We're Back!!!

Hello Everyone,

Well we're back, after a long long holiday. School started back in September and we're nearly in November and this will be the FIRST entry of the academic year!!! No problem, better late than never.I'd like to set the tone this year by offering suggestions to help you to become a better language learner.

Learning a language is quite different from learning other things. On the one hand, it's a "knowledge" subject. You may learn grammar (including some grammatical terminology: adverbs, prepositions, phrasal verbs, and so on). You'll need to learn vocabulary, rules of usage, etc. On the other hand, it's a "skills" subject in that you'll need to be able to DO something: read and listen as well as speak and write.

One can easily argue that this "skills" aspect far outweighs the "knowledge" aspect, after all, many people go for an entire lifetime without even learning to read and write let alone grammar rules, and yet are capable of communicating all their wants and needs. That is an extreme case, but it exemplifies the power of "doing" OVER the power of "knowing."

One of my favourite stories is about a former student, Catarina. If you asked her to contrast the use of the present perfect and past simple...she wouldn't have a clue. Her colleagues could contrast the two easily. Give them an exercise and Catarina would consistently get over 90% right, while her classmates would only get 40 something percent!!! You tell me, who the better language learner was!!!

Keep that in mind when you're revising your grammar rules. Next time, more on learning strategies. Have a great week, Fernando