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- and his or her parents - has lost in the first place. I must help them regain
their lost hope in the whole learning process. For an underachiever,
discouraged and frustrated student, learning English has become an obstacle
that seems too difficult to overcome. So by not dwelling on their past
experiences but rather moving forward into the new learning mechanism we
can begin the process of reversing their perception of learning English.
Shifting from an unachievable to an achievable goal. This is what the first
minutes of every meeting with a new student involves.
In order to bring the student on board of this “Highway to Hope” it is essential
that I show him or her that such hope is realistic. How can this be done? By
showing him that this is not a dream but a doable and achievable goal, based
on personal experience. It is not an abstract, ungraspable concept. Neither is
it a promise or a dream. It is a tangible reality that the students need to
experience by themselves to begin the process of changing their attitude
towards learning English. How do I do this? By making the student learn and
retain something new in a very short period of time. It does not need to be
something highly complex. On the contrary. A simple, but significant change
in the student´s state of knowledge of the English language helps lay a solid
ground for factual hope. By retaining the recently acquired knowledge, the
shifting paradigm process has begun in the student's mind, thus opening the
gates of hope for language learning.
During the first half of the meeting, the student introduces himself and
expresses his difficulties regarding the language. Hence, I have little time left
to make my point and show the student he can enhance his language
knowledge. As time is of the essence, I focus on introducing the student to
the different methods for language learning. These are methods he has never
used so far. Here lies the key to regaining hope. We must introduce a change
and not more of the same. We must show the student different methods,
different approaches, different mechanism of practice and exercises.
This is an innovative, different, unique way of reaching the English language.
As complex as it might seem, this is achieved in a very short period of time
(no more than 10 minutes). This is also a very appealing aspect of the
methodology which helps the students get motivated and experience positive
results that help reinforce their confidence and their faith in the l
NEW GAMES
By means of a short trial of these different methods, the student gets to
experience how the learning process is going to be different from anything he
has experienced before. Hope, therefore, shifts from a mere promise to a
tangible reality. If he retains the new information: we win our first battle. How
do we make sure he achieves this? Again, the key is to understand his
difficulty and then adapting the procedure to his personality, capabilities and
needs.
At the end of this short trial I always ask the student: have you been taught
like this before? Is this way a new way for you? Are these methods, games or
book methods new to you? If so, I can give you hope. Hope, as I mentioned
before, in my opinion, should be based on facts. If the student realizes that
we are about to start a different process with different methods from what he
has previously experienced, then he can renew his sense of hope, but this
time based on self-experience and reality. This is how I provide hope to every
new student I meet. It is crucial, vital that the student leaves the lesson with a
smile. This sign of confidence is a clear proof that he has regained hope and
that he will be able to overcome all his difficulties.
Obstacles and learning difficulties always arise in the process of mastering a
second language. My personal aim as a developer of this new
teaching/learning methodology is to help the student find his inner strength,
based on his everyday learning achievements, and to provide him with hope,
which will enable him to face any difficulty with the belief that there is no such
thing as an unachievable goal, provided he keeps his hope high.
You can find more information about the language games
here: http://www.englishsoftread.com/en/home
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