This is a summary of 5 things reports from ESLPOD.com hosted by Dr. Jeff
Millions of high school and college students show up to their English classes in the hopes of learning to communicate in a second language, but most of them will fail, and fail badly.
A few years out of school, and most have forgotten the little they learned in class.
Millions of adults who need to know English for their work, their school, or their travels pay good money for language CDs, books, and expensive software, but still don’t succeed.
Any course, class, textbook, or Internet program that does NOT have all five of these elements is NOT worth your valuable time.
Principle #1: Input
If linguist Noam Chomsky is correct, part of our brain is hardwired (programmed) with a capacity to learn language. We’ll call this part of our brain the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). We all have an LAD, and it works without any sort of conscious effort or practice. Our only job in the process is to activate and “feed” that device, to get that device to work.
Although some people talk metaphorically about “exercising” the brain, Frank Smith reminds us that the brain is an organ, not a muscle. Like your kidney or your stomach, the brain doesn’t have to be “switched on.” You don’t have to “do” anything, per se, to get it to work.
