What Skill does a Child Deploy to Learn to Speak its Native Tongue?

Does it study rules of grammar? Does it get a text book and work its way through the exercises? Does it learn to read and write before it can speak?

None of the above! A child learns to speak its native tongue by LISTENING. It listens to everything everybody is saying around it. After a while it begins to discern speech patterns. After a while it begins to associate meanings to the speech patterns. After a while it starts imitating the speech patterns. Eventually, after - what? three, four years? - it can speak the language. At least on a basic level. Maybe not perfectly. It continues developing its language skills as it grows older.

Does that child know an Accusative Case from a Past Participle? Does it care? HELL NO! But it can use its native language to communicate its basic needs in life.

Listening. It's the one skill that every school, every university, every language school in the world neglects.

Okay. This post is inspired by the amazing work of A. J. Hoge. He has a unique technique for teaching English by asking stories. That's right. Not 'telling' stories. 'Asking' stories. More on that later.

He has basic rules for learning English. I can't remember them all in order.

Rules for Teaching/Learning Languages

Rule number 1: Don't learn individual words. Learn phrases or whole sentences. Many students get a vocabulary book and write 'table' on the left side and the word for table in their own language on the right side. Learning these words is very difficult. They are words in isolation. There are no 'hooks' for the memory to latch on to. Instead of writing 'table', write 'There is a brown table in the corner of the room.' That way, you can visualize a brown table in the corner of a room. And if you memorize that phrase, you get 'there is', the adjective 'brown', the prepositions 'in' and 'of' and the nouns 'table' 'corner' and 'room'. And correct word order. Without studying any rules of grammar. Over time you will gradually acquire the rules of grammar without even realizing it.

Rule number 2: (These are not in Hogue's order, by the way.) Collect up any grammar books you can find. Make a pile in the garden. Douse with paraffin. Throw some shrimps on the barbie, make a bonfire and let off some fireworks. NEVER study rules of grammar.

Rule number 3: Repeat rule number 2 with textbooks. NEVER use textbooks. Textbooks are fake. They are boring. Use only authentic materials.

And so on. I can't remember all his rules. I'll provide a link where you can find his information, if you're with me so far, and interested. (I guess you must be interested, or you wouldn't still be with me...)

Asking Stories

Imagine you are teaching a class of students. You say: 'There is a boy in the street. Is there a boy or a girl in the street?' Student: 'A boy!' You: 'The boy has brown hair. Does the boy have brown hair or black hair?' Student: 'Brown!' You: 'The boy goes into a shop. Does the boy go into a shop or a house?' Student: 'A shop!' (You want short answers.) And so on and so on. You get the idea. You have to teach the vocabulary first. The beauty of this technique is it forces the students to listen, and to think in English. They don't have time to translate to their own language, figure out the grammar, translate back to English...) And you can make this as simple or as complicated as you like. It's a wonderful teaching technique, and it works very well.

I've taught English in Cambodia and Thailand. It was very frustrating for me, because I couldn't employ these techniques. Schools are sadly completely exam-driven, and, as a teacher, you spend all your time steering students from one exam to the next. And the exams focus on grammar, so you have to teach grammar.

Listening is so important. I remember, as a small child, hearing a song on the radio. I enjoyed the music. At the end the DJ announced: 'That was "Fly me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra'. I thought wow! Who are these wonderful people the Franks? And where is this strange place 'Atra' they live in? That's what our students hear. A stream of sounds. It's very difficult for them to discern where one word ends and the next begins.

If anyone wants to look further into this, Mr. Hoge explains his techniques much better than I can. Very interesting material for anyone in the teaching business.

You can find his website here: 7 Rules for Speaking English