Hi,
I would like to start this blog, talking about a very controversial matter, and also very interesting from my point of view. The other day, chatting wih a friend, regarding teaching English, he got a bit upset. During the conversation he could not understand that in order to speak a language, you need to spend most of the time developing your conversational skills: basically speaking, speaking and speaking.
Why nearly 50% of Spanish people, today, don't speak another language? I think we all know the answer. The education system that we currently have in this country, focus mainly in the grammar and another aspects, but very litlle regarding speaking.
Anyone involved with the teaching of music, should know what the Suzuki method is about. To cut the story short, the idea is that the child will start learning the instrument before learning how to read music. The same happens when we learn to speak as kids. As we all know, we learn to speak, before learning to write, and everyone seems to be fine with this. Why don't they see it the same when we talk about speaking a language?
The experience I had in the last eight years teaching English, has taught me that best methodology is based in speaking the language.The tools I normally use, always take into account the objectives the student is aiming for. This is extremely important to know, and the reason behind is that tools like phrasal verbs, idioms, and slang terms, should take into account the English level that will always be different depending on the student.