On the 23rd of June I am to give a week-long seminar to the other teaching staff at my University which I've titled Effective Strategies for Teaching English. It appears, as I have been approached to conduct this seminar, that the strategies I myself have devised have had some success. But, of course, they work for me: I'm only too aware that we are all very different beings and I am aware that some, at least, of the Chinese teachers would not be comfortable doing things my way.

I have mountains of research at my disposal but I would like to hear as well what other people think. Even those who have not learned another language could give me valuable input as to what they consider sparks interest and enthusiasm in a classroom situation.

For those who do not know: Chinese education is taught by rote: i.e. traditionally a teacher talks AT the students, they listen, go away and learn vast tracts by rote and regurgitate it at exams. So even strategies that are basic to other systems are not familiar here. Traditionally too, English teaching relies on text books and piles of English CDs (which the students HATE).

How wonderful that a language teacher is starting this thread. Why can't you teach our poor students here in Australia?

I was the one who is frustrated by the half hearted manner in which LOTE is taught here in Australia and complained that it is not rigorous enough.

My daughter is taught French through immersion. Presently I'm doing Spanish, also primarily through immersion.

One of my sons did one year of Indonesian with a Swiss (!) teacher and loved it. Why? Because he could converse at a basic level after one year. He had done 3, yes 3, years of Japanese previously and could hardly introduce himself. He hated it.

Here in Australia there is this enormous resistance to teaching vocabulary. Yet, when done in context with whatever the lessons are about and then practice, practice, practice using those new words, they suddenly start to sound familiar. Just like you cannot learn how to do maths without knowing numbers and time-tables you cannot begin to speak without knowing words.

There is barely any reading of texts. Often our understanding of a foreign language is greater when reading than when hearing somebody speak. So reading and understanding, even if all the words are not known, is enormously encouraging. Wow! I understand the gist of that!

With my language learning at school, reading books were part of that. One of my sons did German till year 12. Not a single German book was part of his curriculum. How can you seriously learn a language and not be expected to read any literature in that language?

Though my daughter is taught French very well, to my horror there are no books, or any other texts, in French at her school library. I've bought her 'the little prince' in French. To her sheer delight she can read and understand it. That is what is fun about learning another language. That you get access. Not just the ability to introduce yourself.

Dear Romany,

I remember how my parents hated the methods used in the 1950s to teach them English. The very simplistic texts that were available at the time. My mother was a teacher of English - in Europe - so she simply improved her skills by reading the women's magazines (Australian Women's Weekly) that she enjoyed.

It took my father much longer to learn. Even though he spoke several languages, he found English not to be "logical." And I remember the day that he left a note for the man who delivered the bread to our home. We were going to be away that day, and dad wanted the bread to be left on our back verandah, instead of the front porch, which was the usual spot. Dad was proud of the note he left, thinking it made perfect sense. Well, our bread delivery stopped for the rest of the week. When my mother spotted the delivery man in our street the following week, she asked him what had happened to our bread deliveries? The man showed mum the note dad had written, which made mum laugh. It said, "Put your bread on back-side." Dad meant the back side of our house - the verandah. That's not how the delivery
man saw it.

Anyway, sorry to have digressed here. The point that I'm trying to make is - I feel that any language can best be learned by constantly being forced to hear it. Slowly and surely you start to learn the words their meanings, and uses. Language tapes in both languages would
be great, as would audio-visual material.

Hope this helps.

Romany best of luck with the seminar. It is often difficult to offer an alternative approach when another system is so firmly entrenched.

As far as personal experience - I studied German as a second language at school and then went over to Europe and learnt more German in six weeks that I did in four years of high school. That is probably an unfair comparison to some extent because obviously I came equipped with some good groundwork in the language. Speaking really does force your brain to scramble for the words you are after and continuous use consolidates.

For me I find watching films (even with subtitles) helped to refresh my language skills.

As an adult I tried two other languages for a while as an interest and found the film approach useful as well. I tend to learn well by rote when learning vocabulary but remember more if I have to use it in real life - ie. speaking in role play situations or at functions where you are only allowed to speak the language you are learning. I found listing words and putting them on the fridge helped - 30 new words per week and would force myself to use the words whenever possible.

Gaelic is next on the list (if I ever get around to it) although I am not sure even my part Irish roots could get my tongue around some of the pronunciations. :)

A WHISTLEBLOWER'S ACCOUNT [free down load explains the whole thing]
you might as well know the whole truth
http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/MomsPDFs/DDDoA.sml.pdf

Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, former Senior Policy Advisor in the U.S. Department of Education, blew the whistle in the `80s on government activities withheld from the public. Her inside knowledge will help you protect our children from these controversial methods and programs.

- how good teachers across America have been forced to use controversial, non-academic methods initiated via carnagae educational grants that re-educated the teadchers into whole education[not by breaking down words into their sub meanings [like with latin]

"school choice" is being used to further dangerous reform goals, and how home schooling and private education are especially vulnerable.

workforce training (school-to-work) is an essential part of an overall plan for a global economy, and how this plan will shortcircuit our children's future career plans and opportunities.

- how the international, national, regional, state and local agendas for education reform are all interconnected and have been for decades.

A CHRONOLOGICAL PAPER TRAIL

the deliberate dumbing down of america is a chronological history of the past 100+ years of education reform.
Each chapter takes a period of history and recounts the significant events, including important geopolitical and societal contextual information.

includes Citations from government plans, policy documents, and key writings by leading reformers record the rise of the modern education reform movement.
all ages will welcome this free expose of what really happened to what was once the finest education system in the world

more details
to untie a knot it is important to know how the knot was tied
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDyDtYy2I0M

exposing bad science
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,,1564615,00.html
http://www.badscience.net/?p=84
that makes us accept any thing [no matter how logical [like war on drug users][or anything they put into statistic or seemingly authoritive [scientific?]sources.
there are several goals
Excessive focus on rote memorization rather than on developing problem-solving abilities;
http://hometown.aol.com/tma68/7lesson.htm
http://mhkeehn.tripod.com/ughoae.pdf
search out John Taylor Gatto thoroughly documents in his book
''The Underground History of American Education''.
revealing;
A shift toward reductionistic and often simplistic ways of defining problems;
A corresponding shift away from empirically effective traditional methods that may be perceived as having a lower scientific and social status;
A channeling of institutional resources into promoting professional economic power and status, even at the expense of the core clinical curriculum.
According to conventional wisdom, accrediting organizations are supposed to help a school improve its educational programs - that is, unless they are driven by a hidden agenda,

this link is about aquapunture but has great insights about the problem
http://www.acupuncture.com.au/articles/viewarticle.html?id=043