LEARNING A SECOND
LANGUAGE AINT EASY
‘No gain without
pain.’ It’s a cheesy, over-used saying, but oh so true when it comes to
learning a second language. The pain we’re referring to is enough to ensure
that for every 100 beginner-level students enrolling in an English language
course, 17 will not complete the beginner’s stage, 13 will drop out at the end
of that stage, 21 will drop out after the elementary level, and another 41 will
drop out at the end of the pre-intermediate level or soon after. Which leaves
us, just 30 or so weeks after the course started, with only eight of the
original 100 students still active. That’s one hell of an attrition rate in
anyone’s book.
Why is it so, I wonder? After all, everybody learns their
first language without undue trauma. Even the thickest, laziest, most inept of
us. But when it comes to learning a second language, it’s a different story
entirely.
The student starts off with a rush of enthusiasm. Think of
all the benefits that acquiring a second language will bring me! A better job.
An assured future. Perhaps the opportunity to meet a foreign partner – a
devoted, loaded, generous foreign partner – who’ll eat out of my hand and grant
me my every whim and desire. It’ll be my passport to international travel. It’ll be the key to success. Oh, the
benefits are endless! So you rush to a language school, you listen enraptured
to the front-desk girl as she confirms every one of your dreams in spades, you
hand over your money, you’re given a text book, and told to come back at 7:30
pm the following Tuesday.
Once back home, you sit down and flick through your new text
book. And that’s the moment when your first doubts and misgivings begin to
emerge. “Hell, look at this! Unit one: ‘Are you a student? / Yes I am. Are you
a student too?’ Unit three: ‘The be
verb.’ Unit seven: ‘Can you swim? / Yes I can’. Bloody hell! This isn’t going
to get me a better job, or hook me up with a foreign wife/husband, or have the
slightest impact on my future. What, oh what, am I getting myself into here?
Well, I’ve paid my bloody money, and a helluva lot of it too, so I’ll just go
along to the school and find out for myself how they’re going to set me on the
road to fluency and success.
Fast forward six weeks. You can now use the ‘be’ verb 80% accurately (although when
speaking you tend to omit it altogether). You can now extract personal details
from someone you’ve just met (“Right, so you’re a student, you like football
and video games, you can swim, and you have no pets. So, what will we talk
about next?”) You have expanded your English vocabulary to the tune of 80
words. You still can’t understand English pop songs, or conduct a prolonged
conversation, or make head nor tail of your teacher when he talks at a normal
conversational speed on an open topic. Your chances of landing a top job in a
top company are as remote as ever. You still haven’t found the English-speaking
gal/guy of your dreams. You are no closer to attaining that successful, happy
future you thought was at your fingertips.
The first level of your English course is soon to end.
Should I extend it or not extend it? If I don’t extend, I’ll be able to upgrade
my phone to one that will allow me to surf the web, play games, make movies,
listen to half a million songs…. I’d be the envy of all my friends with a phone
like that. Tempting….
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My new book, EFL
minus the B.S. (now available on Amazon) puts the English teaching game
under the spotlight. From applying for a job, living overseas, work permits,
management and mismanagement, classroom dynamics, teens’ and children’s
classes, to sex and the single teacher.
No comments:
Post a Comment