Language Teaching After Your School Closes Down

I have talked about Benny Lewis before. He's a famous language hacker who taught himself to speak a dozen languages as an adult and did some TED Talks about the process. Here's an interesting 15 minutes on how there are no real excuses. Speak any language quickly. His book and website are Fluent in 3 Months .

Benny Lewis - Polyglot 

Grammar study and vocabulary memorizing are not part of successful language learning processes. Most of us know this already but if we want to keep our teaching jobs we have to do a lot of silly things using silly books that accomplish nothing. I know. I had to quit my plum teaching job at the Board of Education because I was too heartsick about being ineffective. Most of you won't have to make that choice. Traditional language schools are closing down in droves and the choice is being made for you.

For the next few blogs I'm just going to keep featuring English teaching programs that take less than three months. Actually, 30 hours is the magic number that keeps popping up for effective programs.

Jason West. One of my favorite language teaching geniuses is Jason West. Google him. I met Jason in a LinkedIn discussion (before I got kicked out of the group) and everything he said made so much sense he was like a light shining through the darkness. He contends students don't speak English because they are afraid of making mistakes and looking foolish. His first program, English Out There prepared learners for successful first conversations with native speakers then he set them loose in Trafalgar Square in London where they began speaking English successfully to complete strangers. Their worries about grammar and accent vanished as they realized grammar and accent don't affect intelligibility in English. They can make mistakes and be understood perfectly. The glass wall that stopped them before is shattered and their learning English speaking by speaking English and confidence skyrockets.

Jason West: Can we do things differently?

Most teaching geniuses I have met are not one-trick ponies. They come up with a series of exceptional teaching/learning ideas. Jason's new program is Free Range English. Any teacher anywhere English is spoken can get all the content, a place on the site (booking engine) and unlimited support online for about US$22 per month subscription (no premises required). They can run it how they want. He is trying to get Pay What You Want going. The more people do it the easier it will become. I highly recommend all of Jason's programs if you are looking to make a living while making a difference.

Note to Students 

If you have been studying English for longer than three weeks and aren't happy with your progress speaking English, try something new. The road map to speaking English is here in six steps.
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Yours in ESL, 

Teacher Judy