours of listening. You need hundreds and thousands of hours of
reading. You've got to listen to and read a lot of different material.
But quantity is only half the story. For all study hours are not equal.
I see this a lot in my class. Many students dutifully come to class each day. They attend four hours a
day, four days a week. for a total of 16 hours.
But some learn a lot faster than others. I've found that the speed of their learning has less to do with
natural talent and more to do with the quality of their class time. In other words, some students
concentrate and participate during the entire four hours. while others barely pay attention. The latter
group text message on their cell phones, stare out the window, chat with each other in their native
language, daydream,. and do anything else but focus on the English material we are working on.
All the students in my class are getting the same quantity of English hours, but some are getting
much higher quality.in other words, much more efficiency. because they have the ability to focus and
concentrate.
While many of the "bad" students are not motivated, some are. What they lack is not so much the
desire to learn English as the ability to focus for an extended period of time.
Perhaps this is a result of the TV age. But for whatever reason, many people just can't seem to
concentrate on one thing longer than 15 minutes.
This is a problem- as concentration is essential for mastering any skill, not just language learning.
The good news is that if you don't have much power of concentration, you can develop it. The best
way I know is through meditation. There are many forms of meditation, but all demand increasing
powers of concentration. Daily meditation practice, therefore, will strengthen and lengthen your
mental concentration. Little by little, day by day, your mind will grow stronger.
Do a google search on "meditation", or get a book by Thich Nhat Hahn, S.N. Goenka, or another
meditation master. Start slow. just a few minutes a day. and then build up gradually.
As your meditation time increases, you'll be able to focus longer, and will thus get much more out of
your study time.
This is vital, because in language learning, all hours are not created equal.
Today I had an extremely hectic day. I was running around frantically to classes and meetings. As a
result, I didn't have the opportunity to listen to much Spanish-- only 20 minutes.
Though I didn't have time, Spanish was constantly on my mind. I found myself getting frustrated
because I was too busy to listen and read. Its the feeling I used to get when I was running regularly--
a gnawing feeling that I was missing something I wanted and needed to do.
The great part about this is that I can remember three months ago, when I started, that I struggled to
complete 20 minutes a day. That seemed like a lot of listening and reading to me. It took effort to do
it. But today I was severely annoyed because I could "only" do 20 minutes.
Why the change? There are a few reasons. First of all, I'm having fun. I'm reading/listening to content
that I find enjoyable and interesting. Though I sometimes use the word, in fact I don't feel like I'm
"studying" at all. I'm enjoying the process. Read & Think Spanish is particularly interesting- with its
myriad articles about the food, people, history, and culture of Spanish speaking countries.
Second, success is addictive. I can feel myself improving. What was very difficult to understand two
months ago now seems fairly easy. That feeling of progress and success is extremely motivating. Its
what Kathy Sierra calls the all important "I kick ass" feeling. No, I can't really speak. Yes, I'm still a
beginner. But I'm understanding text/audio that just two months ago seemed impossibly difficult. What
a feeling.
Third, I believe. As a runner, a key milestone for me was completing my first 5k run. For serious
runners, that's nothing. But doing it changed my image of myself. Before that race, I never called
myself a "runner". After finishing that race, and from then on, I've always referred to myself as "a
runner". even now, though I haven't run regularly in the last 6 months!
Likewise, something changed for me recently. Suddenly I started to think of myself as a language
learner. I could envision myself successfully speaking Spanish. I know it will take a lot more time and
effort, but I believe! I know I can do it.
As I analyze my increasing momentum with Spanish, I can't help but notice the stark contrast with
traditional language education. Most students who go to "normal" language programs (public schools,
language schools) have the exact opposite experience from mine. First, they're bludgeoned with
artificial, grammar-heavy, extremely boring content-- usually textbooks. Second, they never
experience success. Rather, teachers focus on their mistakes, test them, and grade them. a
frustrating and demotivating experiencing for even the most talented. Finally, these students rarely
learn to believe in themselves. They are subjected to methods that don't work, and then, when they
fail to acquire the language, they blame themselves and not the school.
In short, traditional language education is engineered for demotivation. It is engineered for failure.
Leadership 101
To be a better teacher, or coach, or tutor I must develop better leadership skills. This, now, is my
quest.
I will begin simply. The first step I'm going to take is to follow the basic principles of "situational
management" as outlined by Ken Blanchard. The beauty of Blanchard's approach is its simplicity.
Of course, leadership is a complex skill. However, at the moment I am at a very low level of
competency. Right now, I need to develop a few basic skills that I can use in almost any situation with
almost any client.
I will begin by observing the three basic principles of Blanchard's "One Minute Manager".
Principle One: One Minute Goal Setting The first step, and perhaps the most crucial step, is to have
agreed upon goals and a plan for reaching them. This has been a big weakness of my teaching thus
far. I have not created measurable goals with my students. Of course we share vague goals such as
"improve English ability", but such a goal is much too vague to be helpful.
Goals, ideally, should be measurable in some way. They could be "process goals". Such goals
describe the ideal behavior and process the learner hopes to follow. For example, "I will listen to
comprehensible English, repeatedly, for one hour every day". I like process goals because they
create good habits. Process goals are the key to reaching "outcome goals".
An outcome goal is an end result. Its what you hope to accomplish at the end of a specific time. For
example, "I will have a 2000 word Spanish vocabulary by may 2007". Outcome goals can be very
motivating, but ONLY if the outcome is very meaningful and important to you, the learner. Otherwise,
these kinds of goals can be very demotivating. For example, "I will get a very high TOEFL score"
could be a very motivating goal if you have a strong, positive feeling about your TOEFL score and if
this score has important real-life meaning to you (ie. you want to go to graduate school in America).
However, if the TOEFL does not have a very important real-life meaning for you, you will simply see
the test as something unpleasant and stressful. In such a situation, its better to avoid creating a goal
about getting a certain score, and instead focus on process goals.
Another important factor regarding goals is that they should be measurable in some way. For
example, when learning English with The Linguist you can use the system to track how many
words/phrases you know. But if you don't have such a system, its very difficult to measure the size of
your vocabulary and thus you should probably choose a more easily measured goal.
The final step in "one minute goal setting" is to agree upon a few goals (1 or 2 is best. don't choose
too many) and write them down. These written goals should have a deadline. Both the coach/teacher
and the learner should have a copy of the goals and both should sign them, thus creating a learning
contract.
Step Two: One Minute Praisings Once the goals are clear, the most important job of the teacher-
coach is to encourage the learner. After all, the learner must do most of the work. Sometimes its easy
to become tired or frustrated. The teacher's job is to notice what the learner is doing well and point it
out. The teacher should praise the learner as often as possible.
But praise must be specific. Its nice to say, "you are a good student", but its better to say, "you are
doing a great job of listening to interesting content more than one time. I like how you are repeating
the content often and thus absorbing the new phrases. Keep doing this!"
In other words, the teachers NUMBER ONE JOB is to catch the learner doing something right.
Step Three: One Minute Reprimands For students who are new, or who lack confidence, the teacher
should follow only steps one and two-- clear measurable goals plus lots of praise. If a student is not
confident, the teacher should not correct them. They should not criticize them. Constant, specific
praise is enough.
Learners who are confident, well known, and motivated, however, can sometimes benefit from a short
reprimand. For example, some high performers like to be pushed. If they are lazy one week, they
want the teacher-coach to reprimand them and remind them of their goals. They want to be held to
high standards.
According to Blanchard, reprimands should be done in a certain way. You do not simply criticize the
person. Rather, you point out what they did incorrectly, then you remind them of their goals and how it
should be done. Finally, and very importantly, you end with praise. You remind them of the positive
qualities they have and of your respect for them. For example, "You didn't listen at all this week.
That's not good. You need to listen more. Your goal is to increase your usable vocabulary by 500
words, but you will not do that if you don't listen. So this week, get back on track and stick to your
plan. You are a motivated student and you are making progress. You are usually excellent and I'm
sure you will continue to be".
That, in a nutshell, is the "One Minute Manager" approach. In my previous career as a social worker,
I used this approach with my clients and it was quite successful. I'm hopeful I can find equal or
greater success using it to help students learn English
We do not learn in a regular, linear, methodical way. Learning occurs in spurts. Sudden jumps in skill
are interspersed with plateaus in which nothing much seems to happen.
Of course, we generally love the sudden improvements, and become very frustrated during the
plateaus. Its easy to understand why. We were working hard. We were making fast progress. Then
suddenly, all progress seems to stop.
We keep working. We keep listening and reading. We keep reviewing. We might even increase the
time and energy we devote to language learning. Yet nothing much seems to happen.
At such times, its easy to panic. We start having crazy thoughts like, "I'm never going to learn
English", "I'm not learning anymore", "this is impossible". If we indulge these feelings, we may start to
lose our motivation. We become frustrated and depressed, and convince ourselves that we will never
again make good progress.
During such times, its important to realize that this phenomenon is universal. It applies to learning
ANY skill-- not just language learning. Athletes experience the same cycles of rapid progress and
plateaus. At times, their strength, skill, and endurance improve quickly. At other times, they train
intensely yet make only a little bit of progress. Athletes must deal with the same frustrations that
language learners face.
What we must realize is that the plateaus are natural and necessary. In fact, many psychologists
believe that the plateaus are where the real learning is taking place. While you seem to be making no
progress, your brain is in fact processing all the new information, creating new neural networks,
linking pieces of information together, and learning how to access and use it.
Your speech may not seem to be improving- but inside your brain, dramatic changes are happening.
Once these changes are complete you "suddenly" make rapid progress again. In other words, what
you do during the plateaus determines how much and how fast you improve during the learning
jumps.
This relates to another common experience that most researchers and language learners recognize--
understanding is usually more advanced than speaking. For example, you may hear and understand
a word many times before you are actually able to use it correctly in speech. Many learners complain
about this. They are frustrated that they understand words or phrases but struggle to use them.
But native English speakers are no different. Various research shows that with native speakers,
listening/understanding ability is usually about one year ahead of speaking/writing ability.
In other words, all the progress you are making right now, by listening and reading and reviewing,
won't show up in your speech until next year! With speech, we generally have a long plateau. There
is a long delay between learning new English and actually using it in conversation.
There is not much you can do about this. With intense practice, you can shorten the plateaus. But the
best attitude is to accept them. Realize that they are useful. Realize that while you may feel you are
not improving, in fact your brain is working hard. And most importantly, realize that the work you are
doing right now won't actually show results for weeks, months, or even a year.
In this way, we must develop the attitude of professional athletes. We must realize that the benefits of
training are delayed. You don't run 10 miles one day and expect to be faster and stronger the next
day. It takes time for the body to adapt, change, and grow.
So. even when you feel nothing is happening- keep listening, keep reading, and keep up your
motivation. Enjoy yourself. Read and listen to interesting content. Focus more on communication and
fascinating content than on obsessing about your progress.
If you continue to listen and read repetitively and consistently- your progress is automatically
guaranteed.
Rule 1
Hi. How are you doing today? I'm writing because you asked for my 7- Day email course and you
want to improve your English. You will get 8 emails from me-- one every day for 8 days.
My name is A.J. Hoge. I live in San Francisco, USA. I am an English teacher. I have a Masters
degree in Teaching English. I enjoy travel, SCUBA diving, motorcycle riding, movies, and learning
Spanish.
I will teach you a new method for learning. I will teach you how to study to speak English faster and
more easily.
To do this, you must change the way you study English. Your first action is to stop studying English
words. What?
That's right, do not memorize words. Native speakers do not learn English by remembering single
words. Native speakers learn phrases.
Research by Dr. James Asher proves that learning with phrases is 4-5 times faster than studying
individual words. 4-5 Times Faster.
When you find a new word, always write down The Phrase it is in. Always. When you review, always
review all of the phrase,.. not the word.
Collect phrases.
Your speaking and grammar will improve 4-5 times faster. Always write the complete phrase.
Never again study a single word. Never write a single word in your notebook,
Learn Phrases Only.
During this week, I will teach you 7 rules for learning English. I will send you a new rule each day, for
7 days.
Cheers,
Rule 2
Hi. How are you? Are you having a good day? I'm doing fine. Let's get started with Day 2 of your
email course.
"My name is Angelina and I'm a student from Paraguay. When I started learning with A.J., I couldn't
speak any English. I had studied English grammar many years, but I couldn't speak.
The first day with A.J.'s Effortless English I thought I would study grammar. However, he surprised
me because he never taught grammar rules.
Instead, he told a story. He told it many times, in a strange way. He constantly asked questions, and I
answered the questions. The questions were super-easy.
Honestly, I was a little confused. I thought he was kind of a crazy teacher :) I thought I needed to
learn more grammar.
I continued with Effortless English and then, after only two weeks, something amazing happened. My
speaking improved! My friends asked me, 'How are you improving so quickly?'
I realized that A.J. was quite clever, and the stories and questions and articles were teaching me to
speak English, without studying grammar rules. Wow!"
Angelina is a great student. She learned extra fast because she listened to Effortless English 5 hours
a day. However, you can improve with just one hour a day.
You can get the same results... but you must follow Rule 2.
Angelina quickly improved speaking-- when she stopped studying grammar. This is your second rule.
Right now. Stop. Put away your grammar books and textbooks. Grammar rules teach you to think
about English, you want to speak automatically-- without thinking!
With Effortless English, you learn English without grammar study. Your speaking improves quickly.
You succeed. You speak English naturally.
In the next email, I will discuss the most important rule for speaking English easily. Have a great day
and continue to improve your English :)
Take Care,
Rule 3
Hi! This is A.J. again, with the next day of your 7 Rules Email Course. I really enjoy emailing you
and helping you improve English.
**Rule 3: A Story
Humberto is from Venezuela. He moved to Canada a few years ago. He studied English in
Venezuela for many years-- mostly grammar.
In fact, Humberto learned English with his eyes- by reading textbooks, by studying grammar books,
by remembering word lists.
He thought his English was good. But when he came to Canada he was surprised and shocked-- he
couldn't understand anyone! He joined an English school in Canada. He went to school everyday.
What did they teach him? More textbooks, more grammar books, more word lists!
After 12 months of school, Humberto was angry and frustrated. The school cost over $10,000 for one
year-- but he still could not speak English. He didn't know what to do.
He said:
"I couldn't believe it A.J. After one year, I still couldn't speak English. I told the teacher, 'this is a
waste of time'. I was very upset.
Thank God I found a better way. Now I can speak English. I understand native speakers. I talk to
Canadians every day. I feel confident. I can't believe I wasted so much time with schools... and so
much money too!"
**RULE 3: The Most Important Rule-- Listen First
What is the rule that Humberto found? Simple. The rule is listening.
You must listen to UNDERSTANDABLE English. You must listen to English EVERYDAY. Don't read
textbooks. Listen to English.
Its simple. That is the key to your English success. Stop reading textbooks. Start listening everyday.
In most schools, you learn English with your eyes. You read textbooks. You study grammar rules.
Effortless English is a listening system. You learn English with your ears, not your eyes. You listen 1-
3 hours every day.
Your speaking improves quickly. You speak English easily-- just like Humberto.
Spend most of your study time listening- that is the key to great speaking.
Have a great day. Enjoy these emails and enjoy your English learning!
Take Care,
"Hi AJ, Ever since I joined Effortless English Club, I have been listening to every lesson I downloaded
into my MP3 player for 5-6 hours a day. Whenever my boss is not around, I put a headphone on and
start listening to them!"
Rule 4
Hi. Its me again ;) I hope you are feeling good and are enjoying the 7 Rules Email Course. Here's
rule 4.
**Rule 4: A Story
"Im a very serious student. When studying English in Korea, I memorized 50,000 English words for a
big test. Fifty Thousand!
My problem was-- I couldn't USE them. I could pass an English test. But I could not understand
native speakers.
With Effortless English, I learned to instantly understand English. I learned how to automatically use
vocabulary. After 6 months, I could speak easily. I didn't need to think.
Thanks so much!"
Hyun learned a lot of words in a short time. Her learning was short and shallow. That's why she
quickly forgot the words. That's why she could not use them.
The secret to speaking easily is to learn every word & phrase DEEPLY.
Its not enough to know a definition. Its not enough to remember for a test. You must put the word
deep into your brain.
To speak English easily, you must repeat each lesson many times.
How do you learn deeply? Easy-- just repeat all lessons or listening many times. For example, if
you have an audio book, listen to the first chapter 30 times before you go to the second chapter. You
could listen
What about grammar? How do you learn it deeply, without studying grammar rules?
Today I'm back to explain Rule 5. I hope you are enjoying these emails :)
On Day 2, I told you never to study grammar rules. But, of course, you want to use correct English
grammar.
Maybe you are thinking, "How can I learn English grammar if I don't study English grammar rules?"
**Rule 5: A Story
Miyuki did very well on grammar tests. She knew all of the grammar rules. She knew English verbs.
But Miyuki had a problem. She couldn't USE the grammar in a real conversation. She could explain
the past tense, but when speaking, she would say "Yesterday I GO to school".
Miyuki was confused. How could her grammar tests be so good, but her speaking so bad?
Miyuki said:
"Before Effortless English, I knew all the grammar rules, but I couldn't speak correctly. I couldn't feel
English grammar. After using Point of View stories, I feel it and use it correctly.
Now my grammar is great when I speak. I never think about it, I just automatically use correct
grammar. Thank you A.J.!" Miyuki learned this grammar naturally. She never studied
grammar rules. How did she do it?
First she listened to a short story in the present tense. She listened to it everyday.
Then, she listened to the exact SAME story-- but this time it started with "10 years ago...." She
learned to "feel" the past tense by listening to this story.
Next, I gave her the exact same story. This time, it started with "Since 2004..." Miyuki learned to
FEEL the perfect tenses by listening to this story.
Finally, I gave her the exact same story... beginning with "Next year". She learned to FEEL the future
tense simply by listening to this story.
Use Point of View Stories for Automatic Grammar Use Point of View Stories for Automatic
Grammar
You must learn grammar by listening to real English. The best way is to listen to the same story...
told in different times (points of view): Past, Perfect, Present, Future.
How do you do this? Easy! Find a story or article in the present tense. Then ask your native
speaker tutor to write it again in the Past, with Perfect tenses, and in the Future. Finally, ask him to
read and record these stories for you.
Then you can listen to stories with many different kinds of grammar. You don't need to know the
grammar rules. Just listen to the Point of View stories and you will improve grammar automatically!
You can also find Point of View lessons and use them to learn grammar automatically.
It is powerful. It is simple. It is successful. You will succeed. You will use correct grammar naturally
and automatically.
In the next email, I will tell you how to avoid textbooks and learn only real English.
Rule 6
Hi again :) It's me, your English teacher... with another rule!
I want you to think about something today: You have studied English for more than 4 years- why do
you still have trouble understanding native speakers?
Nothing is wrong with you. Something is wrong with the schools you went to, and the textbooks you
used. English textbooks and audio tapes are horrible.
Megdelio studied English for 5 years in Venezuela. Teachers said he was an advanced student.
When he came to the USA he felt good. He was excited to meet Americans. He was ready. He
wrote:
"One day I tried to talk to an American woman and everything changed. The woman started talking--
and I couldn't understand her. Not at all!
Her pronunciation was totally different than the textbook tapes and CDs I listened to. She used
idioms, slang, and many casual phrases.
I was totally confused. That's when I realized I needed to learn real English!"
I taught Megdelio to learn with real English materials-- learning the English we use everyday in
conversations, books, movies, TV shows, comic books, audio books, articles, newspapers,
magazines, and podcasts.
To learn real English, you must listen to English that native speakers listen to. You must watch what
they watch. You must read what they read.
Listen only to real English Listen only to real English Listen only to real English
How do you learn Real English? It's easy. Stop using textbooks. Instead, listen only to real English
movies, TV shows, audio books, audio articles, stories, and talk radio shows. Use real English
materials.
After 6 months of real English, Megdelio could speak easily. He could understand real English from
real native speakers. You will too.
You learn real English if you want to understand native speakers and speak easily. Use real
magazines, audio articles, TV shows, movies, radio talk shows, and audio books.
Learn Real English, Not Textbook English Learn Real English, Not Textbook English
In the next email, I will tell you the final rule. I'll teach you how to speak 2-3 times faster.
Good luck,
Rule 7
Hi. Today is the last rule! Remember, I promised to send you 8 emails. Today is number 7 :)
Today is the last Rule, and it is the easiest:
Most English CDs use "listen and repeat". The speaker says something in English, and you repeat
exactly what they said. This method is a failure.
**Rule 7: A Story
Emi, a Japanese woman, had a problem. Her speaking was SLOW. She could not answer questions
quickly.
Emi listened to many English tapes and CDs. She listened. She repeated what the speaker said.
Emi emailed me. I recommended "Listen & Answer" lessons. I told her not to use "listen and repeat".
I told her that "listen and repeat" is not enough-- when you repeat, you only copy the speaker. But
when you hear a question and you ANSWER it- - you must think in English.
After using listen & ANSWER lessons for just 4 months, her speaking was fast, easy, and automatic.
"The lessons are FANTASTIC! I love them. My speaking is so much faster now. I understand
quickly and I can now speak English without thinking. I can't believe it!"
Use Listen & Answer Mini-Story Lessons Use Listen & Answer Mini-Story Lessons
In each Mini-Story Lesson, a speaker tells a short simple story. He also asks a lot of easy questions.
Every time you hear a question, you pause and answer it.
You learn to answer questions quickly-- without thinking. Your English becomes automatic.
How can you use Listen & Answer Stories? Easy! Find a native speaker tutor. Ask him to use this
method: Ask him to tell a story... and to constantly ask you easy questions about it. This will teach
you to think quickly in English!
You can also find Listen & Answer lessons. They will teach you to think quickly in English.
**What's Next?
A great way to use the 7 Rules is to use my Effortless English Club lessons. I teach you to speak
English easily, and fast. My lessons use all of the 7 Rules.
http://www.EffortlessEnglishClub.com
You will get only one more email from me for this course.
The atmosphere is like a party. There are people everywhere. Families are sitting around the graves
of their dead ancestors. They clean the graves and add fresh flowers. I walk through the cemetery
and admire the beauty of all the colorful flowers.
There is also color in the sky, because many kids are flying kites. Some families are having a picnic
next to the graves. They eat, drink, and chat together. People laugh and smile.
In the Unites States, cemeteries are always somber. We certainly never have festivals or parties next
to graves. We don't laugh or play music or fly kites in cemeteries either.
I find that I prefer the Guatemalan approach. I like the way they remember and celebrate those who
have passed away. I like that they acknowledge death, instead of denying it the way Americans do. I
like that there is life, as well as death, in their cemeteries.
Guatemalans call it The Day of the Dead, but it is also a day to appreciate life.
You need to say that. Show that you understand this is not a question. A statement is not a question,
so when you hear a statement say, Ah. For example, I arrive in Guatemala. Ah.
The second thing I will do, is ask a question you know the answer to.
For example, Where do I arrive? I will stop. You say the answer. You must say the answer to every
question. I say, I arrive in Guatemala. Where did I arrive? You say, Guatemala. Easy.
And No. 3, I might ask a question you don't know the answer to. If you don't know the answer just
guess.
Say any answer, but you must answer every question. Use your pause button if necessary.
Who arrived in Guatemala on the Day of the Dead? Well, me AJ. I arrived in Guatemala on the Day
of the Dead, November 1st.
Did I arrive in Guatemala on November 3rd? No, no. I didn't arrive in Guatemala on November 3rd; I
arrived in Guatemala on November 1st.
What day did I arrive in Guatemala? November 1st. I arrived in Guatemala on November 1st.
Where did I arrive on November 1st? Guatemala. I arrived in Guatemala on November 1st.
I was curious about this holiday so I went to the cemetery to see what was happening.
Was I angry about this holiday? No, no. I wasn't angry about this holiday.
Was I sad about this holiday? No, no. I wasn't sad about this holiday. I was curious about this holiday.
Who was curious about this holiday? Well, I was AJ. I was curious about this holiday.
What was I curious about? The holiday. I was curious about the holiday.
Which holiday was I curious about? Which holiday was I curious about? The Day of the Dead. I was
curious about the Day of the Dead.
Was I curious about the Day of the Dead or was I curious about Christmas? No. I was curious about
the Day of the Dead of course.
I was curious about the Day of the Dead so I went to the cemetery to see what was happening.
Where did I go? To the cemetery.
I went to the cemetery. Did I go to the cemetery or did I go to the airport? Easy. I went to the
cemetery.
When did I go to the cemetery? November 1st, the Day of the Dead. I went to the cemetery on the
Day of the Dead, November 1st.
Why did I go to the cemetery? Well, to see what was happening. I went to the cemetery to see what
was happening.
Who went to the cemetery to see what was happening? Me AJ went to the cemetery to see what
was happening.
What is the Day of the Dead? A holiday. The Day of the Dead is a holiday.
When is the Day of the Dead? November 1st. The Day of the Dead was and is November 1st, so I
went to the cemetery on the Day of the Dead to see what was happening.
What I found was quite interesting. Was it boring? No, no. It wasn't boring.
Was it interesting? Yes, yes. It was interesting. The cemetery was interesting.
How did I feel about the cemetery? I felt it was interesting or I thought it was interesting.
When was the cemetery interesting? It was interesting on the Day of the Dead, November 1st.
The atmosphere in the cemetery was like a party. Was the atmosphere very sad? No, no. The
atmosphere was not sad. The atmosphere was like a party.
The atmosphere was very happy. Was the atmosphere sad or happy? The atmosphere was happy.
The atmosphere was like a party.
What was like a party? The atmosphere. The atmosphere in the cemetery was like a party.
Where was the atmosphere like a party? In the cemetery the cemetery. The atmosphere was like a
party in the cemetery.
Was the atmosphere like a party at my house? No, no. Not at my house. The atmosphere was like a
party at the cemetery.
Where were the families sitting? Around the graves. They were sitting around the graves.
Who was sitting around the graves? The families. The families were sitting around the graves.
Were they sitting around the trees? No. They weren't sitting around the trees. They were sitting
around the graves.
So where were they sitting? Around the graves. Families were sitting around the graves of their dead
ancestors.
Were they sitting around the graves of their dead ancestors? Yes, yes. They were sitting around the
graves of their dead ancestors.
Were they sitting around the graves of their friends? No, not really. They were sitting around the
graves of their dead ancestors.
Who was sitting around the graves? That's right. Families were sitting around the graves.
Whose graves were they sitting around? Whose graves were they sitting around? Yes. Their dead
ancestors' their ancestors' their ancestors' graves.
Were they sitting around the graves of their dead ancestors or the graves of their friends? Ancestors,
right? They were sitting around the graves of their dead ancestors.
They cleaned the graves and added fresh owers. Who cleaned the graves? That's right. The
families.
What did they clean? They cleaned the graves. Whose graves did they clean? Their ancestors'.
Where did they add owers? Where? They added owers to the graves. That's right. They cleaned
the graves and added fresh owers. Good.
I walked through the cemetery and admired the beauty of all the colorful owers. Where did I walk?
Through the cemetery. I walked through the cemetery.
Did I walk through the park? No. I didn't walk through the park. I walked through the cemetery.
Who walked through the cemetery? I did AJ. I walked through the cemetery.
Did I walk through the cemetery or did I walk through the park? I walked through the cemetery.
That's right, and I admired the beauty of all the colorful owers.
Did I admire the beauty of the trees? No, no. I didn't admire the beauty of the trees.
Did I admire the beauty of the children? No. I didn't admire the beauty of the children.
What did I admire? The owers. Yeah. I admired the beauty of all the colorful owers.
Who admired the beauty of all the colorful owers? That's right. AJ me admired the beauty of all
the colorful owers.
Where were the owers? On the graves in the cemetery. The owers were on the graves in the
cemetery.
Were the owers in the park? No. They weren't in the park.
Where were the owers? The owers were on the graves in the cemetery.
When did I walk through the cemetery? Ah. November 1st, the Day of the Dead. November 1st, the
Day of the Dead, I walked through the cemetery.
What was the cemetery like? Like a party. It was like a party. The cemetery was like a party.
Was I curious about this holiday? Yes. I was curious about this holiday.
Which holiday was I curious about? Yeah. The Day of the Dead. I was curious about the Day of the
Dead so I walked through the cemetery.
There was also color in the sky because many kids were ying kites.
Where was the color? In the sky. That's right. In the sky.
Why was there color in the sky? Because kids were ying kites the kites. There was color in the sky
because kids were ying kites.
Was the sky colorful or was the sky gray? The sky was colorful.
What was colorful? They sky. The sky was colorful. Why was the sky colorful? Because kids were
ying kites.
What were the kids ying? Kites. That's right. The kids were ying kites.
Where were they ying kites? In the cemetery. The kids were ying kites in the cemetery.
Who was ying kites in the cemetery? Kids, children. Kids were ying kites in the cemetery.
Some families were having a picnic next to the graves. We in the United States don't do this, so some
families were having a picnic next to the graves. They ate, they drank, and they chatted together.
Did they eat? Yes. They ate. Who ate? Families, right? Of course. Families ate.
What did they eat? They ate Guatemalan food food from Guatemala. The families ate Guatemalan
food.
Did they eat American food? No, no. They didn't eat American food. They ate Guatemalan food.
Where did they eat Guatemalan food? In the cemetery. They ate food in the cemetery. They ate
Guatemalan food in the cemetery.
They also drank in the cemetery. Did they drink water in the cemetery? No, no.
What did they eat? Guatemalan food. They ate Guatemalan food and drank beer.
Did they drink beer or did they drink water? They drank beer.
Where did they drink beer? They drank beer in the cemetery.
When did they drink beer? Ah. November 1st, the Day of the Dead they drank beer.
When did they eat? They ate on November 1st, the Day of the Dead.
Who chatted together? The families, of course. The families chatted together.
When did they chat together? Yes. November 1st, the Day of the Dead. And people laughed and
smiled.
In the United States, cemeteries are always somber. Are cemeteries happy in the United States?
No, no, no. Never. Cemeteries aren't happy in the United States. Cemeteries are always somber,
sad, and serious.
Are cemeteries serious in the United States? Yes. Yes, they are. In the United States, cemeteries are
always somber. They are always serious.
In the United States, are cemeteries somber or are cemeteries happy? Somber. Cemeteries are
always somber in the United States.
Was the cemetery somber in Guatemala? No, no. It wasn't somber in Guatemala. The cemetery
wasn't somber in Guatemala, but in the United States cemeteries are always somber.
Are cemeteries always somber in Guatemala or in the United States? In the United States cemeteries
are always somber.
Where are cemeteries always somber? The United States. That's right. In the United States
cemeteries are always somber.
Are they happy? No, no. They are always somber. Cemeteries in the United States are always
somber very, very somber.
Do we have parties next to graves? No, we don't. We don't have parties next to graves.
Do we ever have parties next to graves? No. We never have parties next to graves.
Do we ever have parties in restaurants? Yes, yes. We have parties in restaurants but we never have
parties next to graves.
Do we ever have parties in houses? Yes, yes. We do. We have parties in houses but we never have
parties next to graves.
Do we ever have parties next to graves? No, never. We never have parties next to graves.
Where do we never have parties? Next to graves. We never have parties next to graves.
Do we ever? No, never. We never have parties next to graves not ever; never.
We don't laugh or play music or y kites in cemeteries either. Do we laugh in cemeteries usually? No,
we don't.
Did I nd that I preferred the American approach or did I nd that I preferred the Guatemalan
approach? The Guatemalan approach. I found that I preferred the Guatemalan approach.
Did I nd that I preferred the American approach? No, I didn't. I didn't nd that I preferred the
American approach. I found that I preferred the Guatemalan approach.
Who preferred the Guatemalan approach? Me AJ. I preferred the Guatemalan approach.
I found that I preferred the Guatemalan approach. I liked the way they remembered and celebrated
those who had passed away.
Did they celebrate those who were alive? No, no. They didn't celebrate those who were alive. They
celebrated those who had passed away.
Did they celebrate those who had passed away or those who had become rich? They celebrated
those who had passed away.
Who celebrated those who had passed away? Guatemalans, right? Guatemalans celebrated those
who had passed away.
When did they celebrate those who had passed away? On the Day of the Dead, November 1st. On
the Day of the Dead, November 1st, they celebrated those who had passed away.
Who did they celebrate? They celebrated those who had passed away.
I liked that they acknowledged death instead of denying it the way Americans do.
Who liked that they acknowledged death? Me AJ. Me AJ. I liked that they acknowledged death.
Did they acknowledge money or did they acknowledge death? They acknowledged death.
What did they acknowledge? Death. They acknowledged death.
Did they acknowledge death or did they acknowledge money? They acknowledged death instead of
denying it.
Do Guatemalans deny death? No, no. Not Guatemalans. Guatemalans don't deny death. Americans
deny death.
Do I like that Americans deny death? No, I don't. I don't like it.
I don't like that Americans deny death but I like that there is life as well as death in Guatemalan
cemeteries. I liked that.
What did I like? Their cemeteries Guatemalan cemeteries. I liked Guatemalan cemeteries.
Did I like Guatemalan cemeteries or did I like Guatemalan restaurants? I liked Guatemalan
cemeteries.
Whose cemeteries did I like? Guatemalans', right? Guatemalans' cemeteries. I liked the
Guatemalans' cemeteries Guatemalans' cemeteries.
Whose cemeteries did I like? The Guatemalans' cemeteries. I liked the Guatemalans' cemeteries.
Guatemalans call it the Day of the Dead but it is also a day to appreciate life. That is all for this mini
story.
This was a very slow and soft mini story, so this mini story is good for beginning-level learners.
For intermediate learners, for advanced learners I use mini stories that are much faster
While driving down the street, Carlos sees a girl on a bicycle. She has long blond hair and is
beautiful.
He yells, "Hey, why won't you talk to me? I want to go to dinner with you. I'll take you to an
expensive restaurant."
The girl turns, gets off the bike, and looks at him.
She says, "I don't want to go to dinner. But if you give me your car, I will give you a surprise."
He jumps out of the car. He gives her the keys and says, "Here are the keys."
The beautiful blond takes the keys and then kisses Carlos on the cheek.Then she jumps into the car
and drives away. Carlos stands on the sidewalk. Now he has no car and no girl.
He says, "That's it, just a kiss on the cheek?"
A red Ferrari pulls up next to him. The driver's wearing dark sun glasses. He looks over at Allen.
Allen looks at him and realizes that the driver is Tom Cruise!
Tom sneers at Allen. He says, "When the light turns green, let's race".
Allen says, "You wish. I'm gonna beat you and your sorry-ass car".
Allen and Tom wait at the light. They rev their engines.
Suddenly, the light turns green. Allen and Tom take off! They zoom down Van Ness at top speed.
Tom is winning.
But suddenly, blue and red lights appear behind Tom-- its the police. They pull him over.
Allen zooms past Tom, laughing. He yells, "Better luck next time!"
In San Francisco.
At 5:00.
No, no, no, not Market Street, he wasn't riding down Market Street.
No. He wasn't riding down Lombard Street, he was riding down Van Ness Street.
No. He wasn't riding down Lombard Street, he was riding down Van Ness Street.
Was he in a truck?
No. No, no, no, no. He didn't come to a go light. He came to a stoplight.
Well, on Van Ness Street. The stoplight was on Van Ness Street.
Was the stoplight on Embarcadero Street or was the stoplight on Van Ness Street?
Van Ness, of course, Van Ness. The stoplight was on Van Ness Street.
Well, Van Ness Street is in San Francisco, of course. Van Ness Street is in San Francisco.
Is Van Ness Street in New York? Or is Van Ness Street in San Francisco?
He was riding on Van Ness Street, in San Francisco and he came to a stoplight.
No, no, no, not behind him, the red Ferrari pulled up next to him.
No, no, no. Alan didn't pull up next to a red Ferrari, a red Ferrari pulled up next to him.
No, no, no, Alan wasn't in a red Ferrari. He was on a motorcycle. Alan was on a motorcycle.
Well, it pulled up next to Alan. The red Ferrari pulled up next to Alan.
The driver was wearing dark sunglasses.
No, no, no, no. Not Alan, Alan wasn't wearing dark sunglasses.
The driver of the Ferrari was wearing dark sunglasses, not Alan.
Alan. Alan was the motorcycle rider and Tom Cruise was the driver of the Ferrari.
Tom Cruise was wearing dark sunglasses and he looked over at Alan.
After he sneered at Alan, Tom Cruise said, When the light turns green, let's race!
Yes, he agreed, he agreed, he said, You're on! No, Tom didn't say, You're on! Alan said, You're
on! Alan agreed to race.
Yes, he did. He said, I'm gonna smoke you. I'm gonna beat you.
No, no, no. No, Tom wasn't gonna smoke Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tom was gonna smoke Alan.
No, no, no. He wasn't gonna smoke Alan at football or soccer. He was gonna smoke Alan in a race.
In a race, he was gonna smoke Alan, in a race.
No, it's not! It's not polite, it's not nice. He said I'm gonna smoke you, sucka!
Alan said, You wish! I'm gonna beat you and your sorry-ass car.
No! He did not have a nice car, he had a sorry-ass Ferrari, a sorry-ass car.
Ah, he had a sorry-ass car. Low quality car, bad car. Cheap car.
Alan and Tom waited at the light. They revved their engines. Vroom! Vroom! Vroom vroom!
No, no, not possible! They didn't rev their bicycles. Of course not! They revved their engines.
Their engines. They revved Vroom! Vroom! Vroom! their engines. Tom and Alan revved their
engines.
Suddenly, the light turned green. Alan and Tom took off.
No, they didn't start slowly, they took off. They started quickly. They started very fast. Alan and Tom
took off.
Alan took off on his motorcycle, on his motorcycle. Alan took off on his motorcycle.
In, his car. Tom took off in his car. Tom took off in his Ferrari.
Did they stop or did they take off, quickly?
Oh, they took off quickly because they were racing, right? Of course, they took off quickly because
they were racing.
Tom and Alan. Tom and Alan zoomed down Van Ness at top speed.
Well, after the light turned green. After the light turned green, they zoomed down Van Ness.
Did they zoom down Van Ness before the light turned green or after the light turned green?
After, of course. They zoomed down Van Ness after the light turned green.
No, no, no they didn't zoom down Lombard Street. Which street did they zoom down? Van Ness.
They zoomed down Van Ness Street.
No, no, no. They didn't pull over Alan, they pulled over Tom Cruise.
Well, because he was going too fast. He was going too fast. They pulled over Tom Cruise because
he was going too fast.
Well, because the police pulled over Tom. The police pulled over Tom so Alan zoomed past Tom.
Who yelled Better luck next time! as he zoomed past Tom Cruise?
Well, Alan, of course, easy right? Alan, yelled Better luck next time! as he zoomed past
Well, Alan, of course, easy right? Alan, yelled Better luck next time! as he zoomed past Tom.
I arrive in Guatemala on The Day of the Dead, November 1st. Im curious about this holiday, so I go
to the cemetery to see whats happening. What I find is quite interesting.
The atmosphere is like a party. There are people everywhere. Families are sitting around the
graves of their dead ancestors. They clean the graves and add fresh flowers. I walk through the
cemetery and admire the beauty of all the colorful flowers.
There is also color in the sky, because many kids are flying kites. Some families are having a picnic
next to the graves. They eat, drink, and chat together. People laugh and smile.
In the Unites States, cemeteries are always somber. We certainly never have festivals or parties
next to graves. We dont laugh or play music or fly kites in cemeteries either.
I find that I prefer the Guatemalan approach. I like the way they remember and celebrate those
who have passed away. I like that they acknowledge death, instead of denying it the way
Americans do. I like that there is life, as well as death, in their cemeteries.
Guatemalans call it The Day of the Dead, but it is also a day to appreciate life.
Day of the Dead
A Kiss
Carlos buys a new car. It's a very expensive car. It's a huge, blue,
fast car. While driving down the street, Carlos sees a girl on a bicycle.
She has long blond hair and is beautiful.
He yells to her, "What's up?"
She ignores him.
He yells, "How's it going?"
She keeps going and ignores him.
He yells, "Hey, why won't you talk to me? I want to go to dinner with
you. I'll take you to an expensive restaurant."
The girl turns, gets off the bike, and looks at him. She says, "I don't
want to go to dinner. But if you give me your car, I will give you a surprise."
Carlos says, "OK!" He jumps out of the car. He gives her the keys
and says, "Here are the keys."
The beautiful blond takes the keys and then kisses Carlos on the
cheek. Then she jumps into the car and drives away.
Carlos stands on the sidewalk. Now he has no car and no girl. He
says, "That's it, just a kiss on the cheek?"
He gets on her bike and rides home.
Vocabulary
huge: adj. very very big
Whats up: a greeting,
hello
ignores: v. doesnt listen to
Hows it going: a greeting,
How are you?
keeps: v. continues
Thats it: idiom. That is all,
there is no more, that is
everything
Past Tense Verb Forms
buys: bought
is: was
driving: was driving
drive: drove
sees: saw
has: had
yells: yelled
ignores: ignored
keeps: kept
turns: turned
looks: looked
says: said
jumps: jumped
gives: gave
takes: took
kisses: kissed
drives: drove
stands: stood
gets on: got on
rides: rode
Bubbas Food
Sara Smith, who lives in San Francisco, went shopping for cat food.
Sara is 30, and lives at 3037 Market St. She has lived there since 1990. Sara is married. She is
married to a man named John. She has been married for 7 years.
They have two children, and one very big cat. Their son Bob is five years old and their daughter
Nancy is three. Their cat, Bubba, is 2 years old. Bubba is huge. He weighs 258 pounds (117
kilos)!
At 9am, Sara got into her car and drove to the pet store. She bought 68 bags of cat food for $10
each plus tax. The regular price was $15, so she got a good deal. The total was $680. She paid
by credit card.
On her way home, Sara stopped at a convenience store to buy milk. Bubba loves milk. The milk
was $3.00 for one gallon, and Sara bought 30 gallons. She paid $100 and got $10 back in
change.
Sara got home at 11 a.m. Bubba was waiting at the door. He was very hungry.
Bubbas Food
Lost Custody
Publish Date: March 20, 2007
YOUNG MOTHER IS FRIGHTENED BY THREAT OF LOST CUSTODY
DEAR ABBY:
I am 22 years old and have been married 17 months. "Derek" and I have a 23-month-old son. Derek
hasn't
worked for about a year and refuses to help support our family. He also belittles me whenever he
talks to me. I
am not happy in this marriage, but I am not sure what to do about it.
On our honeymoon, Derek told me if I ever divorced him that he'd make sure he would get custody of
our son.
And his mom already said that she would tell the judge that I was an unfit mother.
My son is my world, Abby. He doesn't even let his daddy hold him, so I know he wouldn't be better off
with
Derek. But because I am on disability, I don't know if I have a good chance of getting custody if I
leave. I
don't feel Derek loves me or my son.
What should I do? Stick it out with my husband or take the chance of losing my son?
-- TRAPPED IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Meddling Mother-In-Law
Publish Date: March 12, 2007
Old Audio Article Archives Available At:
http://www.effortlessenglish.libsyn.com
WIFE READY TO WASH HER HANDS OF MEDDLING MOTHER-IN-LAW
DEAR ABBY:
How do I politely tell my mother-in-law to stop doing my laundry? It all started when I was on bed rest
due
to my pregnancy. I didn't mind her doing an occasional load to help us out. But now she does it
anytime she's
over to watch the kids.
I'm very picky about how I do my laundry, and this is the main reason I don't want her doing it. Also,
I'd prefer
she spend time playing with the kids than with the laundry!
She also puts things away in the wrong places. She does it with my dishes, too. Once I told her not to
worry
about my laundry because I wasn't done sorting it. She took it upon herself to do it anyway.
She's very strong-willed. My husband and I have had problems with her not respecting our parenting,
too.
She often takes things the wrong way. What's the best way for us to tell her that her help is not
needed?
-- DIRTY FAMILY LAUNDRY
Disobedience
Publish Date: December 3, 2006
All Sound (Audio) Archives Available At:
http://www.effortlessenglish.libsyn.com
Law never made men more just; and, by means of their respect for
it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. A
common and natural result of an undue respect for law is, that you
may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, privates and all,
marching in admirable order over hills to the wars, against their
wills, indeed, against their common sense and consciences. They
have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned;
they are all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they? Men
at all? Or small movable forts, at the service of some unscrupulous
man in power?
The mass of men serve the State thus, not as men mainly, but as
machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army. In most
cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the
moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth
and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will
serve the purpose as well. Such people command no more respect
than men of straw, or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of
worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these are commonly
considered good citizens.
-- Henry David Thoreau (Civil Disobedience)
Many of the abominable problems in the world are the result of obedience.
In our personal lives, in the media, we cry and moan and
blame "our leaders" for the problems of the world. We shift responsibility
to them. But are they solely responsible? What about the thousands
and millions who are actually carrying out their orders?
These people are the ones actually doing the terrible things that their
leaders want done. These people have abandoned their conscience
and have abandoned their responsibility.
Can such people be considered adult human beings at all; or are they
still children, or dogs-- dutifully obeying their master-parent?
Think of the American soldiers currently in Iraq. In the end, it is not
George Bush who is pulling the trigger or dropping the bombs or torturing
the prisoners. He merely gives the orders- orders which no
particular man or woman must follow. For while they might be discharged
or put in prison for refusing an order, no one will be hurt or
killed for doing so.
Isn't Thoreau correct? Aren't our true heroes the ones who disobey
unjust laws? Aren't the true heroes the ones who follow their conscience?
Here in America, it is our rebels who are our historical
heroes- those who refused to support injustice: Martin Luther King,
the heroes of the American revolution, John Brown, Malcolm X, Susan
B. Anthony, Vietnam War resistors....
In the present, such people are always condemned. They are
attacked, called unpatriotic, imprisoned, and vilified. Yet history is
usually kind to such people, and harsh to the unjust. In the 1950s,
Martin Luther King was vilified as a radical. Today, he is celebrated
as a hero, while the authorities he resisted are now viewed as the
worst kind of scum.
Thoreau, and later Gandhi and Martin Luther King, all believed that
individual conscience was more just and powerful than law. All three
encouraged people to break unjust laws; and to instead have
respect for what is good, right, true, and just. Though all three men
are now dead, their message is as important today as it was during
their lifetime.
Thoreau was a great writer, philosopher, poet, and a most practical
man, that is, he taught nothing he was not prepared to practice in
himself. He was one of the greatest and most moral men America has
produced.
--Mohandas Gandhi
just: fair, good, correct and fair
by means of: because of
well-disposed: people with good
thoughts (with good hearts)
agents: actors, doers
injustice: unfairness, wrongness,
badness, evil
undue: too much, not necessary
a file of: a line of
soldiers: fighters, army people
colonel, captain, privates: ranks
(levels) of people in the army
admirable: should be admired; worthy,
good
against their wills: not by choice;
against what they want to do
common sense: what most think is
correct and right
conscience: feeling of what is right
and wrong; moral feeling
damnable: horrible, terrible, wrong
inclined: what someone usually
does or thinks (usually peaceful)
forts: an army building, a base
unscrupulous: without morals; without
goodness
the mass of men: most men
the State: the country, the nation
standing army: permanent army
exercise: use (noun)
the judgement: ability to make decisions
the moral sense: ability to decide
what is right and wrong
manufactured: made, created
command: demand, require
straw: hay
lump: small round piece
considered: thought to be
abominable: horrible, terrible
obedience: doing what someone
else tells you to do
the media: newspaper, TV, etc...
moan: make a sad sound
blame: criticize
shift: move; change
solely: only
carrying out their orders: doing
what they say to do
abandoned: left; got rid of
dutifully obeying: doing what other
people say-- because of duty
First Battle
Neo-Bedouins
Publish Date: March 14, 2007
Old Audio Article Archives Available At:
http://www.effortlessenglish.libsyn.com
A new breed of worker, fueled by caffeine and using the tools of modern
technology, is flourishing in the coffeehouses of San Francisco. Roaming
from cafe to cafe and borrowing a name from the nomadic Arabs who wandered
freely in the desert, they've come to be known as "bedouins."
San Francisco's modern-day bedouins are typically armed with laptops and
cell phones, paying for their office space and Internet access by buying coffee
and muffins.
San Francisco's bedouins see themselves changing the nature of the workplace,
if not the world at large. They see large companies like General
Motors laying off workers, contributing to insecurity. And at the same
time, they see the Internet providing the tools to start companies on the
cheap. In the Bedouin lifestyle, they are free to make their own rules.
"The San Francisco coffeehouse is the new Palo Alto garage," declares
Kevin Burton, 30, who runs his Internet startup Tailrank without renting
offices. "It's where all the innovation is happening."
The move toward mobile self employment is also part of what author Daniel
Pink identified when he wrote "Free Agent Nation" in 2001.
"A whole infrastructure has emerged to help people work in this way,"
Pink said. "Part of it includes places like Kinkos, Office Depot and Staples."
It also includes places like Starbucks and independent coffee shops, where
Wi-Fi -- wireless Internet access for laptops and other devices -- is available.
"The infrastructure makes it possible for people to work where they want,
when they want, how they want," said Pink.
Pink calls it "Karl Marx's revenge, where individuals own the means of
production. And they can take the means of production and hop from coffee
shop to coffee shop."
Neo-Bedouins
"There is nothing more free than being a Web worker," Om Malik says.
"There is no boss. You work for yourself. This is the new Wild West. The
individual is more important. That's the American way. It's about doing
things your own way. Web workers represent that. ... It's the future, my
friend."
Ritual Roasters in San Francisco's Mission District is in many ways the epicenter
of the bedouin movement. Ritual, on Valencia Street near 21st Street,
is almost always packed with people working on laptops.
Every bedouin seems to have a Ritual story. There's the time someone
buzzed through the cafe on a Segway scooter. Rubyred Labs, a hip Web
design shop in South Park, had its launch party there. Teams from established
Web companies such as Google Inc. and Flickr, a photo sharing site that's
now owned by Yahoo, meet there. "You'd never know these guys were millionaires,"
said Ritual co-owner Jeremy Tooker.
As for why they're there, Sean Kelly said, "I'm visiting with my friends
instead of being locked up in a big building in the South Bay."
Using a cafe to run a business is nothing particularly new. Venerable insurance
firm Lloyd's of London was actually started in a coffee house, Kennedy
points out. According to the Lloyd's of London Web site, "Edward Lloyd
opened a coffee house in 1688, encouraging a clientele of ships' captains,
merchants and ship owners -- earning him a reputation for trustworthy shipping
news. This ensured that Lloyd's coffee house became recognized as the
place for obtaining marine insurance."
Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some of their best work in
Parisian cafes. And in San Francisco, writers and poets of the Beat generation,
such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, wrote in the cafes of North
Beach.
Caffe Trieste was among the most popular North Beach hangouts. "To have
a cappuccino, you come to North Beach, to Caffe Trieste," says Giovanni
"Papa Gianni" Giotta, the founder.
Now Caffe Trieste has joined the ranks of Wi-Fi cafes. It would figure that
the one laptop in action on a recent afternoon belonged to an art dealer. "A
cappuccino for overhead isn't bad," said David Salow, 33. He struck out on
his own three months ago, and has yet to open a gallery. "Sixty to 70 percent
of what I do can be done with the standard tools available to everyone -- a
phone, a computer and a laptop connection."
No Belief
Publish Date: February 6, 2007
Old Audio Article Archives Available At:
http://www.effortlessenglish.libsyn.com
This remark was made, in these very words, by John Gribbin, physics editor
of New Scientist magazine, in a BBC-TV debate with Malcolm Muggeridge,
and it provoked incredulity on the part of most viewers. It seems to be a
hangover of the medieval Catholic era that causes most people, even the
educated, to think that everybody must "believe" something or other, that if
one is not a theist, one must be a dogmatic atheist, and if one does not
think Capitalism is perfect, one must believe fervently in Socialism, and if
one does not have blind faith in X, one must alternatively have blind faith
in not-X or the reverse of X.
My own opinion is that belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one
believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking
about that aspect of existence. The more certitude one assumes, the less
there is left to think about, and a person sure of everything would never have
any need to think about anything and might be considered clinically dead
under current medical standards, where absence of brain activity is taken
to mean that life has ended.
My attitude is identical to that of Dr. Gribbin and the majority of physicists
today, and is known in physics as "the Copenhagen Interpretation," because
it was formulated in Copenhagen by Dr. Niels Bohr and his co-workers
between 1926-28. The Copenhagen Interpretation is sometimes called
"model agnosticism" and says that any grid we use to organize our experience
of the world is a model of the world and should not be confused with
the world itself. Alfred Korzybski tried to popularize this outside physics
with the slogan, "The map is not the territory." Alan Watts, a talented
Oriental philosopher, restated it more vividly as "The menu is not the meal."
Belief in the traditional sense, or certitude, or dogma, amounts to the
grandiose delusion, "My current model" -- "contains the whole universe and
will never need to be revised." In terms of the history of science and knowledge
in general, this appears absurd and arrogant to me, and I am perpetually
astonished that so many people still manage to live with such a
medieval attitude.
Briefly, the main thing I have learned in my life is that "reality" is always
plural and mutable.
"Reality" is a word in the English language which is (a) a noun and (b) singular.
Thinking in the English language (and in many Indo-European languages)
therefore subliminally programs us to imagine "reality" as one
entity, sort of like a huge New York skyscraper, in which every part is just
another "room" within the same building. This linguistic program is so pervasive
that most people cannot "think" outside it at all, and when one tries to
offer a different perspective they imagine one is talking gibberish.
The notion that "reality" is a noun, a solid thing like a brick or a baseball
bat, derives from the biological fact that our nervous systems normally
organize the dance of energy into such block-like "things," probably as
instant survival cues. Such "things," however, dissolve back into energy
dances -- processes or verbs -- when the nervous system is joined with certain
drugs or transmuted by spiritual exercises or aided by scientific instruments.
In both mysticism and physics, there is general agreement that
"things" are constructed by our nervous systems and that "realities" (plural)
are better described as systems or bundles of energy functions.
So much for "reality" as a noun. The notion that "reality" is singular, like a
sealed jar, does not jibe with current scientific findings which, in this century,
suggest that "reality" may better be considered as flowing and meandering,
like a river, or interacting, like a dance or evolving, like life itself.
Most philosophers have known, at least since around 500 B.C., that the
world perceived by our senses is not "the real world" but a construct we
create -- our own private work of art. Modern science beginning with
Galileo's demonstration that color is not "in" objects but "in" the interaction
of our senses with object, understands that reality is created by our own
brains.
Storytelling
Publish Date: December 17, 2006
All Sound (Audio) Archives Available At:
http://www.effortlessenglish.libsyn.com
TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling)
"Suppose you want to remember a list of words... you will more readily
remember the words if you make a sentence or sentences connecting
the words in the form of a short story. You would remember it
even better if the story was easy to visualize and best of all if you
could picture a story that was dramatic, or vulgar, or comic, or in
some way involved your emotions.
A story is in fact a good mnemonic, and the more elaborate the
story the better. A story links words to be remembered and it causes
you to build up scenes that have visual, aural, and sensory associations
for you." (Collin Rose, 1985)
While Effortless English is simple, it is also, in fact, designed according
to research-proven methods. The major emphasis of the
Effortless English approach is to help students acquire English thoroughly
and effectively.
One way to do this is with mini-stories. At first glance, the mini-stories
may seem silly. They are usually kind of foolish and are quite
simple. Another thing that may seem strange is that I ask a lot of
questions as I retell the story. These questions can seem
redundant, ridiculously easy, or pointless. But they have a purpose.
The mini-stories are structured to help you more deeply remember
the new vocabulary. I use silly or exaggerated stories because they
are easier to visualize; and visualization aids memory. I use short and
fairly simple stories because they are also easier to remember and
picture. They are also easier for the learner to repeat and retell.
The questions, likewise, have a purpose. First, the questions provide
more repetition of the target vocabulary. Repetition is important.
Various research shows that we need to hear and see a new word
about 30+ times, in a meaningful and understandable context, to
remember it and be able to use it. The questions increase your exposure
to these new words-- getting you closer to the needed 30+ repetitions.
Another purpose of the questions is to force your brain to participate
in the story. As you listen, you should try to immediately answer the
questions as I ask them. This will trigger your memory more quickly
than if you just passively listen.
By working through all of the Effortless English system you will learn
new words, phrases, and grammar forms more thoroughly. Read the
articles and scan the word list. Listen to the articles several times.
Listen to the vocabulary lesson a couple of times. Listen to the ministory
several times- and quickly answer the questions as I ask them.
After completing the mini-story, stop your iPod and try to retell the
story out loud, in your own words- trying to use the new vocabulary
as much as possible.
By following all the steps, you will learn the new material thoroughly
and completely-- not just at a surface level.
You will then find it much easier to actually use what you have
learned.
Good luck!
Thriving On Chaos
Publish Date: January 27, 2007
All Sound (Audio) Archives Available At:
http://www.effortlessenglish.libsyn.com
"It is easy to understand why many teachers revert to textbooks or worksheets
when things around them are in constant, challenging motion, but
they must learn to be in motion, too. The students are being loud; they are
having a hard time paying attention to each other; they are having a hard
time paying attention to the teacher. We all know that telling students to turn
to page 37 and answer the questions can relieve chaos and make the room
quieter for a time. I've recently heard of a new trend of teachers using wireless
microphones in an effort to keep students' attention and be heard above
the other noise in the classroom. Education is not about who can speak the
loudest. It's about the students and teacher wanting to listen to each other. A
truly personalized, small school allows that to happen.
Another reason I look to my friend Tom Peters for ideas on how to deal with
the tough moments is because he entitled one of his books "Thriving on
Chaos". Tom told me it took him a long time to land on that word "thriving".
But he was looking for a way of saying you must be ready for and
enjoy the process of change. Our schools must be thriving environments,
thriving on the chaos and on the beauty. We all need to re-examine our situations
from time to time and make sure we are not sticking to old patterns in
new situations."
--Dennis Littky
I like the phrase "Thriving on Chaos". As we all know, the world is constantly
changing and its changing quickly. Science, education, travel, technology,
and human relationships are evolving rapidly. Sometimes it can
feel overwhelming.
In fact, many people do become overwhelmed by the pace of change. They
may become depressed. They may dig in and become very conservative in
an effort to stop.... or at least slow the change. Some people even become
quite bitter about it. Others try to keep up, but can't.
Without a doubt, human societies have changed. Its no longer possible to
thrive by doing things the way they have always been done. "We've always
done it that way" is no longer a reasonable explanation. In fact, it's an
excuse that is a recipe for failure.
So how can we thrive on chaos? How do we not only survive these rapid
changes, but learn to enjoy them? How do we use change to enhance our
lives?
It may seem antithetical, but one of the key ways to thrive on change is to
have a set of unchanging principles. A principle is not a rule. Rules are
inflexible. They are limiting. They slow us down and make it hard for us to
adapt quickly when circumstances change. Principles, on the other hand,
are highly adaptable. A principle is a general value -- a commitment to
something that is deep and meaningful. "I must always shake hands when I
meet a new person" is a rule. If you meet a Japanese person and you have
this rule, you may become confused. "I will try always be kind and respectful"
is a principle.
Principles are easily adaptable to new circumstances because principles are
generally not concerned with specific actions or details. There are many
ways to show respect, for example. In the past, schools, companies, and
individuals often focused on rules. The problem is, students, employees,
society, and individuals have changed. The old rules don't work anymore.
What we need to thrive in this tumultuous age are deep principles-- and the
flexibility to change the way we follow them.
Another vital skill for this age of chaos is reflection. Reflection means
thinking deeply about something-- usually yourself, your life, and your
actions. Many people have been taught to first think, then act. But I think
its better to do the opposite-- first act, then think. If you think first, it's easy
to get lost in a theoretical world of abstract ideas. The education field is
full of these kinds of people. They think, talk, write, and debate-- but its all
theory-- all in their head. These people actually have no idea what is happening
in the world and what would happen if they tried something new.
If you act first, however, you then have something concrete to think about.
Your thinking is grounded in the real world. When you act first, its harder
to become caught up in speculation. Another tremendous advantage to
acting first is that actions often have surprising consequences. When we
think, we often believe we have thought of every possibility. But then, to our
surprise, we discover that lots of unexpected things happen when we actually
try something new.
These surprises are the seeds of innovation and creativity. Unimaginative
people often label the surprises as "failures"-- simply because the results
were not as expected. But in the words of Tony Robbins, there are no failures--
there are only results. In fact, so-called failures are often more valuable than what most
consider success. Failure gives you new ideas and new
input. "Success" often just reinforces your old ideas.
And so, to truly thrive on chaos, we must act first and then think. We must
also discard labels such as "failure" and "success" and instead think in terms
of "interesting results", "possibilities", and "opportunities".
The time for rigid, rule-centered thinking was 100 years ago. In the churning,
hyper speed digital age-- the only way to thrive is to stick to your principles,
act without fear, and embrace interesting failures. Those who thrive
on chaos are those who learn to enjoy the ride.