I was invited to participate in a blogging competition about how people all around the world learn English best and since I’ve watched the magic of learning English first hand with my students in Russia I thought it was the perfect opportunity to share my insights.
I stand to win a free ipad 3 which would come in OH-SO-HANDY after moving out of the US on July 15th!
1) Voting begins tonight at midnight (May 19th – June 1st)
2) Votes must include the blog’s name and a link to the post.
To vote for Heathers Harmony simply leave a comment on Kaplans page here: http://kaplaninternational.com/blog/how-to-learn-english/
The fact that I didn’t know any Russian before stepping foot in a classroom full of children always seems to be the most shocking aspect when asked about the logistics of being an ESL teacher. The truth of the matter is that we all learn our first language by being fully immersed in it, eliminating the need to have a language in common.
Infographic: How to learn Englishvia Kaplan Blog
Based on Kaplan’s research it seems most of the population agrees. Would you guess that most my students learned English with a non-American accent? I taught at a school similar to an elementary that offered English classes as an extracurricular opportunity while the older students would come after having already spent all day in their regular school. In Russia it’s required to take English typically taught by someone from the UK, all things considered there aren’t THAT many differences but there are minor details like catch phrases, accents and cultural lingo that can make ‘American’ and ‘British’ English different.
Modern culture instills comprehension of the language by making it casual and comfortable rather than the formal setting a classroom often entails. Many of my older students listened to English music and when it was available they would watch English movies and television shows. The father of my host family in particular loved the Utah Jazz’s basketball team and preferred to watch American sports on television even though he wasn’t fluent in English he knew most the sports terms.
While living in Russia I did pick up on some conversational terms and phrases which helped me navigate through transportation, running errands and living with a Russian family. I wasn’t even close to being fluent but my comprehension and retention of the language is greater than my high school foreign language courses and I am excited to begin traveling again so I can start learning bits and pieces of other languages.
Have you learned English as a second language or another language perhaps? What is your opinion on Kaplan’s findings?
