Effortless English Archives

Automatic English For The People

Sunday, August 14, 2005

English Classes Stink!

by AJ

Here's a great essay about why most English classes (or any language classes) don't work... I found this on The Linguist... here's an excerpt:

English classes are the most popular way in which people study English. They are so amazingly popular that most people do not even think about how to learn English. The process is automatic: I want to learn English, so I sign up for an English course. I will pay some money, sit in class for a few hours a week, and I will get good English.

This is very surprising, because English classes are a very poor way of learning English. We have spent a large part of our lives in English classes (in high school, college, and at language schools), and we know what they are like. With all our knowledge of English classes and courses, we would be surprised if we met a person who has learned to speak English very well by going to English classes.


This certainly mirrors my experiences with Spanish!